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.
I once won a promotion and I was sent some items for free. When I went to pick them up, I had to pay more than I would have been willing to pay if I bought the items, because of ‘duties and taxes’.
I probably should have just refused the delivery, but I was young and didn’t know any better so I paid for my package. There was a receipt inside the box that listed the items as being somewhat expensive, so I assumed there was some weird accounting where I still had to pay the taxes despite getting them for free.
I’ve bought and shipped a lot of items since then without ever having to pay upon pickup.
Duties are paid on the value on the item. If not, every business would “gift” you the goods and charge you to buy an unrelated digital membership or jpeg download or something.