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With 30% of the S&P 500 represented by only 7 companies, immense over building in AI, and the Ponzi of crypto, the coming recession should be a real hoot!
Like 2008 on steroids.
meanwhile the rich keep getting richer. i'm just glad all my sacrificing through life is finally having meaning and i'm semi comfortable even after losing my career.
but these fees don't make sense, the tarriffs aren't that high on these countries shipping these items.
meanwhile the rich keep getting richer. i'm just glad all my sacrificing through life is finally having meaning and i'm semi comfortable even after losing my career.
but these fees don't make sense, the tarriffs aren't that high on these countries shipping these items.
Reduce the labor force, increase labor costs.
Tariff imports, domestic production rises to match.
Increase prices to distributors, increase product costs.
"It’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $10?"
~ Lucille Bluth
Thought I give you guys an update and review.On 8 Sep 25 I ordered a single item, a plastic headlight cover, from Amayama Trading Co in Japan. The price was $104.73
They shipped the part on 9 Sep 25. The shipping cost was 63.56.
I received an email from UPS the item cleared customs on 10 Sep 25. And that I would owe $269.43 duty and fees upon delivery
I immediately informed UPS via phone and email I would not accept package or pay the due amount because it was obviously wrong. UPS Brokerage said they would investigate.
The package arrived on 11 Sep 25, and I told the driver to take it back because I would not be paying the duty. I told him that his dispatching office should hold on to it as the issue was being worked on by UPS.
On 14 Sep 25, UPS brokerage emailed me the duty and fee were $29.43 and $14.00, respectively. They provided a number to call and pay the amount due, which I did after waiting on hold 1hour and 22 minutes. The amount due was different from what UPS Brokerage told me, $55.43, but I paid anyway. I was told during the payment process that I would receive a receipt via email, and the package would be released within 24 hours. Neither occurred.
On 16 Sep 25 I inquired of UPS Brokerage on the status of the package. They gave me a number to call. The automated call informed me the package was being returned to the sender (Japan). After 1.5 hours holding, I finally got a human who said the package would be released and I would receive it in 1-3 days
Today is day three, no package.
Lessons learned: purchase in the US if you can and call to verify it is IN INVENTORY in the US. Don’t us UPS if you have a choice. I’m sure they are overwhelmed by the government's “de minimus” changes (i.e. every import no matter how inexpensive is subject to the tariff), but they are not very responsive. Most of the time, I had to ask myself if this was all a scam. Here is the cost of my journey:
Here is a consolidated box from Buyee that came today. It was shipped from Tokyo on Monday. It cost about C$200 for air mail and, for some reason, Canada Post did not bother to collect duties.
Semail would have been about C$60 (6-12 weeks)., but i wanted the brand new 17" caliper hangers asap.
Given the cost difference between JP and USA parts I was seeing pre-tariffs, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was still less total from JP. It mght help to look/shop around. Every part I ordered was always way higher at Amayama than where i ended up purchasing them (two 13B engines worth of irons, housings, and rotors).
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Thought I give you guys an update and review.On 8 Sep 25 I ordered a single item, a plastic headlight cover, from Amayama Trading Co in Japan. The price was $104.73
They shipped the part on 9 Sep 25. The shipping cost was 63.56.
I received an email from UPS the item cleared customs on 10 Sep 25. And that I would owe $269.43 duty and fees upon delivery
I immediately informed UPS via phone and email I would not accept package or pay the due amount because it was obviously wrong. UPS Brokerage said they would investigate.
The package arrived on 11 Sep 25, and I told the driver to take it back because I would not be paying the duty. I told him that his dispatching office should hold on to it as the issue was being worked on by UPS.
On 14 Sep 25, UPS brokerage emailed me the duty and fee were $29.43 and $14.00, respectively. They provided a number to call and pay the amount due, which I did after waiting on hold 1hour and 22 minutes. The amount due was different from what UPS Brokerage told me, $55.43, but I paid anyway. I was told during the payment process that I would receive a receipt via email, and the package would be released within 24 hours. Neither occurred.
On 16 Sep 25 I inquired of UPS Brokerage on the status of the package. They gave me a number to call. The automated call informed me the package was being returned to the sender (Japan). After 1.5 hours holding, I finally got a human who said the package would be released and I would receive it in 1-3 days
Today is day three, no package.
