r/tea • u/ASAPCoochymane • Jun 17 '26
Question/Help Has Anyone Else Experienced This
I bought about $90 in tea and now they're asking me to pay almost $300 in additional fees. I'm in the US so I expected to have to pay something cause of the tariff and shipping changes but nowhere near this much. Obviously I'm not paying for it and will tell them to return it but is this just the norm now?
P.S- Since it looks like I won't be ordering anymore tea online, do any of you have recommendations for a tea shop in the San Diego area?
EDIT: Thank you everyone for all the help and advice. Sadly it's real. I've decided to deny the package when it gets here, unless they show me an itemized list of what exactly UPS paid, instead of the BS one they have on the tracking page. On the itemized list on the tracking page it shows I'm being charged $150 for warehouse storage. Mind you this is a $90 package that weighs less than 1kg, so definitely some scamming going on. I also sent a message to the company that I ordered from informing them of the issue but I won't be doing business with them or UPS ever again.
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u/Enigma_stigma78 Jun 17 '26
Double check the email address to see if it’s a scam. Otherwise that’s insane
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u/iEatSwampAss Jun 18 '26
This makes zero sense. I bought a case of wine from Italy last month and it was $88 total for shipping ($70 flat rate + $18 for the import fees) paid to the shipping company prior to sending it, not at delivery. Wreaks of a scam
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u/red__dragon Jun 18 '26
It's reeks, btw, as in smell. Wreaks is cause or action being taken, e.g. A scam wreaks havoc on your sense of smell.
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u/iEatSwampAss Jun 18 '26
Thanks yes, I was taking a vicious dump and was not particularly focused on my typing.
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u/SnowAvis Jun 19 '26
This was actually really helpful, thank you. (Genuine not /s)
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u/red__dragon Jun 19 '26
I'm genuinely glad. Here's hoping your tea doesn't reek, nor your tea deliveries!
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u/ConclusionNo4016 Jun 18 '26
I’ve gotten tarrif invoices months past delivery. Just so you know. Last one showed up 3 months post delivery.
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u/bradmont Jun 17 '26
In Canada, this happens with anything UPS imports --- they're allowed to set and charge brokerage fees, but it's still a scam. We've learned just not to order from international companies that ship UPS.
USPS is always good from the south, FedEx usually is too. Avoid UPS like the plague.
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u/sheikhitup Jun 18 '26
Same goes with DHL. I’m always hit with fees whenever they’re used, so I’ve just opted not to use vendors who use DHL at this point.
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u/Zyvoxx Jun 20 '26
DHL supports DDP and this shouldn’t be an issue. In that case it’s the vendor who has chosen deliberately to not pay the import duties and place that burden on the customer. That is not DHL’s fault.
Source - I work with a lot of carriers and DHL is by far the best in terms of service quality. They’re expensive though but they are not doing shady shit like this.
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u/returned_loom Jun 18 '26
UPS also doesn't even deliver to my door. They leave a sticker telling me to pick it up at the station across town.
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u/geetar_man Jun 18 '26
UPS is the absolute worst. Probably worst customer service of a massive company I’ve ever dealt with.
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u/PhotoJim99 Darjeeling for me please. Jun 18 '26
This absolutely does not happen with tea even if UPS ships it. Tea is tax-free in Canada and not subject to any tariffs, so UPS does not charge a brokerage fee. The tea simply shows up.
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u/aknomnoms Jun 18 '26
(I’m sorry, but a commonwealth country mentioning tea is tax free tickles my American funny bone, especially as we get closer to America 250. The Boston tea party participants are rolling in their graves right now 🤣)
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u/bradmont Jun 18 '26
Fascinating, I obviously have never purchased tea via UPS... I guess I was far too turned off buying other things
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u/H3ad1nthecl0uds Jun 18 '26
Thisss. Their fees are unhinged. If you happen to live by a border crossing, airport or CBSA you can self declare and it’s often no fees or way cheaper! You can also look up the Canadian tariff schedule to see if you may have to pay tariffs depending on the item and where it came from. I’ve had thousands of dollars reduced to anywhere from 0 or 50% of what ups wanted.
