Extra costs due to tariff & shipping company processing fee (EU to US)

[Einst_Stein]

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Anyone has purchase camera accessory from EU (to US)? What's the extra cost due to tariff and the shipping company processing fee?

I am considering purchasing some Leica accessories (cable, flash, etc.) from EU, the price is around $200~$300 each. A typical tariff is around 15% to be collected by the shipping company (Fedex etc.). Besides, the shipping company may also charge some clearancce fee and processing fee. The shipping company processoing fee is likea big black hole. I saw someone paid over $2000 for that for an item of a few hundred $. Horrible.

Anyone here has personal expereinces? in the past few month (after August?)

Edited yesterday at 05:41 AM by Einst_Stein

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[250swb]

A month ago you had an allowance of $800 tax free imports irrespective of tariffs, but now it's nothing and you have to pay tax on the whole amount. In the UK the US customer has to either pay 10% extra to cover the exporters up front tariff costs when normal Royal Mail postage is calculated, so the exporter has to pay the tariff for you at the Post Office Counter. Or you have to go with FedEx, etc. who will charge the exporter or the importer depending on the box that's ticked when booking the parcel.

I've not tested it but if FedEx don't have to collect the tax from you in the US and it's been paid in the UK that is one bit less admin so you may not get charged a handling fee, but don't quote me on that. But I don't think you'll find any exporting businesses willing to pay a 10% US tax for you, and I imagine this goes for the EU as well. So from this side of The Pond you'll pay 10% US tax if importing from the UK, and 15% tax importing from the EU (or say Japan).

The whole postal system has been thrown into chaos and I'm not sure even the big shipping companies know how to handle it efficiently yet. For example eBay's Global Shipping Programme needs to know the country the goods are manufactured in, so somebody in the US may buy an item on eBay UK thinking it's a 10% tariff but may have to pay a 55% China tariff.

Edited yesterday at 07:51 AM by 250swb

[Chris W]

I'm not sure if the handling fees have gone away now most couriers require the seller to pay US takes before shipping. But previously the handling charges were quite high.

I would investigate. 

[Einst_Stein]

The 10% or 15% tariff is predictable. It is proportional to the price of the item.

The worse could be the shipping company handling fee. I've heard it could be shocking high. This is the part I want to find out.