Lessons learned: purchase in the US if you can and call to verify it is IN INVENTORY in the US. Don’t us UPS if you have a choice. I’m sure they are overwhelmed by the government's “de minimus” changes (i.e. every import no matter how inexpensive is subject to the tariff), but they are not very responsive. Most of the time, I had to ask myself if this was all a scam. Here is the cost of my journey:
Cost of part $104.73
Shipping $63.56
UPS brokerage and handling fees: $26.00
Import Duty: $29.43
Total 223.72 (I’m I stupid or what??!)
I just had the opposite experience with UPS. I ordered the R Magic ignition coil kit (adds a separate lead coil and a new ignitor with a second lead coil output- adds 300% increased current for the ignition) and harness (which adds a separate direct + power wire to battery and separate ground) from Japan. It shipped this last Wednesday; UPS notified me Thursday by email as to the duty owed (15% tariff and $14 service fee) and simply click on the pay button on the email. You had a choice of PayPal, CC, Bank debit, and Apple Pay. I clicked on PayPal and paid the fee, and it instantly changed the screen with the receipt for printing. My package arrived on Friday with no problem at all. I literally received the package in 2 days from Japan with standard shipping and had zero problem with the duty. I live in the Huntsville, AL area. Maybe it is your local UPS screwing up? Also, make sure your shipper has and uses your email address when they ship it so that UPS can email you.
So last weekend I ordered a CANchecked MCE18 (v3) CAN I/O expansion box from a motorsports parts retailer in Sweden. This box lets me add additional analog & digital I/O to my aftermarket Link ECU via CAN bus. Total cost I paid was $188.62 (US$) for the part, plus $14.70 for the FEDEX international shipping from Sweden/EU. The CANchecked MCE18 is made in Germany (EU), so I assumed I'd have to pay some sort of tariff on it. I assumed that FEDEX would hit me up to pay the tariff when it arrived in the US, prior to delivery. According to the FEDEX tracking info, it looks like that's not going to happen - it's supposed to be delivered tomorrow, with no additional asks from FEDEX for tariff payment (see screenshot). I'll know for sure when I see the status change to "Out for Delivery", and it arrives tomorrow without being held up for more $. But if a tariff were due, wouldn't FEDEX have held my package and billed me for the tariff when it first arrived in the USA at the FEDEX hub in Memphis?
Funny thing is I initially shopped all the US based dealers of the German CANchecked products first, figuring that if they had it in stock, I'd avoid the tariff. Several US dealers had it in stock, but the lowest price I could find for it was $265 + shipping. That's a pretty substantial difference from the $188.62 + $14.70 shipping I paid, so I took a gamble on the Swedish vendor to get me the part.
So last weekend I ordered a CANchecked MCE18 (v3) CAN I/O expansion box from a motorsports parts retailer in Sweden. This box lets me add additional analog & digital I/O to my aftermarket Link ECU via CAN bus. Total cost I paid was $188.62 (US$) for the part, plus $14.70 for the FEDEX international shipping from Sweden/EU. The CANchecked MCE18 is made in Germany (EU), so I assumed I'd have to pay some sort of tariff on it. I assumed that FEDEX would hit me up to pay the tariff when it arrived in the US, prior to delivery. According to the FEDEX tracking info, it looks like that's not going to happen - it's supposed to be delivered tomorrow, with no additional asks from FEDEX for tariff payment (see screenshot). I'll know for sure when I see the status change to "Out for Delivery", and it arrives tomorrow without being held up for more $. But if a tariff were due, wouldn't FEDEX have held my package and billed me for the tariff when it first arrived in the USA at the FEDEX hub in Memphis
Funny thing is I initially shopped all the US based dealers of the German CANchecked products first, figuring that if they had it in stock, I'd avoid the tariff. Several US dealers had it in stock, but the lowest price I could find for it was $265 + shipping. That's a pretty substantial difference from the $188.62 + $14.70 shipping I paid, so I took a gamble on the Swedish vendor to get me the part.
I've had FedEx call me after the fact asking if I placed an order from Germany, I said no because I had forgotten about it because they were calling 2 months after I received the item. I had actually returned it back to Germany because the product was crap and not as advertised, so I didn't bother calling them back. This was before the new tarrifs came into effect, so not sure they still operate like that.
Here in Norway, we have had to deal with this many many years.
We have always had to pay VAT (25%) on all items and a tariff on some items (clothing, cheese, rubber cucumbers and vaseline etc). Previously there was a limit at "over 300NOK" but now that is gone.
