Reality rears its ugly head
The email I received from the Perry brothers was not good news.
It seems that more regulation on trade and revenue by the Trumpf administration will remove the $800 exemption from duty on imports. Effective at the end of August.
Immediately that has thrown the shipping process in turmoil. The Perry brothers have ceased shipping to the USA until they can adjust their shipping mechanism to ensure compliance.
I imagine others are going to be affected as well.
Comments
Couriers may be able to pay it over, but it's far from certain how. If the tariff is the responsibility of the customer, there are real questions about not only how it would be collected, but the effect of every parcel from outside USA having to be processed....
The only certainty, is that the cost of purchases for US customers for non-US goods will increase whoever has to pay.
Neil
Since then, the situation has changed. It has become clear that regardless of what the percentage tariffs and duties on a shipment are, if the items are not sold 'duty paid' (i.e. with tariffs and duties being collected at the point of sale by the retailer), then United States Customs will levy a minimum charge of at least $80 per package. So if you bought £200 of RPG books from us, £100 of which were made in the US, £50 of which were made in the UK and the rest in Lithuania, instead of paying total tariffs and duties of £12.50, you would now pay $80.
What is more, responsibility for collecting these charges is given to the courier and postal firms, most of whom do not have the systems in place to handle such collections. Because of this, in the last few days, we have seen most postal services and courier firms around the world announcing a temporary suspension of parcel shipping to the US until they can sort out their own solutions.
Best Iain
Best Iain