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When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

oldvcr.blogspot.com

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Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#61

Post by rabf »

celeritascelery wrote: post #26

I had this happen to me on an order from Sweden. The order was about $450 + $50 shipping. I used an online tariff calculator and it said it should be 15%. So I was expecting ~$70. A few days before it is supposed to arrive UPS sends me a $242 bill for “tariffs, customs, and brokerage fees”. That basically made it 50% more expensive, but it was either pay it or loose the item. A month later they sent me an invoice tha…

Its funny how little US citizens know about this, meanwhile in the rest of the world we have been paying import duties our entire lives. When an item is posted abroad forms have to be filled detailing the sender, the nature of the goods and the value. Some sellers willl bend the law for you and decalre the value of the goods to be lower than what you actually paid if you ask nicely. The main danger being that if the parcel is lost the sender will lose out on any insurance claim.

The other option is to prepay tarrifs during the purchase of an item. Fedex and DHL usually offer this service which includes epedited customs clearance.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#63

Post by JKCalhoun »

varispeed wrote: post #12
JSR_FDED wrote: post #6

Tariffs are great. They protect the struggling domestic IT industry and gives it time to ramp up its production of vintage computer parts.

I know one US business that used to make niche electronic product. Most components they used were from China. Got hit by the tariffs that wiped all the operating profit. Guy also had to sell his home and is now couchsurfing. Business is unlikely going to recover. Of course he considered making chips and other components in the US, but he was few billions short to start the fab.

I stopped buying vintage cameras from Japan on eBay.

Well, there's always the next administration…

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#64

Post by lostlogin »

axiolite wrote: post #52
IncandescentGas wrote: post #19

I just got an invoice from ups to pay a $16 brokerage fee to jpmorgan for collecting a $0.60 tariff on a sticker included in a box with a custom keyboard shipped from Taiwan. Seems like wall street is making out better than the US on this arrangement

Yeah, I noped-out when I saw eBay's writeup on tariffs owed by the buyer (not paid by the seller): "Shipping carriers or US Customs usually charge $5–$30 in processing fees. Add the item price, import fees, and processing fees to estimate your final cost." https://pages.ebay.com/tariffs/ Not something I'm doing for a $5 item... I'll sit back and wait until the Supreme Court finds the tariffs are illegal, and the Fed…

How would this ever work?

The vast bulk of tariffs are surely paid by the buyer, not the seller.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#65

Post by herdymerzbow »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #42
varispeed wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know one US business that used to make niche electronic product. Most components they used were from China. Got hit by the tariffs that wiped all the operating profit. Guy also had to sell his home and is now couchsurfing. Business is unlikely going to recover. Of course he considered making chips and other components in the US, but he was few billions short to start the fab.

a purported niche/low-volume electronics, but the profit is somehow dependent on BOM price? a tariff bump on a small BOM doesn’t take you from profitable to homeless. if that happened, the business already had seriously bad margins, bad cash flow, over-leverage, or maybe he was just doing it out of love getting paid maybe back for his time or not. tariffs might’ve hurt, but they don’t collapse a healthy niche hardwar…

gamers nexus did a great (and very long) video on the impact of tariffs on US computer businesses. Some of the manufacturers went into quite a bit of detail breaking down their costs and how tariffs would render some products so unprofitable that they would cease to serve the US market. Not sure if it necessarily applies to a niche/low volume business, but the impacts on a larger business were eye opening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W_mSOS1Qts

tariffs have chopped and changed so much since this video that the specific tariff amounts mentioned are likely not accurate.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#66

Post by JKCalhoun »

axiolite wrote: post #52
IncandescentGas wrote: post #19

I just got an invoice from ups to pay a $16 brokerage fee to jpmorgan for collecting a $0.60 tariff on a sticker included in a box with a custom keyboard shipped from Taiwan. Seems like wall street is making out better than the US on this arrangement

Yeah, I noped-out when I saw eBay's writeup on tariffs owed by the buyer (not paid by the seller): "Shipping carriers or US Customs usually charge $5–$30 in processing fees. Add the item price, import fees, and processing fees to estimate your final cost." https://pages.ebay.com/tariffs/ Not something I'm doing for a $5 item... I'll sit back and wait until the Supreme Court finds the tariffs are illegal, and the Fed…

eBay has a checkbox for "Location: US Only" that I have never had to check before. I check it now.

Go, USA?

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#67

Post by lostlogin »

fzeroracer wrote: post #54

I had to pay a tariff charge of about $20 on an order of about $100 that I had placed about a year or so prior to this whole tariff bullshit. The idea that the president can decide to tariff whatever the fuck he wants is something that needs to go, since it's essentially levying taxes without representation. If somehow the current admin can't refund the money they stole from people then every single person involved s…

Imagine how non Americans feel about Trump. He is fucking with the worlds economy nearly as much as he is messing up the US economy, yet we get even less representation.

Retroactive taxes are clearly bs.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#68

Post by like_any_other »

JSR_FDED wrote: post #6

Tariffs are great. They protect the struggling domestic IT industry and gives it time to ramp up its production of vintage computer parts.

Too bad all the competent politicians were dead set against preventing the "free market" from hollowing out American manufacturing.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#69

Post by gopher_space »

nandomrumber wrote: post #56
mindcrime wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? No it's not, it's ... Hang on a sec... you sly devil, you! Not falling for that one. Hmmmpphhh.

Cunningham himself even claims it was a misquote, and that he never suggested such a thing.

“Shouting incorrect directions in Ironforge” predates Cunningham by several years in any case.
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