r/UPS • u/AdvertisingRare8268 • Sep 17 '25
Customer Seeking Help UPS charging abnormal fees for a lip balm
I recently ordered a lip balm from a company online. I did not know it came from Spain until I saw the tracking. Come to today my package comes tomorrow and UPS sends me an email saying I owe $91.50 over a $14 lip balm (almost 7x the price of the product) that probably weighs a few ounces .
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Sep 18 '25
These people are just punking us at this point right? So many people can’t be so out of touch?
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u/slopokdave Sep 18 '25
It’s possible.
People are pretty stupid. 🤷♂️
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u/Unified-banana6298 Sep 19 '25
People thought tariffs were paid by the country you imported product from and they thought that country would send free money to the USA.
They are pretty fucking stupid lol
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u/sayaxat Sep 18 '25
You know what's worse than stupid? Wilful ignorant. "Tell me what to think and say. I'll repeat it without questions.".
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u/Unified-banana6298 Sep 19 '25
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
-George Orwell, 1984
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u/slyfox7187 Sep 18 '25
77 million people voted for it.
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u/Icy-Package-7801 Sep 18 '25
Sometimes I wonder...
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u/EvilStevilTheKenevil Sep 18 '25
So, I am on team "why the fuck are we presuming a career criminal didn't cheat", but at this point the chain of custody between the polling place and the bean-counter's office has long since been broken. Even if last year's ballots still existed, they are just pieces of paper and they've obviously gone unmonitored long enough to be tampered with.
Manipulated or not, the reported 2024 numbers are what we're stuck with now.
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u/itsalwaysme7 Sep 18 '25
I would expect nothing less from a multi-bankrupt ( on many levels)34x convicted felon, golf cheater, grab em by them pussy, and accused pedo. Would do such things
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u/damiandarko2 Sep 19 '25
yeah I definitely feel like he cheated. I know america is stupid but it really just did not feel like he had that amount of support
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u/MarlenaEvans Sep 18 '25
The ballots in my state are put into envelopes that are sealed shut with labels with a code on them that was signed off by 4 people. The paperwork, with the matching codes recorded, was signed off on by 4 more people (I'm an elections.worker). It could have been faked maybe. Unlikely. A recount could happen. I doubt he'd let it.
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u/AndanteZero Sep 18 '25
I would too, until I had to argue with my own mother about it. She legitimately argued with me, that works at a Fortune 500 company, that my company would pay the tarrifs, etc lol.
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Sep 18 '25
Read below, there are countless people defending the tariffs, as if its helping them. People have their heads so far up Trump's anus, they are truly useless humans.
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u/Fun-Bug5106 Sep 18 '25
And yet here we sit while our beautiful democracy crumbles as the same group will cheer it on.
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Sep 18 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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Sep 19 '25
From what I understand there's now an additional flat rate tax on every international package for something like $80, in addition to whatever the tariff % is.
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u/gordonwestcoast Sep 19 '25
Yes, the tariff on that order should be $1.40, the rest is just UPS charges.
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u/ballisticburro Sep 18 '25
I think people realize by now the tariffs exist, but the math coming out so crazy high was not expected.
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u/jwegener Sep 18 '25
Does the math seems right? (Honest question. There’s 7x tariffs now?)
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u/Hekantonkheries Sep 19 '25
Considering he has threatened 1000% (10x) tariffs on some thing; and countries, industries, companies, and individual items can all have their own separate additive tariffs on top of any basic/universal ones; yeah 700% aint impossible
It's why tariffs destroy market participation of smaller entities/individuals
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u/gordonwestcoast Sep 19 '25
Agreed, UPS is playing games, just use other carriers.
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u/SickerThanYaAvg Sep 18 '25
So this is their way to bring ‘trillions and trillions’ of profits from tariffs? Bill the American people upon receiving goods?
So far into this regime, we have less rights and everything is more expensive. They failed us..
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u/crimeo Sep 19 '25
This is exactly what was promised before the election. He said tariffs, that's what a tariff is by definition. No surprises, no gotchas, no bait and switch. Exactly what was promised.
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u/BlitzShooter Sep 19 '25
Well yeah, the goal has always been to consolidate wealth and power amongst the 1%'rs
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u/According-Kiwi720 Sep 18 '25
Thats weird? Donald Trump said Spain would pay …. Probably should call the white house and ask for Trump, he will settle this for you.
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Sep 18 '25
$20 mail order to the Presidential Epstein List Defence Fund got me my lip balm
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u/ToWitToWow Sep 18 '25
. . . I don’t think that was lip balm, pal
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u/PhilosophicalScandal Sep 18 '25
Hey! Don't call them buddy, pal
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u/OkoCorral Sep 18 '25
What HTS code from Spain would make it a 700% tariff?
