jayhartigan Posted July 8, 2015 Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 (edited) About a week after I received my pair of Tentacles I received a bill from UPS for Customs Duties $14.30 and Brokerage charges $7.00. Has anyone (everyone) in the U.S. who purchased Tenticles received this bill? Edited July 8, 2015 by jayhartigan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted July 8, 2015 Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 You are very lucky...UPS usually charges me a flat $60 brokerage fee plus any government charges (13% sales tax) up here in Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted July 8, 2015 Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 Yes, I received that rather odd and unexpected UPS (or was it USPS?) bill --- I just paid it. Still not sure why we had to pay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Childers Posted July 8, 2015 Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 Ohh no this is not good! I let them know ASAP..I was one of the first to revive mine and they were shipped via DHL which contracts out to USPS and did not have to pay any fees, I know Max said they were switching to UPS for speed and price. They were really concerned that we would have to pay custom fees. I'll let them know several of you are having issues. You should reach out to them as well, they are great guys and Iam sure they will work with yall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngooch Posted July 8, 2015 Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 I think this is the risk of buying stuff overseas without going thru a US reseller. I bought some gear used from Canada and without proper paperwork or invoice, the duty was estimated--- fairly high too. Shouldn't we always pay duty for items purchased out of the country? 21$ does not sound too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayhartigan Posted July 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 TentacleSync is only sold on their website. One of our regular dealers suggested that I look at them and he told me he couldn't sell them to me. I really appreciate that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ze Frias Posted July 9, 2015 Report Share Posted July 9, 2015 I haven't received any bills from UPS, yet. Though inexpensive, these should be included in the total price given by Tentacle Sync IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmfsnd Posted July 9, 2015 Report Share Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) When it comes to UPS international shipments, they base their fees upon the declared value of the item, shipment type, and the final destination. The sender has the option to pay these fees upfront, otherwise, the receiver is sent an invoice. The latter happens more often, and the invoice often arrives conveniently 1-2 weeks after the 15-day pay period before a 6% late fee, which you have to call in to waive. Anyway, contact Tentacle Sync, and see if you can work something out. Edited July 9, 2015 by Matt Brodnick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfisk Posted July 9, 2015 Report Share Posted July 9, 2015 Anything shipped internationally has some sort of tax, import duties, and whatever other fun stuff the country that the item is going to decides to throw in there. Just to make it really exciting, every country is different. Some countries make you use different colored ink on the customs form for different fields, and if you don't the item is refused at customs and sent back. If the items were bought directly from the manufacturer, then this does not surprise me. When you buy stuff from a dealer or distributor all those costs have already been paid and are then added to your cost of the item. Based on some of the stuff I've seen, $21 is a bargain. You're going to pay that one way or another. It just depends on how you get the item to your doorstep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayhartigan Posted July 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2015 I wrote that little check happily. I like these little things😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted July 9, 2015 Report Share Posted July 9, 2015 I'm with Jay, I was a little surprised by the charge but it wasn't significant and I just figured it had something to do with the way TentacleSync had to do their shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ze Frias Posted July 9, 2015 Report Share Posted July 9, 2015 I don't mind the cost at all. I just think that it should've been added to the initial invoice / calculated into the total cost initially and charged upfront by Tentacle Sync. I still have yet to receive said bill though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 Tentacle Sync isn't charging you extra...it's your government and/or the shipping company. I'm a little surprised at your surprisedness This is the way things happen in this situation all over the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ze Frias Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) Tentacle Sync isn't charging you extra...it's your government and/or the shipping company. I'm a little surprised at your surprisedness This is the way things happen in this situation all over the world. My apologies if my "surprisedness" surprised you a little. I was just merely stating my opinion based on what others have mentioned, specifically: The sender has the option to pay these fees upfront, otherwise, the receiver is sent an invoice. and: When you buy stuff from a dealer or distributor all those costs have already been paid and are then added to your cost of the item. I've bought items internationally before without receiving a separate bill from the courier. I'll still happily pay the UPS bill if and when it comes. I just expect when I buy products in general, even more specifically online, that all costs have been accounted for and added to my bill / invoice, or at least be warned that there may be separate charges from the courier. That is all. I'll move along now since I've pretty much beat this subject to death. My apologies to all. Edited July 10, 2015 by Jose Frias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Trew Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 I'm impressed that they were delivered prior to paying the duties and fees. Transactions like this are often held at customs until paid. Import duties vary depending on the type product, county of origin, and how sharp the border agents are. One way to get around it illegally is to have them shipped as gifts instead of a commercial transaction, but keep in mind that it's breaking the law (smuggling and tax evasion), and at the very least could result in losing the product. These duties and customs fees are usually dealt with between the importer and exporter with a customs broker they have a relationship with, which is why it is common to have, for example, US and Canadian distributors for products made outside of North America. At some point these laws will become antiquated, but it's going to be a long time before that happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 I'm surprised they delivered that gear before the customs payments were made too. My experience has been that the gear gets held up until all the fees have been paid, and then it is delivered. p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarcanon Posted July 10, 2015 Report Share Posted July 10, 2015 If you already have an account with the shipper, then they'll pay the duty on your behalf and bill you later, after adding a handling fee, of course. At least, that's how FedEx works. I don't know about other carriers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantin Posted July 12, 2015 Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 This is not really TentacleSync's fault. This is how it works when buying internationally. I have oftrn bought things (online) in thr US and I always get the mentioned UPS bill. When I buy stuff for my business, this is a deductable expense and doesn't really hurt much. As Dave said above, it's different with every single country and sometimes even seems to depend on the customs officer. It's almost impossible for a manufacturer to calculate these costs in advance. I don't even think it's possible for the sender (exporter) to pay all of these fees via UPS as only a part is UPSs handling fee. The other part is the government. The choice of courier may affect the handling fee, but it won't affect the import charges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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