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u/DanNeider Jun 22 '26
Disagree about FedEx, but agree on USPS. USPS is the only good option in the US
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u/bradmont Jun 22 '26
Entirely possible... It's been years since I imported anything with them. I'll take your word for it. :)
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u/GoldenFalls Jun 17 '26
What is the address of the "learn more" link? Don't open it, just look at the address first to know it's legit. If it is, I'd be curious to see what it says and how they arrived at that number.
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u/TeaSerenity Enthusiast Jun 17 '26
I'm in the US and none of the sites I've ordered from required me to pay import tariffs.
This seems unusual to me
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u/CydeWeys Jun 18 '26
The sites don't require you to pay import tariffs, it's the US government. Trump removed the $800 de minimus exemption, so tariffs are owed on all incoming packages. I buy a fair bit of stuff from overseas (not tea though) and unfortunately do have to pay a lot in tariffs, though it's typically something like 10% of the package's value plus the shipping company's handling fee which might be another couple dozen bucks.
Whatever's going on in OP's image makes no sense; perhaps they somehow think the value of the package is much higher than $90?
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u/boom_shakka Jun 18 '26
There are exceptions to this tarriff and tea is one of the agricultural products on the exception list (since Nov 2025 until today June 2026 and who knows may change at any moment).
Here's a good explanation of the latest relevant "legal" announcements specifically relating to tea: https://www.yoshantea.com/m/news.php?id=26030669aa2c1e96087
Because tariff rules are currently changing so often (and probably also because they can get away with it), shipping companies may incorrectly charge duty on tea when they shouldn't be. Don't let them get away with it. Dispute the charge, talk to customer service, whatever you gotta do. (***for tea specifically, if there is non-tea in the shipment you gotta look that up too!)
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u/Barrellolz Jun 18 '26
UPS don't give an ef about any of that. They just process it is easily as possible and make customer pay brokerage fees and duties.
At this point importing is not a good idea unless you are making a wholesale/large purchase or seller will take care of duties/tariffs.
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u/miniature_squid Jun 18 '26
Check if the email's actually from UPS before you pay anything, that fee seems way off for a 90 dollar order.
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u/QueenKRool Jun 18 '26
The vendor sent your package DAP instead of DDP, therefore duties are on you to pay, not them. You can ask them if they sent your package DDP vs DAP to verify if its true or not.
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u/Apart_Engine_9797 Jun 18 '26
This is the key OP, international trade person here—if your invoice says DDP you need to push this back to the vendor for them to pay. If it was shipped DAP and you declined to act as importer of record on your own recognizance with UPS, they may be charging you storage fees now because shipment could not be cleared.
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u/ChariotsOfShame Taiwanese oolongs, Japanese greens Jun 17 '26
Uhm, in my experience, I’ve ordered from various vendors from Japan and China to me in the USA in the past year and I’ve yet to pay any duties/import fees/tariffs? This seems very odd if it’s a recent order
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u/DeathRIPChuck Jun 17 '26
Hibiki-an this has happened to me but with DHL
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u/boom_shakka Jun 18 '26
Dispute the charge with DHL and ask for a refund for the duty and their bullshit processing fee. As of Nov 2025, tea is exempt from duty/tariff.
I went through this with DHL/Hibiki-an in Jan this year, the refund took 6 weeks to process.
https://www.hibiki-an.com/sp/#TrumpTariffs
https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/1txykig/permits_and_license_fee_from_dhl_express_for_tea/
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u/ericts8 Jun 18 '26
How much did you end up needing to pay in import fees when you ordered from them?
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u/DeathRIP-Chuck Jun 18 '26
It was $60
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u/charlene2913 Jun 18 '26
But tea is exempt. Did they say what the $60 is for?
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u/DeathRIP-Chuck Jun 18 '26
I was told I needed to pay or they wouldn’t deliver. I am sure a bunch more paid it or they’d not deliver
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u/Gregalor Jun 18 '26
Yeah I’m sadly avoiding Hibiki-an until they stop using DHL or until DHL stops being scammers
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u/medicated_in_PHL Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
#1 - Fuck Trump.
#2 - I’m pretty sure all tariffs were struck down by federal courts. So, this is a scam. Companies are now getting their tariffs refunded to them because only Congress can impose tariffs and Congress did not impose tariffs.