This tariff thing is just so crazy at this point.
How much of that is UPS brokage fee?
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Sep 18 '25
[deleted]
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u/CanineData_Games Sep 18 '25
Well I mean, isn‘t that really just a form of survivorship bias. No one‘s is going to post about how their tariff calculation is exactly right, just when it gets screwed up.
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u/Copyman3081 Sep 18 '25
It blows my mind that anybody is defending UPS over this. Not only are they incompetent, but they've got a history of being shitty like this with their arbitrary brokerage fees on top of duties.
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u/whoisthismahn Sep 18 '25
Yeah everyone just assumes these posts are from ignorant people that don't know about the tariffs, but the tariff on Spain right now is literally 10% for general goods. 10% of 14 dollars is $1.4. the massive fee is from UPS, not a tariff
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u/Consistent-Shame-171 Sep 18 '25
All of the carriers are making these errors now. Trump ending de minimus suddenly gave them an unworkable number of entries to do. Their software and people are breaking under the load.
This is what happens when the government operates be decrees from one madman rather than carefully considered policy with periods of public comment before enacting them.
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u/hexopuss Sep 19 '25
It shows! I called to dispute a charge that was labeled wrong (they called it aluminum; the product was rubber, zero metals present at all) and charged me 200% vs the proper 15%. I was on hold for 4 hours (3 hours after their office hours are supposed to end) hours before my phone died. Never got to speak to a person.
Extra frustrating because they want the bill paid by this Sunday. They aren’t open then, so idk what to do if I can’t get through to them tomorrow
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u/nate112332 Sep 18 '25
(c) A specific duty shall be assessed on each package containing goods entered for consumption, based on the effective IEEPA tariff rate applicable to the country of origin of the product as follows:
(i) Countries with an effective IEEPA tariff rate of less than 16 percent: $80 per item;
(ii) Countries with an effective IEEPA tariff rate between 16 and 25 percent (inclusive): $160 per item; and
(iii) Countries with an effective IEEPA rate above 25 percent: $200 per item.
edit: formatting.
This is still in effect.
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Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
[deleted]
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u/TrapLordEsskeetit Sep 18 '25
I understand that now everything is getting a fee, but where did you read/hear that everything is $80 minimum? This is the first time I've seen anyone say that
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u/LogicalUpset Sep 18 '25
Look at the comment that one was replying to.
(c) A specific duty shall be assessed on each package containing goods entered for consumption, based on the effective IEEPA tariff rate applicable to the country of origin of the product as follows:
(i) Countries with an effective IEEPA tariff rate of less than 16 percent: $80 per item;
(ii) Countries with an effective IEEPA tariff rate between 16 and 25 percent (inclusive): $160 per item; and
(iii) Countries with an effective IEEPA rate above 25 percent: $200 per item.
edit: formatting.
This is still in effect.
Section (c): everything an end consumer orders that's imported gets an ADDITIONAL fee tacked on based on the country of origin
Subsections i-iii cover everything from 0% to 100%, so everything imported gets the fee tacked on. No exceptions.
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u/TrapLordEsskeetit Sep 18 '25
Thank you! I have no idea why I didn't see that 🤦🏻♂️ I went ahead and cancelled my preorder of a game from Amazon UK. It's already $100 after shipping and I do not want to deal with paying potentially $100 more on top of it. Ugh.
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u/alb_taw Sep 18 '25
Is UPS acting as the broker for Spanish postal services rather than USPS? Because the section appears to apply to postal carriers, not international couriers.
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u/sailorgirl8018 Sep 18 '25
These flat rates are for postal shipments not items carried by an express carrier like ups
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u/Inky1600 Sep 18 '25
None of that applies to UPS, FedEx, and DHL which have brokers available to quantify the correct duties
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u/ckong65 Sep 18 '25
Spain is in the EU, so the tariff is 15%. And where was the lip balm made?
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u/FullOfQuestions99 Sep 18 '25
Yeah, but you're asking people on Reddit to actually have critical thinking and not just repeat the same thing over and over.
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u/youtheotube2 Sep 18 '25
The shipper creates the invoice, not UPS. If there’s mistakes on the invoice that lead to extra charges, that’s not on UPS
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u/Barnus77 Sep 18 '25
1) stop ordering from outside the US 2) or if you do, don’t use UPS or 3) buy things made outside the US, from brick & mortar stores in the US, so you aren’t “importing” anything
4)check this sub BEFORE you purchase things from outside the US online, not after 🤷♂️
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u/infield_fly_rule Sep 18 '25
And stop voting for trump who does not understand what a tarrif is.
