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When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

(oldvcr.blogspot.com)
320 points goldenskye | 3 comments | 15 Nov 25 23:55 UTC | HN request time: 0.202s | source
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jonathanlydall ◴[16 Nov 25 04:48 UTC] No.45942839[source]▶
In the country where I live, these kinds of fees are generally referred to "import taxes", because it's the buyer who's having to pay extra money which is going to the tax authority, not the seller.

While they can have an effect of encouraging domestic production, mostly they're a way to extract more money from the population.

replies(1): >>45943368 #
1. Fabricio20 ◴[16 Nov 25 07:19 UTC] No.45943368[source]▶
Hello fellow Brazilian! We cry in 200-300% on top of shipping costs.
replies(2): >>45944548 #>>45945483 #
2. forinti ◴[16 Nov 25 12:16 UTC] No.45944548[source]▶
That's just not true. It's 60% and 20% for items below US$50.

You could theoretically get charged over 100% the price of the product if you buy something really cheap and shipping is more expensive than the product because shipping is taxed too.

3. jonathanlydall ◴[16 Nov 25 14:43 UTC] No.45945483[source]▶
South African actually, but fellow BRICSian I guess.