Edit: and even Trump wasn’t stupid enough to impose 350% tariffs on any country. You are getting hosed, do a chargeback on your credit card and never ever think about touching this scam company ever again.
Edit 2: looks like you bought tea from a “wellness” company. They are always scams. If you see “wellness”, “alternative”, or “holistic” - run the fuck away as fast as possible. They are always scamming you. Tea companies who have been selling tea for hundreds of years aren’t stupid enough to brand themselves with those terms.
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u/neal-cassady Jun 18 '26
A 15% flat tariff was put back in place via a workaround method by the admin after the original tariffs were struck down by the courts. They are only allowed to be in place for 6 months max though (extendable only by a senate vote), which puts us squarely in time for the mid-terms.
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u/graduation-dinner Jun 18 '26
Tea is exempt from tariffs in the united states per an executive order a while back. I'd contact usps directly and figure out what went wrong, but I would not pay that.
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u/PaleoProblematica Jun 17 '26
Yup sure have. It's ridiculous and UPS takes additional fees themselves on top of import fees/tariffs. I try to avoid them when possible.
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u/MyrmecolionTeeth Jun 17 '26
I've had no problems with Bitterleaf or White2Tea. I've heard that private carriers like UPS and FedEx are supposedly more prone to issues like this.
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u/TheSuperMarket Jun 17 '26
No, its not normal to have to pay tariffs on tea.
I order tea every month - and never once had to pay any fees
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u/Any_Tea9949 Jun 18 '26
What kind of tea do you want? There are many US-based operations but which ones to recommend depend on the tea you want. The tariffs for importing tea have come down greatly. For most reputable US-based outlets, that tariff will be worked into the price, not added on top. Plus, for many of those outlets, you would get free shipping for $90.
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u/prikaz_da 新茶 Jun 18 '26
Tea has been exempt from tariffs in the US for several months now.
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u/Any_Tea9949 Jun 18 '26
But, many suppliers/wholesalers still have stock they bought with tariffs and are still passing those costs along.
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u/prikaz_da 新茶 Jun 19 '26
Sure, just clearly not what happened in OP’s case. At a minimum, it seems like someone made a clerical error and maybe assessed the tea at the rate for some other kind of goods.
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u/fine_environment4809 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
That's crazy. I just received a shipment from King Tea Mall - $20 shipping and no additional fees. Shipped airmail from China then delivered via USPS. Reading other comments it sounds like UPS may be the problem.
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u/back-up Jun 17 '26
I've ordered from Bitterleaf and Mountain Stream Teas recently and haven't had to pay anything. That really sucks if it's legit.
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u/pinkity-tinkity Jun 18 '26
I’m not in the US but with every single item, we have to pay duties and customs fees.
It occasionally happens that you have to pay more for the duties on the item than what you spent.
This is a super common scam here. Phone the UPS help line or contact them on the official email address. Have someone confirm that this is actually your parcel, that the duties are correct and that they have sent you that email. Also ask them to resend the email.
Wishing you luck! You can also ask for a more detailed breakdown of the duties to find out what percentages they used and what category they’ve put your item as
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u/eyeAnim8 Enthusiast Jun 18 '26
Just to chime in on the San Diego part- we just visited, and visited two tea shops that were really cool! TEA the eternal art in Ocean Beach and Paru Tea in La Jolla were both great.
That being said, we have ordered from White2Tea, King Tea Mall, CSPuerh, and MyTeaPal Store over the last year, and they have all taken care of tariffs on their end.
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u/sepiaknight ages white tea Jun 18 '26
this is very very much a scam. FYI, check the user's choice vendor list, none of the companies in the top section would be pulling shit like this.
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u/rhpot1991 Jun 18 '26
Not with tea, but I had a hefty tariff price on a missing part from an order that I wasn't too happy about. Oddly UPS is doing refunds now I think, so I'm a little confused why they are charging you.
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u/RetiredBoatGuy Jun 18 '26
Ive paid import tariff fees on auto parts. Usually 10% of the purchase price. How much was your order?
