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Tariffs and usps shipping

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Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
It's been a while since I've bought anything from a us retailer, but I need some metric combination square blades, and ironically Harry J Epstein in the US is the cheapest source by far (that I've found this morning). Prices can't be beat on PEC blemish blades but shipping is atrocious. To the point of my question, how and when are tariffs applied? Is it currently baked into the price? Are US made tools exempt? Will I receive another bill for them when they clear customs? Shipping cost ($117) is already near the price of goods, so any additional fees are close to souring this deal. I've always had good results using USPS coming up from the states with no hidden customs fees, but it's been a few years. is this still the case?

Side note, why is it so hard to find quality metric only stuff up here. I didn't think it would be this difficult, but the metric premium we apply to stuff in Canada is insane. The last few jobs I'm been on have been all metric prints/material/hardware and I'm tired of going half and half and need to go all in on measuring/layout tools. I've always been fluent in both, but things like a dual scale tape measure are pure evil on an all metric job.....
 
Dan Dubeau said:
It's been a while since I've bought anything from a us retailer, but I need some metric combination square blades, and ironically Harry J Epstein in the US is the cheapest source by far (that I've found this morning). Prices can't be beat on PEC blemish blades but shipping is atrocious. To the point of my question, how and when are tariffs applied? Is it currently baked into the price? Are US made tools exempt? Will I receive another bill for them when they clear customs? Shipping cost ($117) is already near the price of goods, so any additional fees are close to souring this deal. I've always had good results using USPS coming up from the states with no hidden customs fees, but it's been a few years. is this still the case?

Side note, why is it so hard to find quality metric only stuff up here. I didn't think it would be this difficult, but the metric premium we apply to stuff in Canada is insane. The last few jobs I'm been on have been all metric prints/material/hardware and I'm tired of going half and half and need to go all in on measuring/layout tools. I've always been fluent in both, but things like a dual scale tape measure are pure evil on an all metric job.....
Click to expand...

US Tariffs are applied when goods are imported into the US.

This applies to all goods unless the goods are made in USA. Then those costs are hidden by being baked into the US retail prices. But that's not the whole story when Canadians buy goods from the US.

When you buy from the US, Canada also applies a Canadian tariff onto any goods imported into Canada. Those are stuck into brokerage and tariff fees during transit and the USPS transfers the items to Canada post for final delivery. Canada post is required to collect the duties and tariff before they release shipment.

If you're following along, buying anything from exclusive north american distributors that are in the US earns Canadian consumers a double tariff, which si why we have traditionally always paid more for imported goods from europe who love to use this cheap tactic to lower costs of operations in western hemisphere. I no longer do business with such firms.
 
Thanks. I kinda thought the tarrifs were baked in, but wasn't 100% sure. Duty fees have always been hit or miss for me. Sometimes I get lucky, sometimes not. It's been about 10 years since I last bought from HJE so I don't remember what happened last time.

I ordered, so will see what happens now. $144 goods, $117 shipping. Still cheaper than buying up here. Sad situation.
 
Is it realistically possible to know what the tariffs and fees will be before ordering an item without being a Philadelphia lawyer? I may need to order an engine part from the USA but the item likely originated in Japan.
 
IMG_5756.jpeg
As far as I know, manufacturers country of origin determines import tariffs.

Where I think it gets confusing is when one country uses another country as a proxy to get around import tariffs or sanctions
 
I don't know, a friend recently purchased some knife making supplies from a US company that sent it USPS and normally it just shows up with no additional charges but this time the driver wouldn't hand the parcel over until he collected payment which my friend said included tariffs.
 
In my experience (going back to the 90’s), the only way to determine final cost of goods that are brought into a country is to engage a broker, who will need a complete description of the goods to include where the goods were manufactured and how they travelled to the shipping entity.

In the early 2000’s, the company I worked for purchased heavy duty urethane casters purchased from the U.S. manufacturer and shipped (exported) them to Italy to be incorporated into equipment that was subsequently sold & shipped (imported) back to my company: import fees were paid by the Italian firm, and then credited back to them when the cargo arrived in the U.S.

