I bought some hockey sticks recently. Free shipping over $300. UPS made me pay $50 on delivery for “Duties or taxes are due on this package.” The seller did not list the potential expenses outside of what was paid, and said they have no control over this.
Has anyone else run into this (with anything)?
I have never paid duties as a direct fee for anything not purchased in an airport. Shipping was Canada to U.S.
UPS commonly scams people with duty-related fees.
The most common scam is that there might be a 5$ duty owed on the package so they pay that, then throw on a 30$ convenience fee and a 5$ payment surcharge etc…
It’s always technically possible to dodge these fees if you’re willing to go through crazy hoops (i.e. sometimes you can pre-register that duty will be owed and arrange the duty payment to come directly from you - sometimes you need to actually go to the port to collect the package).
In most cases I’ve seen they sneak language into your receipt signature that might prevent you from contesting the duty after receiving the package but they can also asd on surcharges if they need to redeliver or reschedule a package.
… TL;DR it’s a fucking bullshit charge that you may be able to get out of if you’re willing to fight it but they purposefully bullshit bill you an amount small enough that it’s fucking annoying but not “This is worth a day of small claims court bullshit to fight” amount.
I’ve never seen someone who doggedly protested those charges fail to get them reversed but most people give up (including me usually - I fought it once when they tried to slap 140CAD bullshit fees on a package worth 15CAD with a duty fee of 5 cents. That one I fucking fought and threatened to just refuse receipt of.