New Brunswick Business Daily

How can I avoid US brokerage fees from UPS?

I just ordered a package from Acne Jeans in Sweden and it arrived today. I wasn't at home, so my roommate was the one who discovered that I have a $185 custom + brokerage fee on a pair of $400 shoes. It's ridiculous that the fees are nearly 50% of the product. UPS is supposed to come by tomorrow. Is there any way for me to avoid paying this fee or even reducing it? Thanks!

Public Comments

1. You'd need a time machine to go back in time and void the sale. As the importer (yes, you imported the item), you are responsible for the customs duties and they tend to be high on clothing and electronic items. You also owe a sliding scale brokerage fee with UPS for their processing of the item through customs. These taxes are a legal obligation and you can't get out of them.
2. No, there's no way to avoid the duty or the brokerage fee. Sorry. Duties are what they are but the brokerage fees vary from carrier to carrier. The US Postal Service has the lowest brokerage fees of all carriers. UPS is one of the highest by the way. So the only way that you can save any money is to ask the shipper to send the goods by mail. And just as a sidebar, the USPS seems to let a lot more dutiable goods slip through than any other carrier. I've had shipments from Europe that I knew to be dutiable but were not hit when the Post Office was the carrier. If you refuse to pay the duty and fees the goods will be turned over to US Customs who will auction them off to the highest bidder. You will be out the original $400 that you spent.
3. No way to avoid customs fees.
4. You should be able to reduce the fees of the customs brokerage somehow. I would also be interested to know what the $185.00 customs fee is. These are UPS's U.S. Customs Brokerage fees - http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/select/receiving/customs/fees.html UPS will usually come back 3 times before returning the package, so if you'd like, you can email me a breakdown of the charges and I will let you know which fees you should be able to reduce / avoid. I work for a U.S. and Canadian Customs Broker.