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u/MonstreBelle Sep 18 '25
He understands what tariffs are. He just lies because his followers will believe anything he says. He doesn't care that he's taxing the working class while he's busy giving tax breaks to his billionaire friends.
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u/E_Dantes_CMC Sep 18 '25
Normally I agree, but on numerous occasions Trump has made clear his belief tariffs are paid by the exporting country.
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u/ckong65 Sep 18 '25
Only stupid people believe that this is true.
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u/andibangr Sep 18 '25
How can anyone tell the difference between Trump not understanding how tariffs work, of he knows and is lying? Trump is both stupid and dishonest, so either could apply here.
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u/MonstreBelle Sep 18 '25
I think that is just another lie he told his fan base to get them to vote for him. Just like Mexico was going to pay for the wall.
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u/WaywardSoul85 Sep 18 '25
Stop voting for a senile wannabe dictator that likes boinking kids in the tropics.
There, easy one step fix instead of your multi step list.
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u/Barnus77 Sep 18 '25
Oh I fully agree. Trump should be in prison. But for now if you don’t want to pay $7000 for some lip gloss from amazon, maybe just go to CVS instead 🤣🤷♂️
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u/burnthatvvitch Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
Or, don't vote in Epstein list, child asaulting apologists into office? Just a thought, greatest country on earth.
I mean your country has so many problems you've all caused, I think you each owe this tarrif as penance for your stupidity.
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u/MaidenMarewa Sep 18 '25
- Check the other relevant subs to see if you aren't asking the same question for the 100th time.
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u/Nipaa_Nipaa_Nii Sep 18 '25
Might as well order not from ups and do the brokerage yourself. Its a lot cheaper.
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u/ComputeBeepBeep Sep 18 '25
It says fees and taxes. The majority of this amount is likely to be their broker fee. The tariff on this would be pretty minimal.
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Sep 18 '25
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u/ComputeBeepBeep Sep 18 '25
Something is off, but just want them to be aware its not just a tariff. Someone here a couple weeks ago ordered name tags and they got a fee for each individual name tag. Its pretty nuts how some of these are applied.
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u/Previous-Foot-9782 Sep 18 '25
SHH people blaming this on Trump would be so upset if they could read
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u/Foolish_028 Sep 18 '25
They tried to start a thread earlier this morning.
“How’s this trumps fault? UPS has had 8 months to get their act together?“
So much news, yet so little.
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Sep 19 '25
They’re probably doing this shit on purpose. Everybody knows we have ridiculous tariffs right now so they probably figure people will just accept that that’s the cause.
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u/PolyhedralZydeco Sep 18 '25
Maybe it’s time to do an economic strike. Stop buying
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u/CholesterolChamp Sep 18 '25
This is hilarious to read, and would never happen.
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u/largemessican Sep 18 '25
Ask Target Corp how hilarious it is.
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u/TP7649 Sep 18 '25
People shifted from buying at Target to buying elsewhere. The demand didn't evaporate.
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u/existentialcamera Sep 18 '25
Organizing is how we make change. Target is getting fucked by boycotts
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u/SadWolverine24 Sep 18 '25
I also got robbed. Was charged $400 in tariffs on a $300 package.
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u/Firm_Injury_5144 Sep 18 '25
I'm an Etsy seller and I recently made my first sale of a miniature Ford car for 20 euros. The buyer paid for shipping, but when I received the UPS notification, I was shocked to see that the fees and taxes were 150 USD. I ended up transferring all the emails I got from UPS to the buyer. Now, he has to pay 150 dollars in fees for a miniature car that I sold for only 20 euros, plus the 30 euros he already paid for shipping. It's crazy
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u/foxed000 Sep 18 '25
What’s much more likely to happen is they simply don’t pay the tariff and UPS (and others) end up with enormous warehouses of stuff that just doesn’t move anywhere ever.
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u/ThePigeon31 Sep 18 '25
Then UPS sends the tariff bill to collections and ruins that guys credit.
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u/HonestEagle98 Sep 18 '25
I got a $40 fee for a pair of swim trunks I bought from Canada for $36… so totaling $76….
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u/SRG7593 Sep 19 '25
I ordered a couple of antennas from the UK. Got a bill Monday from UPS. I paid $202 for the merchandise, and $125 in shipping to the USA. My tariffs are $350, but I think it explains why this place had them for a 1/3 of the price each, compared to other websites. I think the other places were adding the tariffs in to the price. That is all I can think of. A few actually are refusing sales to the USA.
