Sold a used book (Canada to USA), buyer got a huge duty fee. Books should be duty free, no?

Summary: wax.nostalgic shares their experience of selling a used book from Canada to the USA, noting that the buyer was unexpectedly charged a large duty fee upon receipt. They express confusion, as they believe that books should be duty-free in this situation. slippinjimmy and marnotom! respond, but their comments do not add any additional information to the discussion.

I sell a lot of books on eBay, often shipping to the USA from Canada. To my knowledge, none of my buyers have been hit with big duty/import fees. I believe books are duty-free.

Anyway, I sold a book to a buyer in the USA for $580 USD. I shipped via UPS Standard as I always do, and they are now being told they need to pay $245 USD to get the book. That's a crazy amount! That's like almost half the value of the book.

The buyer refuses to accept the book, but still WANTS it, so they asked me to contact UPS. I reached out and they told me to fill out a form so I did, and now I'm waiting to hear back, but I'm not very hopeful.

I'm not sure why this happened, again, since books are duty free. I included the proper HTS code for books as I usually do. I'm hoping UPS has made an error in classifying the item.

Has anyone had this happen before? What is the likely outcome? Also, if the buyer refuses will the book be sent back to me? And if so, will I have to pay the $245 USD? What a headache of a situation.

Thanks

wax.nostalgic

237 View listings

Posted 4 months ago·Last reply 4 months ago

2 comments

marnotom!

·4 months ago

10 View listings

The charges may not be for duty (or, more accurately, tariffs). There’s a lot of other stuff UPS can and will ding the importer for. Until you’re actually able to see the invoice, you won’t know exactly what skulduggery they came up with, but this page may help you get started:

https://www.ups.com/us/en/shipping/international-shipping/import-fees

slippinjimmy

·4 months ago

4 View listings

Your mistake was using UPS for a cross border transaction especially with a US destination.

If the buyer refuses the shipment you will still be on the hook by UPS for brokerage fees and any tariff/duty and it may cost you even more money to cover the return costs.

If you had shipped via Canada Post there would have been no duty and only a tiny service fee ($2 - $3).

Buying & Selling

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Sold a used book (Canada to USA), buyer got a huge duty fee. Books should be duty free, no?

I sell a lot of books on eBay, often shipping to the USA from Canada. To my knowledge, none of my buyers have been hit with big duty/import fees. I believe books are duty-free.

I'm not sure why this happened, again, since books are duty free. I included the proper HTS code for books as I usually do. I'm hoping UPS has made an error in classifying the item.

Has anyone had this happen before? What is the likely outcome? Also, if the buyer refuses will the book be sent back to me? And if so, will I have to pay the $245 USD? What a headache of a situation.

Thanks

wax.nostalgic

237 View listings

Posted 4 months ago·Last reply 4 months ago

2 comments

marnotom!

·4 months ago

10 View listings

https://www.ups.com/us/en/shipping/international-shipping/import-fees

slippinjimmy

·4 months ago

4 View listings

Your mistake was using UPS for a cross border transaction especially with a US destination.

If the buyer refuses the shipment you will still be on the hook by UPS for brokerage fees and any tariff/duty and it may cost you even more money to cover the return costs.

If you had shipped via Canada Post there would have been no duty and only a tiny service fee ($2 - $3).