How to Avoid a Huge Customs Bill on a Cheap Online Order

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{{ Wirecutter also received one of these bills, which turned a $56 ukulele purchased from a Germany-based company into a $158 ukulele because it was made in China and shipped to the US from Canada.

So we waded into the chaos and bought a bunch of stuff to test what would happen. The results were, to be honest, confusing. We received higher-than-expected bills, lower-than-expected bills, and often no bill at all. One China-based headphone maker claimed that its product was worth a fraction of what I paid, to save my wallet. That’s excellent customer service — but it may also be customs fraud. }}

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Ayup. There was quite a dustup, in the 80s, when the Canadian government sued Amway for declaring fictionally low values for goods exported to Canada.

Steve

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My last order from TEMU arrived tariff-free 2 weeks ago from a local warehouse – and at 1/3 the price Amazon was charging for the exact same product.

Of course, TEMU will eventually have to restock the Los Angeles warehouse with tariff-burdened product.

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It seems to be fairly common. I’ve ordered two items internationally in the past year, from France and from Canada. In both cases the stated value was missing a zero, e.g., $310 instead of $3100.

DB2