In their endless wisdom, our great leaders decided that foreign online sellers would be required to register and collect tax for us on all items priced less than 300USD if they sell for more than 50k NOK (5k USD) to Norway.
This tax needs to be declared in the "digital booking solution" of the shipper. Most actual "stores" manage to get this correct, since they have electronic shipping solutions.
Now, enter ebay, etsy and all other marketplaces like them. I buy an item. They collect VAT on behalf of the seller. The seller then ship themselves. Most of them from the local postal service office.
None of the postal services support the required digital customs declaration that we require to "private" customers. You need a business acount for that.
So now Ebay collect VAT, the package ships, there is no digital decleration of VAT attached to the package information, and thus our local postal service also collect VAT. (So in total we end up paying 56% VAT lol)
Ebay does refund this VAT to us in these cases, but this is not the case for all of them. Etsy is hard to deal with, and also Bricklink (i build LEGO ok!).
DHL is pretty good and will send me a tax bill through either email or sms as soon as it is imported, and i can pay using an online form.
UPS is super slow and usually it takes around 30 days from recieving the package to recieving the bill. In most case the payment deadline for the bill is expired by the time i get it x)
FedEx and USPS hand their packages over to the Norwegian Postal service. They have a pretty smooth solution where the bill is sent out instantly when the package is important, and i can view all details in their app. I cant collect the package before the bill is paid for.
FedEx can be nasty and mail you the bill after the delivery... I'm not in the US but have had this happen several times.
Hoping you got lucky..
Well if they do mail me a bill after delivery, and I don't have an account with FEDEX or credit card on file with them, how do they collect? If that DOES happen, I think I'll forward my tariff bill to the moron residing in the White House, since he claimed in his campaign that foreign countries would pay the tariffs, not American citizens.
Anyway, it arrived today with no added tariff bills in the package...
Box unpacked... Proof it was made in an EU country
Originally Posted by Redbul
Yeah, I get FEDEX invoices sometimes several months after the shipment arrives. By that time I have forgotten what invoice is related to.
The stuff that comes from Japan is super smooth and the Fedex rates seem to be very reasonable.
I usually get an email asking to pay charges before delivery.
Just had 2 separate orders delivered from nengun over the last week. First one, totaling $150, was delivered DHL with no tariffs assessed. The second one, with about $800 in parts, had a tariff of $137 (120 tariff, 18 in fees). The tariff had to paid before delivery with DHL. Overall it was a pretty seamless experience. i did not like giving them information containing my SSN but without a business EIN there is no other way to pay the duty.
On a side note, Amayama appears to add the duty at purchase time so it may make things easier to buy from them in the future.
For some reason one shipper from Japan includes the following warning in their emails:
* IF CUSTOMS/DHL REQUEST ANY CLEARANCE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT US FIRST, DONT SEND THEM ANY BANK TRANSFER RECEIPTS!!!!
I bought a few things out of Malaysia and DHL was used. Coincidently, I started getting fraud response request in my voicemail giving fake tracking numbers.
I'd say watch out for fake duty payment request scams. May be best to log onto DHL/Fedex, etc. direct to pay any fees in advance.
That’s exactly what I ended up doing. Received a text and email saying duty needed to be paid. Just logged on to their website and put in waybill number to pay it. I never click through links on email or text.
I just received a new ring and pinion gearset from Australia via FedEx. Other than it being hung up in US Customs for several days it seems to have gone through without any issue since I don’t have a FedEx account.
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I've ordered several things from Japan this year and only paid a tariff to DHL on one of them. The set of wheels I ordered I had originally air freighted, but the company I bought those from said that would get hit by a tariff because it was going via USPS and they were tracking stuff more closely, so they recommended sea freight as they had a container going out that week if I could wait a month. They said they were absorbing the tariffs on the sea freight, but based on the two different stories in the same conversation. I'm guessing they are undervaluing stuff in bulk sea freight as its harder to check everything in a container vs 4 boxes getting air freighted. Or sea freighting via a lower tariff country. I also bought a diffuser that came from Asia and the ship carrying it caught on fire and the company I bought it from said they would loose a lot of money if their container got damaged because the stuff was devalued to save on tariffs and the insurance claim wouldn't cover the cost of it. Fortunately the container wasn't damaged and my diffuser it is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Everyone is playing games to work the system.
If that DOES happen, I think I'll forward my tariff bill to the moron residing in the White House, since he claimed in his campaign that foreign countries would pay the tariffs, not American citizens. 
