tariffs are real

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AusDLK

AusDLK

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the days of free imports are over. i bought a $1000 lens from Japan on eBay. it was delivered by FedEx and, as it has been forever, i thought that was that.

but no.

this past week, i received a bill from FedEx for $120 -- for duty and taxes.

in 20+ years of buying camera stuff internationally, i have NEVER be billed for duty and taxes. EVER.

Yay for America?
 
Oh yes, tariffs. A clout in the face to those who voted Republican in 2024, and unfortunately, everybody else.

An obvious solution - and the best option you have - close up your wallets and stop buying. Until things change.

It's what many of us in the rest of the globe are doing.

My contribution to this was to dump US dollars and move into Swiss francs. As it seems a majority of savvy investors have decided to do the same. One of the world's most stable currencies, recently Swiss franc exchange rates went up by +/-15%. (NOTE I originally posted 24% but have since double-checked this.)

Another super good investment is the Singapore dollar. Which many wealthy Asians are now buying into.

On top of all these excess (and excessive) charges, your dollar is going down. So you end up paying the excess costs, and a surcharge on your depreciating $$ as well. Good one!!

So unfortunate that we have come to this.
 
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I was wondering if the tariffs will also be applied for goods entering the US for repair, which will later be returned to the sender. Don from DAG for sure will not be happy if he needs to pay tariffs on every item that reaches him from overseas for repair.
 
There are processes to follow for cameras sent to repair.

But let's not jump to conclusions here without more data.

What harmonized code was used, and how was the product described?

Not every photographic item sent to the US is duty-free. Was it mis-marked and actually should be duty-free?

Or was it marked correctly and the duties collected propertly?

Lastly, it must be said that many shipments that go via commercial carrier (UPS, Fedex, DHL) will catch duties as opposed to those shipped via post. In other words many dutiable items get through without duties if shipped via post.
 
I've done repair work in the past for a nominal rate ($25 for a CLA on a J-3 or J-8) or Free- packed the lens in the original box with the original customs declaration from the sender all inside of a larger box, marked customs "Return of Merchandise" - only to see the original owner overseas have to pay customs for their own property. This happened with several European countries. I've marked items as Gifts because they were. One such recipient had to pay estimated cost because "We do not believe you that it was a gift". Again, Europe. For Australia- marked the value as $50 and below. That also limits Insurance on the shipment to the declared value.

I repaired a Bertele Sonnar for a Forum Member to prevent Slyllaney from having to file excessive paperwork to accept the lens as a repair. So I'm the only person in the USA to have shot with Two Bertele Sonnars. That was payment enough.

As far as I know, packages under $800 are not subject to tariffs. Anything above that- has been subject to tariffs in the US. This amount was $200, changed in 2016. Some carriers - not the Post Office- often ignore that fact in order to make more money. That has happened to me when buying out of Asia.
 
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Items sent for repair have to be properly documented from the country of origin, otherwise customs officials will reject the repair claim. If it were that easy to avoid duties every item would be marked as being returned after repair. 🙂

The $800 de minimis exemption has been abused (i.e., Temu, Shein) and so that's going away for some countries (Hong Kong and China.)

Having purchased many photo items from overseas over the past couple of decades I have had several instances of duties being charged incorrectly. So this isn't necessarily a new event or due to new tariff rules. Some were due to the wrong harmonized code, some were due to being shipped by commercial carrier instead of the post. In cases where the duties were charged by Fedex due to the wrong code, I disputed the charge.
 
Tariffs have been real for months, but it's taken awhile to reach us, because existing stocks of goods already in the country were exempt. But earlier in the year, I ordered parts from one a major supplier of electronic components, and noticed that they had a new line item for tariffs, and in most cases, there were no USA-made alternatives available. And more recently, camera manufacturers have been raising prices, with the price of Sony's RX100-7 going from ~1300 USD to 1700. Others, like Fujifilm, seem to be more stealthily rolling them into the price of new models, and spreading the joy to all markets.
 
AusDLK said:
the days of free imports are over. i bought a $1000 lens from Japan on eBay. it was delivered by FedEx and, as it has been forever, i thought that was that.

but no.

this past week, i received a bill from FedEx for $120 -- for duty and taxes.

in 20+ years of buying camera stuff internationally, i have NEVER be billed for duty and taxes. EVER.

Yay for America?
Click to expand...
I don't think those are tariffs from Trump. Fed Ex always collects taxes and adds their own fees. If you never saw them before, you got lucky or didn't use Fed Ex.
 
Ken Ford said:
Can you expand on this? I recently received a bill from FedEx for the S3 Olympic I purchased from eBay Japan.
Click to expand...

The harmonized code for that camera would be as below, duty-free.

Do you still have a copy of the airbill? What code did the shipper reference?


Screenshot 2025-07-08 at 12.12.49 PM.png

Heading 9006 is cameras, and 9006.53.02 is 35mm cameras.

Screenshot 2025-07-08 at 12.15.07 PM.png

For SLRs it is 9006.59.01

Screenshot 2025-07-08 at 12.13.15 PM.png

Codes are here
 
I was planning on waiting till later in the year to buy a Nikon Zf, but once Nikon stated that they will be raising prices because of Trump's tariffs, as of June 23rd I believe, I bought one that B&H had in stock last month.

Trump claims that the tariffs will bring in billions of dollars to the US government, but it seems like those billions of dollars are going to be coming from us consumers, not the countries of the product's origin.

Best,
-Tim
 
splitimageview said:
The harmonized code for that camera would be as below, duty-free.

Do you still have a copy of the airbill? What code did the shipper reference?


View attachment 4871405

Heading 9006 is cameras, and 9006.53.02 is 35mm cameras.

View attachment 4871406

For SLRs it is 9006.59.01

View attachment 4871407

Codes are here
Click to expand...
I don’t, but I have the paperwork Fedex provided with the invoice.

Edit - I just sent a dispute to FedEx, on CBP Form 7501 10% ($162.00) duty was charged under 9903.01.25, but 9006.53.02 is also shown correctly as “FREE.”
 
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Timmyjoe said:
I was planning on waiting till later in the year to buy a Nikon Zf, but once Nikon stated that they will be raising prices because of Trump's tariffs, as of June 23rd I believe, I bought one that B&H had in stock last month.

Trump claims that the tariffs will bring in billions of dollars to the US government, but it seems like those billions of dollars are going to be coming from us consumers, not the countries of the product's origin.

Best,
-Tim
Click to expand...

It makes sense that the buyers will end up paying for the US tariffs. That's how business works, after all.

As for cameras, we should consider buying secondhand from a reputable retail seller. Ebay has a small flood of Zfs on offer from private sellers, many of them sales tax free, but without warranties. So buyer beware.

Here in Australia I recently priced the Zf. New with full warranty AUD $4000+. One dealer in Melbourne had a little used one for AUD $2900, another dealer for one with not much more milage at AUD $2500. Both with warranties. What's not to like about this?

(I ended up buying an as new Z6 with <350 clicks on its odometer. So far happy+++ with it.)
 
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