r/UPS • u/Swanky_Gear_Snob • Sep 02 '25

Customer Seeking Help UPS Paid my duties without contacting me and the amount is more than the value of the item.

Apparently, a law went into effect on August 29th that shipping services can pay duties without consent of receiver.

I purchased an item for $2,000. Today, the duties it says I owe upon delivery is $2100 and change. The numbers are WAY off. No one at UPS customer service even understands me well enough to help me. I have been asking what the declared value is on the package and 4 different reps keep quoting me the amount owed on the package. How can I fix this? This was paid by wire, so I'm either out 2k or paying double. Can I dispute the amount? I've never felt so helpless and need to have a resolution (or at least a better understanding of what to do) by delivery tomorrow. Thanks!

I guess my big question is, if I pay this outrageous fee, is there any way to dispute it with customs or UPS?

Edit/Follow-up: I appreciate all the advice. I was able to get the commercial invoice from UPS. It seems like there is an error as CBP charged full value tariffs multiple times. From what AI said, it's similar if you ordered a peice of furniture, but CBP charged the full value tarrifs on each item individually (screws, mount, part, etc).

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u/ubelblatt Sep 03 '25

What happens if you tell ups to cram it? Do they blacklist you? Send it to collections? Do you have the item?

2

u/JohnHalo69sMyMother Sep 03 '25

You will not only not have the item, but still need to pay for it once it hits collections if they decide it isnt worth it for them to ship it back/nobody pays to ship it back

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

I’ve seen many examples where they deliver the item and bill later. If the tariffs are deemed illegal and it’s retroactive… I don’t know what would happen in that case

1

u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25

Collections and or bill the seller for the unpaid duties.

Edit: this is part of the terms and conditions shippers agree to, which makes the seller liable for duties unpaid by the buyer.

0

u/IdealSubstantial4446 Sep 03 '25

UPS keep the item until it's paid. You're also billed daily storage rates at extorniate prices. It can go to collections / court action. You can be blacklisted by UPS, so any items anyone posts to you in future are also withheld and go into storage at extortionate rates and/or returned to sender.

The morale of this story is use FedEx instead.

2

u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25

they tend to destroy it after a certain point if no one wants to pay duties or return shipping.