Reamed By UPS…

[bluegrassbrian]

I placed an order at SPC.eu over the weekend, though I’m regretting it now.

$250 order..




I buy/sell internationally with some frequency. In the last two weeks I’ve spent over $300 in Italy and almost $1k in France. Neither of those shipments incurred extra fees. Seems to me getting bent over on these charges is random.

 

[xrundog]

It is random. By law, you should be getting hit for import fees on every single package. But you’re not. So good for you.

 

[Hillcrest]

I placed an order at SPC.eu over the weekend, though I’m regretting it now.

$250 order..

View attachment 406227


I buy/sell internationally with some frequency. In the last two weeks I’ve spent over $300 in Italy and almost $1k in France. Neither of those shipments incurred extra fees. Seems to me getting bent over on these charges is random.

I would question that with either SPC.eu or with a governmental agency ... How is the bokerage fee more than the Tariff ? I can see the first not the second. Check the federal statute.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

I would question that with either SPC.eu or with a governmental agency ... How is the bokerage fee more than the Tariff ? I can see the first not the second. Check the federal statute.

The brokerage fee is entirely UPS.
An individual can opt to self-clear customs- it’s just filing paper work. But it would take a couple extra days and at least one trip to a customs office.

It is, without hyperbole, a complete scam.

 

[Hillcrest]

The brokerage fee is entirely UPS.
An individual can opt to self-clear customs- it’s just filing paper work. But it would take a couple extra days and at least one trip to a customs office.

It is, without hyperbole, a complete scam.

You're right but they may use a broker t do all the packages. Here it is spelled out on the CPB website. A good lesson for us all. Thanks !

Internet Purchases

Securing America's Borders

www.cbp.gov

 

[woodsroad]

There have been several prominent threads here on PM about the perils of using UPS for overseas tobacco purchases. I’ve always selected DHL as my EU-Us carrier and never had a problem. But, as Bobby Zimmerman once opined, “The times they are a changin’ “

 

[Briar Lee]

Think of all the needy billionaires in terrible need of a tax cut these tariffs support.

Maybe you thought, the rich won’t get richer and the rest of us poorer?.

In time, these things right themselves.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Think of all the needy billionaires in terrible need of a tax cut these tariffs support.

Maybe you thought, the rich won’t get richer and the rest of us poorer?.

In time, these things right themselves.

I’m all too aware of the realities at work, and of my place in them.

 

[The Benedictine]

Hope they at least used lube.

 

[Briar Lee]

The current economic output of the USA is 30.5 trillion dollars and 3 trillion of our income is from selling our exports.

That’s the good news. This is the largest economic output in world history. Hooray for us!

The bad news, is we spend almost 4 trillion of our income on imports. which include all briar pipes, all our coffee, and lots of trinkets and plunder from China. Booo!!! That’s not good!

We have almost a two trillion dollar national deficit.

So, let’s just tax them there furreners a big lick!

But whatever we tariff, comes out of that four trillion we spend on imports.

And they aren’t going to keep paying us the same three trillion they pay us now. As the the little boy said, they’s likely to hit us’uns right back with tariffs.


Miss Charlotte taught all us little hillbillies about the Smoot Hawley tariffs in 1971 in the seventh grade at Humansville.

Now we get to see if those old schoolteachers were right.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Voodoo Economics..

Bueller?… Bueller..?

 

[Sigmund]

Yep, UPS sucks for international. They slam whatever fee they want on the package.
Almost everyone adds a bit to their processing of taxes.
If I order something and dont pay vat in advance the customs office will slap about a 10 euro fee on it.
So if you order something foreign it may as well be expensive.

If people make a mistake and order some 4 euro item they get it with a bill bigger than the item. Some just refuse it at the door.

In the EU we are used to it as there is 20 percent VAT on pretty much anything. You also pay it when you buy something in the EU (just consider it sales tax) but in the EU its processed with billing so the extra fee is not added.

US buyers are not used to it becuase there used to be free trade.

BTW this trade deficit is a joke. Im not going to get political but think about it.

Americans are among the most wealthy in the world. Also, there is a large difference in material wealth between US citizens and Euopeans. The gap is larger elsewhere in the world. I think Americans believe the rest of the world consumes like they do...its simply not so. The trade deficit exists becuase Americans can afford to shop like crazy in comparison to the rest of the planet. You can add all the fees you want but you cant even it out if wealth is lopsided. Simply put, Europeans dont have the buying power to even out the trade deficit. The only way to make it more even is for Americans to become more poor...(stay tuned)

 

[anotherbob]

There have been several prominent threads here on PM about the perils of using UPS for overseas tobacco purchases. I’ve always selected DHL as my EU-Us carrier and never had a problem. But, as Bobby Zimmerman once opined, “The times they are a changin’ “

Good use avoiding pseudonyms. UPS has messed up and been a pain on more oversea orders then anyone else.

 

[jpberg]

There have been several prominent threads here on PM about the perils of using UPS for overseas tobacco purchases. I’ve always selected DHL as my EU-Us carrier and never had a problem. But, as Bobby Zimmerman once opined, “The times they are a changin’ “

I thought Bob Dylan wrote that.

 

[buckaroo]

Why did they use UPS? Reg Mail (Irish) to USPS always with sp.eu.

 

[warren]

Simply put, Europeans dont have the buying power to even out the trade deficit.

Yet another important reason to shun collectivism/socialism. Europeans chose big government and high taxes decades ago. . The US is trying desperately to stave off such a move to the left and leave citizens with a bit of their earnings to spend as they see fit.

 

[Briar Lee]

What to do is insist on using the United States Postal Service for imported goods.

This pipe cost me $65. Period. Others pay my taxes and tariffs and postage for me. I’m paying them but I don’t bellyache, bitch, whine, grumble and moan and cuss the dad blasted gubbermint.

 

[sasquatch]

Looks like oil cured Algerian too, lucky guy.

 

[Briar Lee]

Looks like oil cured Algerian too, lucky guy.

This $43 example I have is absolutely perfect in all ways, no fills, not a ripple, outrageous grain, no varnish, and to my shock is coloring to oxblood.

The Chinese might be oil curing their briar.



These come straight from the Chinese factory. No more American resellers.

 

[wyfbane]

This $43 example I have is absolutely perfect in all ways, no fills, not a ripple, outrageous grain, no varnish, and to my shock is coloring to oxblood.

The Chinese might be oil curing their briar.

View attachment 406446View attachment 406447

These come straight from the Chinese factory. No more American resellers.

View attachment 406449

The peril you run into is that the Chinese would have no qualms whatsoever curing that briar with something that is overtly toxic, so long as it looked good and some schlep would buy it. They don't care if their own people croak early so they certainly dont give a crap if some long winded barrister from MO gets got.