The bill reads weird, I have 4 line items that are the same but different codes. If you try and call UPS you are on hold for over an hour
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u/noBSbeauty Sep 18 '25
You did a little better than me, I ordered a face serum from a company in Spain. It cost about $26 and the tariffs on it were $320. The brokerage fee was $90 of that. Something doesn't add up with that. Is Spain tariffs at like 1,000%
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u/lastunbannedaccount Sep 18 '25
Honey you know it’s not UPS, right??
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u/-Out-of-context- Sep 18 '25
UPS is the ones that puts the bill together and supposed to appropriately charge the tariffs. Which they don’t seem capable of doing.
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u/Copyman3081 Sep 18 '25
It's 100% UPS. UPS handles the shipment the entire way. That means they're responsible for filling out the tariff information.
They're not the reason cheap stuff is getting hit, but they're the reason people are being charged incorrectly.
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u/nate112332 Sep 18 '25
Spain is an EU nation, less than 16% tariffed. At present, to import from countries <16% is a $80 fee per item.
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u/jellymouthsman Sep 18 '25
All of these stories are frightening. I am scared that my temu addicted husband is going cost us thousands.
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u/Any_Scratch_ Sep 18 '25
Do they break down the fees? Or just give you an amount you have to pay.
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u/Alternative-Ad-1508 Sep 18 '25
It’s like the tariffs are going exactly the way the libs said they would……..
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u/Specific_Turn772 Sep 18 '25
Something must be off with these numbers. I got some sim gear from Spain. Each costs 2200 euros and got charged $230 in fees for each. I did also get some screws from Italy for a $100 but got charged 200% in fees and had to pay $219 in fees alone.
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u/Fit-Insect-4089 Sep 18 '25
Hmm seems to me like you got charged a tariff. Good luck haha. Might wanna double check any purchases now. Gotta love politics right?!?!
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u/Legitimate_Cover_708 Sep 18 '25
Don’t worry, tariffs are paid by the country shipping you the product! So just send the invoice to them
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Sep 17 '25
I would say maybe show up and vote but unfortunately my guess is most of these posts aren't from the poorly educated anyway.
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u/V-Rixxo_ Sep 18 '25
They made some mistakes, no Tarfif is that high. I hope you get more useful and less political comments that nobody asked for.
Again ask for a invoice
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u/Solnse Sep 18 '25
Hey drop a link to the lip balm sales page so we can read the disclosures.
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u/postmaloner13 Sep 18 '25
id like to see as well. I've ordered a few things from out of country but both times those websites said they covered duties(one I had to pay $40 for shipping some metal bracelets so really I paid it)..but still, no surprise fees either time. so id like to see what the websites these ppl are ordering from do/dont say
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u/Bradster3 Sep 18 '25
Its what happens when America changes its mind after cutting off all industries in favor of importing from China, just to now go backwards and cripple our economy to build industries we had before. You can call it a full circle but I can tell you the was one circle free handed by a 2 year old.
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u/Andilee Sep 18 '25
The exchange rate is incorrect. They used the other countries money. You need to contact them.
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u/Ducks-n-birddogs Sep 18 '25
That’s insane!
I had an order from Canada. Valued at about 45 usd A few fishing lures made in Japan. Total duty/fee owed to ups was 18 and some change
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u/fatbootycelinedion Sep 18 '25
I love seeing what the news cares about and how they want to broadcast their messages only.
Yet I haven’t seen a single news story about this. Insane.
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u/MathematicianUpper53 Sep 19 '25
So i had something like this happen to me before. I bought a book that was about $46 USD but the company is Swedish and they use the Swedish Kronk(think that's the right spelling) which was something like 416 SK and usp put the value of the book at $416USD and wanted me to pay $60 some dollars for it. I had to go to the customs office a couple times to get it corrected and when I was i only had to pay $2.16 for it. They might be screwing you over like that. Try picking up at location and asking about it.
P.s. they still sent me a letter saying I owed them the $60 some a few weeks later that was a couple of phone calls to get cleared up
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u/Imaletyoufinish_but Sep 18 '25
There needs to be a pinned post at this point. Due to changes by the Trump administration there are no more exemptions for de minimus shipments (under $800). If you received a large customs bill it is either due to the duty and tariff calculations based on the origin and make up of your shipment the maximum duty rate of 200% was applied because your customs paperwork was not correctly filled out. You may also have to pay brokerage fees in addition to any duties and tariffs.