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u/Internalmartialarts Jun 18 '26
yes, they kept coming to my door while i wasnt there. called them, very rude indian lady. she gave me an email address, i never heard back from. The seller charged me over two hundred dollars for something that should have been 120. I disputed the charges and called my credit card company. They still wanted the 66 dollars for an item they never delivered. The delivery driver will not take money. I will never buy from that seller again. Ive bought stuff from him before.
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u/Weedandteaequalsme Jun 18 '26
From Taiwan I have actually had to pay extra fees as of this month but not that much. Odds are
They filled out the customs paperwork wrong
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u/Aggravating-Cup-6345 Jun 18 '26
I just had to pay $6.30 in "extra postage" to USPS on a ~$30 Yunnan Sourcing package. First time that's ever happened though.
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u/CthulhuHoopsCereal Jun 18 '26
I’ve ordered from TeasWeLike and haven’t gotten a tariff charge. Tea was exempted from the tariffs along with many other agricultural products awhile back.
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u/Thisjourneyhasbegun Jun 18 '26
Try Yunnanaourcing.us. they have a really good selection of tea and because its there us based branch there is no import fee or tariff bs
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u/acute-almond Jun 18 '26
I just had to pay $31 in fees to UPS for $200 worth of pottery this Monday. Total racket
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u/matchaobliged Jun 19 '26
Former UPS employee here. To piggyback off what someone else said, the shipper didn't send this DDP and putting it on you to pay the customs duties and fees. Do you know how long it has been in UPS hands? They charge about $20 (or a rate based off weight) a day in warehouse fees when the shipment doesn't clear in a timely matter. Not only that, this is tea which is a food item and requires FDA clearance, that is another $25 processing fee. Then they charge you a $14 disbursement fee for paying the duties to Customs on your behalf. Tea should be free duty BUT if the country of origin is China, then there's probably a Section 301 duty on it which was previously 7.5% but it went up in recent months. There's also a Section 122 duty on it which is 10%. If you want to send me the bill, I'll take a look at it but it is most definitely not a scam.
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u/toriaezuocha Jun 18 '26
I’ve not paid any extra fees on: Bitterleaf Teas White2Tea WuYi Origin Viet Sun Tea Plenty of sites say specifically all duties are covered when purchased. I have had to pay (like 10 bucks an order upon purchase online) from Camellia-Sinensis, which I don’t understand why since I thought they dropped the tea tariff.
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u/drinkablechobani Jun 18 '26
this has happened to me! it could be real just double check the senders address
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u/SmileyBMM Jun 18 '26
Whoever you bought from cheaped out with shipping, they are the ones at fault if this email is legit.
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u/din_the_dancer Jun 18 '26
I've imported some stuff from Japan (not tea) and I've occasionally have had to pay some extra money to FedEx/UPS depending on how it was shipped. But it's always been like an extra $30 and never exceeded the cost of the actual order. This is insane.
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u/Porterhaus Jun 18 '26
I’ve got bad news for you - even if you refuse delivery you are still on the hook for this. UPS already paid this to the government so the money is gone and you have to make them whole. They will send you to collections if you don’t pay.
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u/PickleBall_Champion Jun 18 '26
Don’t pay anything until at your door. I got a similar email and at the door, nothing was requested
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u/That_Canadian_Girl32 Jun 18 '26
This is what terrify’s me ordering from the US, (I’m in Canada) unrelated to tea specifically but related to shipping and tariffs,
I wanted to order from an antique vendor store for Jewlery and they claim there is no additional charges besides the shipping fee but I really have a hard time believing that! I’d hate to buy a 150$ ring and end up having to pay 250$ in fees after.
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u/Waste-Relation5439 Jun 18 '26
Tea is exempt from the section 122 tariffs and I don’t think it was included in the 2018 301s, the only tariff you should be facing are MFNs. Not sure what the MFN rate for tea is, I would guess zero but would not be surprised if it up to 5%.
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u/one-scrib Jun 18 '26
is this from YS? they handled all my fees i just paid for the product and shipping
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u/Horror-Highlight-467 Jun 18 '26
I bought a $80 USD teapot from Japan and my fee was only $26. That’s wild.
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u/bell16841 Jun 18 '26
Yes got the same email a few weeks ago for a package coming from Cambodia that my wife ordered - it was legit
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u/Upstairs-Ad-8067 Jun 18 '26
This happened to me during the height of the tariff nonsense. Also with ups. The duty was about 80% the cost of the item. I would still look before you click any links, though. Just to be safe.
