Orphek FedEx Customs charges?! Did I get screwed??

[jda]

Consumer pays these fees. Regardless of what any politician tells you, China and the EU are not paying these fees, the American Consumer is. Not everything gets stopped, checked and assigned duties, but it is always possible... sorry that this happened. If you are unhappy call your congresspeople (house and senators).

I suppose that the shipper might be nice and pay them, but I have not experienced that since the trade wars have started back up in the last few years... somebody here in the states pays it and passes it along to the consumer.

 

[Badilac]

I have 6 Orphek OR2 light bars and never got a bill or paid anything.

 

[mikeintoronto]

There are a few things going on here and a couple have been already mentioned. First, it has to do with trade agreements. Anything manufactured by “acceptable” countries will be free trade. So that’s Canada, Mexico, and USA, and others depending on US agreements. (Unfortunately most stuff is Chinese made so is subject to fees.) Next is your carrier. If it’s USPS and regular mail, it’s not subject to most of the fees you’ll get from FedEx and UPS. USPS just charges the taxes and not brokerage fees because, well, you own USPS.
So you’re basically screwed; no point complaining to anyone. It’s also your responsibility to know your country’s laws, not the shipper. You can’t expect Germany to know every carrier and country they ship to. Next time don’t use a private carrier. Where possible, order products like this through a US store. Even in Canada we can get Orphek and our market is tiny compared.

This sounded ranty but I’ve gone through this many times. I usually forget to specify a carrier then think, “Oh snap” when the bill comes.

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

A few weeks ago someone posted about having to pay duty fees from customs with a Orphek light. I guess he was made aware not very long after he purchased. Iirc he had to fight to cancel the order and get a refund because of it, never heard anymore about it though

 

[JoshH]

There are a few things going on here and a couple have been already mentioned. First, it has to do with trade agreements. Anything manufactured by “acceptable” countries will be free trade. So that’s Canada, Mexico, and USA, and others depending on US agreements. (Unfortunately most stuff is Chinese made so is subject to fees.) Next is your carrier. If it’s USPS and regular mail, it’s not subject to most of the fees you’ll get from FedEx and UPS. USPS just charges the taxes and not brokerage fees because, well, you own USPS.
So you’re basically screwed; no point complaining to anyone. It’s also your responsibility to know your country’s laws, not the shipper. You can’t expect Germany to know every carrier and country they ship to. Next time don’t use a private carrier. Where possible, order products like this through a US store. Even in Canada we can get Orphek and our market is tiny compared.

This sounded ranty but I’ve gone through this many times. I usually forget to specify a carrier then think, “Oh snap” when the bill comes.

It's also worth noting that if it is Labeled a broker fee (Atleast in UPS's case) and they ask you to pay for it at the door you just refuse the package and ask for the customs receipt, take it to the nearest customs agency (Usually airport) and pay them directly. Once paid take that receipt to UPS and they will give you the package with 0 brokerage fee. I've done this a few times ordering from the US before and it saves a ton of money. Now this only works in cases where you have to pay upfront to receive the package so not much help in the OPs situation.

If a company ships with FedEx I don't buy from them anymore. The exact same thing happened to me except they never sent me the bill and I had no idea about it until I recieved a letter from a collections agency for the $16.52 I apparently owed FedEx. Yeah that's right, they went right to collections for $16.52 without calling me once.

 

[DracoKat]

Orphex responded and they said in their experience an order of $160 is usually not taxed. I’m going to call fedex and see what they say about that

if I have to pay, then I have to pay. If I had known I would not have ordered the lights (even though it’s no fault of orphek)

that $75 could’ve given me a better light!

 

[Silent]

What is better than Orphek for $75 more?

 

[alton]

My Orphek have always come DHL? And no extra charges

 

[Be102]

My Orphek have always come DHL? And no extra charges

Mine also came from Dhl

 

[Badilac]

Mine also came from Dhl

Same mine always came DHL

 

[DracoKat]

I guess the holidays they had to use Fedex and not DHL?

 

[mcdrichj]

Can someone explain this to me.

I ordered some Orphex lights a few weeks ago. It was delivered and all that fun stuff. They told me shipping was free (Trying to find that email) and paid their invoice.

I get a bill from FedEx charging me $73.35 for Duty and Taxes

$40.35 Customs
$20 Food and Drug Clearance
$7 Advancement Fees

Does this sound right? I feel like I got screwed from Orphex! Shouldn't they be the one to pay these charges? I contacted them and waiting for a response. Hoping to get some feedback here

If I had known about these charges (Which no where said anything about custom fees and I've ordered lots of things from China before), I would never have ordered these lights.

