Once again, import fees for USA buyers of Japanese equipment post August 29, 2025

[Alan Edward Klein]

Actually, most overseas dealers are refusing to sell to US buyers except on ebay, etc

Too much work…

This came up in another thread. I found at least half a dozen American firms that handle import duties and tariffs for foreign sellers, for a fee of course. They don't take a percentage of the sale cost as eBay does, I don;t believe. Only a handling fee for the shipping and duties. It would be foolish for foreign exporters to abandon the US market if they're selling anything significant to America. Smart companies like B&H handle these VAT and other duty fees applied by countries throughout the world when they ship to them. Once they set it up, a program handles the charges automatically on their bills just as US state sales taxes in the 50 states are applied. Foreign companies could do the same thing.

 

[loccdor]

I used ChatGPT to check the total cost of importing a Leicaflex SL from Austria to the U.S.:

provided there is no special surcharge (e.g. under special trade programmes or country-of-origin restrictions).​

Anything on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule is in addition to the country-wide tariff rate. I found this out through trial and error.

 

[MattKing]

And it is the country-wide tariff that is the subject of most of the flux.
And the reason that many small exporters are pausing shipments to the USA - they know that customers who are hit with last minute, surprise bills often direct their anger to the original supplier.

 

[GregY]

And it is the country-wide tariff that is the subject of most of the flux.
And the reason that many small exporters are pausing shipments to the USA - they know that customers who are hit with last minute, surprise bills often direct their anger to the original supplier.

....rather than their own government that imposed the tariffs....

 

[loccdor]

All the Japanese eBayers I bought from who did not have "duties are included" on the listing made me confirm via message that I was ok with paying additional duties before they went forward with the sale. A wise thing to do regarding expensive international shipments on a site which has return policies that favor the buyer.

I was very satisfied with my last Japanese purchase, thanks for the indirect reminder to leave positive feedback.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

And it is the country-wide tariff that is the subject of most of the flux.
And the reason that many small exporters are pausing shipments to the USA - they know that customers who are hit with last minute, surprise bills often direct their anger to the original supplier.

Japanese camera equipment sellers don't seem to fear this problem. Maybe they're very dependent on the American market and their volumes are relatively larger than sales from sellers from other countries.

 

[Arthurwg]

I recently tried to buy a camera bag from Taiwan. I was told the tariff would be 37%, collected by FedEx, plus a FedEx fee of $4.50 or 2% of the declared value.