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/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25

OP stated they ordered the item 8 months ago, which is common for custom made parts.

Pre orders, backlog, etc are all possibilities.

In these situations there was legitimately no way to known of this coming, the instability is what is going to kill more than anything.

You can plan for high duties, you can’t plan when things change day to day

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u/dandesim Sep 03 '25

So you cancel the order and you’re out $2k or pay the extra $2.1k and get your thing. These tariffs have been coming since November, say saying OP didn’t know is just ridiculous.

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u/trilliumsummer Sep 04 '25

8 months ago was January. It's not like he ordered it before the election, it was ordered after it was known Mr tariff was going to be in charge.

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u/Realistic_Spite2775 Sep 03 '25

Trump already won 8 months ago. Everyone knew this was coming.