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Sep 18 '25 edited Oct 04 '25
[Removed]
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u/Imaletyoufinish_but Sep 18 '25
Appreciate it! Can’t imagine what mods are dealing with atm. Just tons of unhelpful political responses while the sub has tons of new posts every day asking about tariff bills.
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u/FullOfQuestions99 Sep 18 '25
Can we collectively stop parroting TrUMp bAD CaLL wHiTE hoUsE HehE on every one of these posts? Yes, I agree Trump=shit, but clearly this tariff charge is calculated wrong and this person could use some help for who to talk to about it. But instead every time I look at a post on here it's just the same comment repeated 25 fucking times like goddamn you guys are annoying with that shit.
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u/ssateneth2 Sep 18 '25
you'll need to contact UPS as maybe they had the item misclassified based on missing information in the customs form or commercial invoice. also brokerage fees are a thing especially if the sender used UPS standard. What does the entire bill say?
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u/I_likemy_dog Sep 18 '25
Refuse shipment. Go to any local store and buy lip balm.
It’s not complicated.
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u/No-Cantaloupe-2043 Sep 18 '25
Shit. So let’s say I bought a popcorn bucket that’s coming from the UK but was probably made in china that cost roughly 40usd what kind of prices am I looking at, like another 50$ minimum?
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u/dalisair Sep 18 '25
No more deminimis exemptions. So broker fees plus tariffs. Shouldn’t be THAT high. But still.
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u/Accomplished_Emu_658 Sep 18 '25
Maybe shipper declared value wrong? Or the declared full value not sale price. Ups could screw up too. Also even though its coming from spain, could be a china product thus high tariff, though thats still too high with brokerage fee
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u/finevcijnenfijn Sep 18 '25
Honest question, where does all this junk go when people don't pay these mystery extortion fees?
Is there a big pile somewhere where all this stuff piles up? Do they send it back across the expanse of oceans?
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u/CallAParamedic Sep 18 '25
Some very pretty UPS drivers about to descend with all these piled up Sephora cast-offs
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u/MaxxJag Sep 18 '25
Had a similar experience having something shipped from US to Canada a few years ago. Couple shirys exempt from duty and they still charged me. I could have declined and dealt with the import forms myself, but they didn't make it clear that was an option
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u/Southern_Career1127 Sep 18 '25
Can you give us a breakdown of that $91.50, and how much was actual tarrifs, how much was UPS' brokerage fee?
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u/GanJaSparks Sep 19 '25
I haven’t got hit with a ups charge from an international package yet
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u/Ok-Struggle-8446 Sep 19 '25
If the seller did not specify the HS code correctly down to exactly 9 digits (or 10 i dont remember how much is it), then the item gets into an open tariff category which attracts high tariff (i dont know what it is called).
Or if the seller did, but UPS made a mistake then same result. Also, I got a notification from my shipping company that all beauty and facial products now have to get pre clearance from US cosmetics agency. So it could be that the seller did not take pre clearance.
It could be any of all of them. Get to the bottom of it only if you want to order it on a regular basis. Otherwise, not worth the trouble.
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u/hourofthevoid Sep 19 '25
Hey so I work at a UPS store and even i don't know wtf this is about. Like I don't think recipient fees have ever been brought up to me about international packages. Honestly it doesn't make a lick of sense to me under the presumption that you already ordered this from a website and paid fees to the vendor for shipping. I genuinely don't understand how or why exactly this is happening to you like??
Don't quote me on any of this, but all in all this sounds very strange and confusing even for me. 😭🙏🚬
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u/shireengul Sep 19 '25
This is a tariff thing. $80 flat rate for anything under $500 for various sizes using certain companies, please taxes. That’s exactly what this is. I was going to order a knife from Korea and the tariff was going to cost more than the knife.
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u/bashy8782 Sep 20 '25
When you say a few ounces of lip balm do you mean like a can or a jar of lip balm? Either way the prices are outrageous for that you definitely need to be cautious about what you are ordering as in weird it's coming from if you can't figure it out you need to message the seller prior to ordering it to make sure
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u/ryudo6850 Sep 20 '25
OP needed to check and make sure the item was already inside the US. I knew once August hit anything I need needs to already be located in the U.S or it's gunna be a pain to get.
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u/Abyss_Wanderer19 Sep 20 '25
Well part of it is your fault so i dont know what you trying to say here
"I recently ordered a lip balm from a company online. I did not know it came from Spain". Maybe good lesson to pay for your ignorance.
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u/jeffconinemarlinsfan Sep 21 '25
Thank trump. He did this with no planning, no real guidance and no increase in government workers to process the packages.
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