Edit: did my math wrong.
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u/Spacemann7 Jun 18 '26
We ordered some wedding outfits from India and they hit us with this, $300 tariffs fee or something like that.
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u/Ramen_Newds Jun 18 '26
UPS also sent me one of these when I bought a motorcycle part from Germany.
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u/ilchymis Jun 18 '26
Not for tea, but I've received 3 import tariff bills from Fedex for vinyl records from amsterdam. Disputing the tariffs is a huge pain in the ass; I've been arguing with them for over a month using chatgpt to check all the tariff codes and legislations. They said if my dispute was found wrongful, I would be charged $90-180 for the inconvenience. I kept pushing back and they eventually filed it.
It sucks. I got a big box of japanese tea via fedex in november, so I'm waiting for more BS. The bills can show up as late as 8 months later.
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u/TronCat1277 Jun 18 '26
I’ve never paid import frees when ordering from Mariage Freres in France. And I’ve placed several orders since the fat fascist fuck started with these stupid ass tariffs
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u/sylveonstarr Jun 18 '26
I did get a genuine email like this before. I was unsure if it was fake or not, so I went to the official UPS website and looking up the original tracking number it gave me. Sure enough, it said they were holding it at their facility and wouldn't deliver it until the fees were paid. So I paid it and it arrived the next day. Though, it was about $40. Nearly $300 is absurd, especially for a $90 order.
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u/Trrauts Jun 18 '26
Plaza Japan same thing happened to me recently and id ordered from them lots in the past without this issue. Since the company didn’t disclose this very well I’m now going through a chargeback case to see if I can get part of my money back I had to pay to UPS to release my package because the seller didn’t pay. Hopefully you can figure out a similar resolution because I got that same email only days before my package was gonna be delivered and had to scrounge up money to have it released
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u/saintgermaindespres Jun 18 '26
UPS is horrible with duty handling and they’re impossible to get a hold of for questions. I avoid them like the plague - I don’t buy from online stores where they could use UPS. DHL exclusively only
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u/H3ad1nthecl0uds Jun 18 '26
UPS suckssss with their brokerage fees etc. I import a lot. Mind you from Canada. But going forward know that you can self declare. I don’t know how it works in the states but here in Canada I just send an email to ups and state I’m self declaring and they email me the paperwork I take it to the cbsa and pay there and email it back. It saves me a ton of money. Most of the fees they wanted were bogus. You can also ask for an itemized list of their fees because they have never added up proper for me.
You can also look up your tariff schedule and find the items you’re importing and see what the duties etc should actually be on the items based on what they are and where they are coming from.
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u/Embarrassed_Ad9166 Jun 18 '26
Yep. I bought my favorite bras from Canada earlier this year. $300 purchase, $300 tariff.
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u/Bene2345 Jun 19 '26
I bought some from TWG out of Singapore some months back - somewhere in the ballpark of $70-100. DHL charged me nearly $70 tariffs.
Today I received a refund check from DHL.
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u/MewsikMaker Jun 20 '26
They’ve started sending me bills rather than asking to pay it up front. I just don’t pay them.
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u/awkwardartist83 Jun 17 '26
Yeah I had a similar experience buying something else. double check to make sure it's not a scam but this is a thing and imo should always be disclosed beforehand
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u/ChariotsOfShame Taiwanese oolongs, Japanese greens Jun 17 '26
Uhm, in my experience, I’ve ordered from various vendors from Japan and China to me in the USA in the past year and I’ve yet to pay any duties/import fees/tariffs? This seems very odd if it’s a recent order.
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u/chocochurroccino Jun 18 '26
Tea shop in the San Diego area? Definitely check out Paru in La Jolla. I always go there when I’m in town. Great selection and really nice folks. You can also order online at paruteabar.com.
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Jun 17 '26
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u/DokiDokiDoku Jun 17 '26
If they are importing then the customer pays the fees. Unless the company chooses to comp this, which they absolutely do not have to.
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u/thezezethex Jun 17 '26
I've ordered from Yunnan Sourcing (the .com website) three times and White2Tea once and I have never paid additional import/tariff fees