The duty is the tariffs that have been levied on china. Its pretty much like paying the sales tax on something that you buy. I dont think it would have made any difference if you picked another carrier you would still have to pay the duty.

 

[mcdrichj]

I am angry about these charges. They should’ve at least given me a heads up or something. I feel scammed

I do agree with you the duty should have been stated. If you knew before hand im sure you would have considered other options. If it stated FOB anywhere that means you are responsible for these charges and shipping.

 

[jda]

All carriers are subject to this if customs stops a package. USPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. This is not a problem with one particular carrier. Again, call your senators or the president if you are not interested in trade wars.

As for a heads-up, has nobody been watching the news for the last few years? The trade wars have been a constant topic. ...so much for China paying the bill, right? ...which nobody except for one guy thought would happen.

 

[mcdrichj]

I'm not supporting one side or another just some info on the subject, but the basic idea around tariffs are to increase the costs of import goods to counter the the under valued currency and the low wages to make domestic products more competitive due to higher wages in the US. All thing being equal if two products are similar in price you generally choose the better quality product which tends not the be the one made in china which should boost domestic manufacturing. However, things don't ever work out that easy and usually have unintentional consequences and take many years for an economy to adjust. Just some background info not trying to start a political debate I'm just a bit of an economics nerd!

 

[McPuff]

Doesn't sound like you ordered from Orphek or BRS... if that is the case then the blame unfortunately falls on you. Orphek now distribute in the US so there is no need to buy from sources abroad.

Can someone explain this to me.

I ordered some Orphex lights a few weeks ago. It was delivered and all that fun stuff. They told me shipping was free (Trying to find that email) and paid their invoice.

I get a bill from FedEx charging me $73.35 for Duty and Taxes

$40.35 Customs
$20 Food and Drug Clearance
$7 Advancement Fees

Does this sound right? I feel like I got screwed from Orphex! Shouldn't they be the one to pay these charges? I contacted them and waiting for a response. Hoping to get some feedback here

If I had known about these charges (Which no where said anything about custom fees and I've ordered lots of things from China before), I would never have ordered these lights.

 

[Be102]

I just feel if op ordered from orphek they would have had everything solved by now. If you read off some of my posts regarding orphek I have faster response time from them than local emails. I emailed james@orphek @ 12:30 am when I had a question regarding my light and he responded at 12:34 am.
I feel we are missing something

 

[biecacka]

I'm not supporting one side or another just some info on the subject, but the basic idea around tariffs are to increase the costs of import goods to counter the the under valued currency and the low wages to make domestic products more competitive due to higher wages in the US. All thing being equal if two products are similar in price you generally choose the better quality product which tends not the be the one made in china which should boost domestic manufacturing. However, things don't ever work out that easy and usually have unintentional consequences and take many years for an economy to adjust. Just some background info not trying to start a political debate I'm just a bit of an economics nerd!

the downside to this is even with the tariffs, the product made outside of the USA is still usually cheaper in price. So no one wins. There is a slight price increase on a product that we would buy anyway because it’s still cheaper.
I think that is one area where the tariffs have really missed....


corey

 

[mcdrichj]

the downside to this is even with the tariffs, the product made outside of the USA is still usually cheaper in price. So no one wins. There is a slight price increase on a product that we would buy anyway because it’s still cheaper.
I think that is one area where the tariffs have really missed....


corey

There are always unintended consequences and a lag with economics along with a short term shock before any results are even seen in this instance at lease. Unfortunately everyone wants instant gratification and this isn't how the economy works. I do love the grand complexity of macro economics it's very interesting!!! This is the last reply I will make on this because its off topic. However, I will always talk about it if anyone wants to PM me!

 

[biecacka]

There are always unintended consequences and a lag with economics along with a short term shock before any results are even seen in this instance at lease. Unfortunately everyone wants instant gratification and this isn't how the economy works. I do love the grand complexity of macro economics it's very interesting!!! This is the last reply I will make on this because its off topic. However, I will always talk about it if anyone wants to PM me!

Yeah it is definitely a long term ordeal, the interesting thing is if it actually works long term. Because for all the “good” it can do it also has a negative impact in many arenas.
I think there could be a happy medium somewhere but I am not privy to sit in the meetings with the FED and others in the White House making the decisions. Haha

corey