Customs/Duty/Tariffs are paid by the recipient and are complicated by shipping/delivery terms (such as FAS & FOB [origin or destination]). The U.S. Harmonic System has thousands of pages of codes, which can be searched online,

HS & HTS Code Lookup Tool (2026) | USA Customs Clearance

Use our free HS & HTS code lookup tool to find the tariff code for your products. Simply search using your product’s name, description, or code. If you need further assistance, our customs experts are here to help.
usacustomsclearance.com usacustomsclearance.com
(there are probably similar online tools available for Canada)

but it can take an expert to determine exactly which code a particular item falls under.

All of this became significantly more complex since the current administration started f’ing with things.
 
DPittman said:
Is it realistically possible to know what the tariffs and fees will be before ordering an item without being a Philadelphia lawyer? I may need to order an engine part from the USA but the item likely originated in Japan.
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YOu can ignore the US tariff, because that will be baked into the list price. Then you can look up the tariff by product origin and class on govt website... I can't recall the url right now.

Then add GSTand depending on shipping provider the brokerage fee.

I was going to have a ceramic pot shipped from France, but the cost would have been about $250 for shipping and duties. Insane
 
Looks like the CBSA duty lookup website link I used last year is now old news. This one came up in my search which looks half decent. Some items require you to drill down a few levels through various sub-descriptions. I didnt play with it too much tonight but it match the code I used last year.

www.tariffinder.ca

Find the tariff applicable for your product | Canada Tariff Finder

Canada Tariff Finder enables Canadian importers and exporters to check tariffs for specific goods and markets (focus on countries in a Free Trade Agreement with Canada).
www.tariffinder.ca www.tariffinder.ca
 
ChazzC said:
Customs/Duty/Tariffs are paid by the recipient and are complicated by shipping/delivery terms (such as FAS & FOB [origin or destination]). The U.S. Harmonic System has thousands of pages of codes, which can be searched online,

HS & HTS Code Lookup Tool (2026) | USA Customs Clearance

Use our free HS & HTS code lookup tool to find the tariff code for your products. Simply search using your product’s name, description, or code. If you need further assistance, our customs experts are here to help.
usacustomsclearance.com usacustomsclearance.com
(there are probably similar online tools available for Canada)

but it can take an expert to determine exactly which code a particular item falls under.
Click to expand...
Depending on which way the goods are going- there are other agencies involved too.

You might submit a code for plastics. Customs might not care. You submit a code for straw or meat. Now customs kicks that to FDA or whoever. You want to import a seed tender. Well if it's going to get plates customs kicks it to transport agencies

Yes, I've run into the exact problem you quoted, wheels made in China but imported to USA, made into USA equipment, imported to Canada, then exported to USA. But the country of origin was questioned on the Chinese parts.
 
Chicken lights said:
Depending on which way the goods are going- there are other agencies involved too.

You might submit a code for plastics. Customs might not care. You submit a code for straw or meat. Now customs kicks that to FDA or whoever. You want to import a seed tender. Well if it's going to get plates customs kicks it to transport agencies

Yes, I've run into the exact problem you quoted, wheels made in China but imported to USA, made into USA equipment, imported to Canada, then exported to USA. But the country of origin was questioned on the Chinese parts.
Click to expand...

Country of origin can change…….depending on whether the goods have been modified into something that is no longer meets the specification/function of the original goods.

To quote a recent purchase, if a programmable controller mounted on a supporting PC board (like an ESP32 module from China) is programmed with a unique code then its considered a product of the country it has been programmed in irrespective of the country of origin of the physical components.

No doubt there is some COO washing happening in the hands of the Philadelphia lawyers too….

D 😎
 
Tecnico said:
Country of origin can change…….depending on whether the goods have been modified into something that is no longer meets the specification/function of the original goods.

To quote a recent purchase, if a programmable controller mounted on a supporting PC board (like an ESP32 module from China) is programmed with a unique code then its considered a product of the country it has been programmed in irrespective of the country of origin of the physical components.

No doubt there is some COO washing happening in the hands of the Philadelphia lawyers too….

D 😎
Click to expand...
I don't know if I believe that but I don't ship many electronics

What's a Philadelphia lawyer?
 
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