Canada to USA UPS Fees
Is this normal? Has anyone else gotten anything like this lately from eBay/UPS? I bought a bunch of old computer parts from Canada, maybe $15 worth or something like that, and I got this eMail today!
Seller shipped UPS, and I knew about the tariffs that were happening months ago but thought those were over with already months ago and UPS was not one of the companies that enforced tarrifs? I have already bought goods from china before and faced no tarrifs. I figured if there was, it would be maybe $10 in charges? But neither eBay nor the seller told me they would QUADRUPLE the cost I paid for the item....on top of what I already paid for the item! So all together I paid nearly $100 for a handful of used old PC parts from 25 years ago that are worth maximum $10 at best.
I already paid the fees to UPS because the item arrives within the next 48 hours and evidently according to UPS, YOU HAVE TO or you can face a lawsuit and debt collection, but I am not happy about this. Should I file a negative feedback with the seller? This does not seem right that it should be THIS high.
I just double checked the listing and they said in the listing the shipping is set "Canada Post Tracked Packet - USA" - nothing about UPS. Google's AI overview says Canada Post parcels DO NOT go through UPS at any point at all, so I think the seller changed the shipper separately from what they had in the listing.
ryry-jj
·1 year agoBottom line, too....its the buyers responsibility to know and understand all the fees they will be paying by importing an item... sellers often times will have no idea what all the fees will be. Just as domestically, I have no idea what a buyer will be charged for sales tax
unemployed_husky
OP1 year agoI've bought international goods for the past 20 years on eBay several times. From camera batteries to fully assembled vacuum cleaners. Never had to pay import duties or customs fees at all on anything. And it's hard to find any information about any tariff laws because they all have different dates, rules, regulations. Some stuff has to be made here, made there, this takes effect this week, that takes affect next week. or we took this one away but here's 15 more. I've been looking for the past 5 hours what the tarrifs rates are and don;t know anything more than when I started!
doc-holmes
·1 year agoI don't know how anyone can figure out what's what. Tarrifs on, tarrifs off, tarrifs up, tarrifs down, now it's this country now it's that county. Good luck.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoUPS is notorious for charging brokerage fees on delivery of international shipments.
If the seller changed the carrier I suggest messaging the seller. But since you already prepaid the fees, there's not much you can do.
Edit: Are you sure those aren't tariffs? How much was the original item?
The latest update posted on https://pages.ebay.com/tariffs/ says the tariffs on Chinese goods was lowered from 145% to 30%.
Does the amount you paid equal 30%?
Wait - I just reread and see the item was about $15 - how much was the total with shipping?
unemployed_husky
OP1 year agoYeah I just ate the money because there's no time left to dispute anything (the eMail came just an hour ago saying its arriving tomorrow) and will note to never buy Canada items again. 😓
Paid
(converted from CAD $37.09)
UPS Charges
Government: $7.52
Brokerage: $44.50
The goods were used and old PC parts, not anything new and not coming from China. Coming from Canada. The UPS charges are tacked on on top of what I already paid for the item, what I paid for the item is not part of the UPS price. UPS said in their eMail "Additional charges may have been applied based on recent tariff policy changes." Not sure if these are actually related to that or not. But again seller didn't say in the auction it was being sent UPS, and I never knew about these fees.
lacemaker3
·1 year agoAll computer parts were made in China. It doesn't matter where they are being shipped from, what matters is where they were manufactured.
These are tariffs on goods from China (the only country that currently has tariffs imposed AFAIK), and the UPS brokerage fee. UPS has already paid the tariffs to the USA government on your behalf. Now you get to pay them.
unemployed_husky
OP1 year agoEven if they are from 2 decades ago and the companies that made them no longer even exist? They are goods that were already sold in the US/Canada market. And USED at that. Not even new.
lacemaker3
·1 year agoYes, unfortunately. Those are the rules. Only goods manufactured in China or Hong Kong currently have tariffs. But that includes all computer parts, unless they are clearly labelled that they were manufactured somewhere else.
It might have been worse if they had been shipped USPS. There was something about a per package charge of $100 for USPS shipments, possibly in place of tariffs and brokerage fees. I haven't heard how that worked out.
It will get worse. The tariffs on all other countries were only "paused". Now the letters have gone out with renewed threats to reinstate them as of August 1.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoAh, thanks for the financial breakdown. So yeah - the bulk is brokerage fees as I initially stated and the balance is tariffs as expected.
[Ignore the strikethrough edit - updated info in following posts.]
lacemaker3
·1 year ago@wastingtime101 and @unemployed_husky,
I'm not sure that is correct.
The last announcement I remember reading, spoke about USPS charging a $100 per-package fee, which I think it was in place of the tariffs. If that is still in place, then the fees would have been even higher if this had been shipped by post office.
I think the government did this to discourage the use of post office shipping for lower value packages, to reduce the volume that the USPS would have to handle. USPS did not have the infrastructure or processes in place to handle tariffs.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoI'll 100% defer to you @lacemaker3 . You've followed tariffs much more closely than I have.
Maybe the seller did you a favor @unemployed_husky , as insane as that may sound.
----------
OK, I looked it up and found for low value items going through USPS:
The tariff was lowered to 54% from 120%, or a flat fee of $100 per package.
I believe they charge whicher is higher, so the seller actually saved the buyer $48 by switching up the carrier. Crazy.
lacemaker3
·1 year ago"Crazy."
Yes, good word for it.
unemployed_husky
OP1 year agoWell thats both good and bad.....I guess???? 🙈
In any case I paid the fees - but I will be continually avoiding anything I see coming from Canada or outside of the country from now on. I have seen many people in posts that have bought appliances and been charged $800 for a $200 appliance and got taken hard.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoI concur - both good and bad.
I think it's more about avoiding products made in China & Hong Kong shipping from anywhere outside the US. Not about avoiding buying from Canada / internationally in general. Since so much is made in China / Hong Kong - just gotta be diligent to make sure there's a made in any other country label on the item / listing if purchasing from outside the US.
Of course the easier option is to stick to domestic purchases. Things are so crazy right now. Do whatever works for ya, man.