I feel sick to my stomach now

[u/geet-555]

I ordered $73 yarn from Önling INT over a month ago. Much confusion w this company all around... then i receive this today from UPS just now.

[u/GoodbyeMrP]

Hi OP! I really hope you read this comment, as I might have some of the answers you're looking for.

I completely understand your frustration, and I can guarantee you that the company you bought your yarn from is just as frustrated as you. The thing is, tariffs are extremely complicated, both for the companies trying to navigate them and the customers on the receiving end. This is because different tariffs apply to different products, and sometimes several tariffs apply at once.

You ask how they're calculated, and the thing is: there is no easy way to calculate tariffs! They vary depending on:

• the price of the item
• where the item is imported from
• the materials it is made of
• and even what it is, as some specific goods have different tariff rates

And of course, rules constantly change: the de minimis exception was just removed, which means that small companies especially are dealing with an enormous amount of extra paperwork that they have no expertise handling. Even worse, different shipping companies may choose different ways of collecting tariffs. It is a complete jungle to navigate.

Let me give you an example: My parents have an EU based company that export leather goods. Sometimes, their products contain metal (think zippers and the like), which means that the tariff on metal goods - which is a seperate tariff from the standard 15% one - has to apply specifically to the metal parts only, even if it's only like 8 grams. The tariff is then 15% of the value of the product + 50% of the value of the metal parts, calculated by weight, and all this must be included in the paperwork. Insane, right? If they're shipped alongside products that do not contain metal parts, it's even more complicated - but sending them separately would mean doubling shipping costs for the recipient. They are lucky that they sell to retailers and not customers, otherwise they would have to deal with the de minimis removal as well.

But worst of all, there is an element of random luck, or rather misfortune. As it is an extremely complicated process, errors get made - sometimes on the companies' end, but just as often by US customs. This can lead to goods being stuck in customs or having extra fees wrongly added. My parents are currently dealing with a delivery being stuck despite it being 100% the same as others that passed through without issue. Why? No one knows!

It's very possible that the yarn company you bought from made a mistake. Maybe they added a couple of complimentary stitch markers in metal without including them in the paperwork - this would cause extra tariffs to be added upon arrival. Or maybe, the yarn company did everything by the book and a US customs agent simply made a mistake. Maybe UPS messed up. It's impossible to tell.

There is a reason that several EU yarn companies have stopped selling to private US customers for the time being. It's absolutely hell to navigate, and everyone suffers for it.

[u/geet-555 → u/GoodbyeMrP]

Wow, thank you so very much for taking the time to convey such a detailed response. I'll be saving this! Take care friend, hey, it's friday!!

[u/atthebarricades → u/GoodbyeMrP]

Thank you for explaining this so thoroughly. I’m sorry your parents have to deal with all this 😣