TheSamba.com :: View topic - Have you personally had a tariff fee for a USED part?

Wed Aug 13, 2025 2:27 pm

ONLY interested if you ordered a used part from a thesamba ad or whatever and actually got hit with a tariff. Naming the country and percent levied would be helpful.

Even my mailman isn't sure how used parts are affected, if at all.

Do NOT want any other commentary!

Wed Aug 13, 2025 4:10 pm

Well, according to section 232, imports of complete used cars are subject to tariffs.

However, if the vehicle was produced 25 years prior to the date of tarrifs being started, they are NOT subject to tariffs.

I guess the question is what is that used part considered to be? If it can be considered antique....it has a fairly low fixed tariff like 10%

One thing ai have found is a great deal of business doing crooked shit like:

1. Companies here charging a tarrif hike for parts they already had in stock in mid April and may. The tariffs are set when the ship sails and only applied upon final delivery at the dock in the USA. Minimum 3 weeks on the water....and they had nothing in their inventory that YET had a tariff applied

2. Too many businesses with oddities (like our used parts)...new or used....and instead of getting an actual quoted definition for what their goods are classified as....they are just slapping on the maximum tarrif their country pays.

There is many, many things that are exempted. Ray

Wed Aug 13, 2025 5:01 pm

I've sold parts to customers in the UK and they had to pay VAT.

Just disproves that the seller pays the fees (tariffs).

Wed Aug 13, 2025 5:19 pm

The de minimus $800 exemption used to make a lot of international purchases palatable, but it seems to be unclear if the retraction of that rule for NEW goods is affecting old in US.

There are a few parts overseas (from the US), and a few from Canada, that would be nice to buy. It was bad enough when shipping charges were more than the part - looking at you, seller who won't use an envelope! - and now if it shows up with a tariff it makes many of them not worth the cost. It would have to be a 'NEED it to drive car' rather than a want.

At the very least it'd be nice to be able to say definitively "that hubcap from UK is $X cost $Y shipping and $Z tariffs" to make a judgement.

My mailman actually said to buy something used from overseas and then we'd both know! I did see ebay is warning buyers we all likely have to pay at least the country's minimum rate for anything purchased there. The problem is that it isn't clear if a VW part bought in UK should be their rate, or charged the German rate!

De minimus exemption ends this month, so if you want something, make sure your seller gets it mail ASAP!

Wed Aug 13, 2025 6:09 pm

Quote: the very least it'd be nice to be able to say definitively "that hubcap from UK is $X cost $Y shipping and $Z tariffs" to make a judgement

How can a UK seller know what CBP in the US is charging this week?

The idiocy of this is staggering.

Wed Aug 13, 2025 6:20 pm

Abscate wrote: CBP in the US is charging this week?
This day....

Currently it's 10%

It's not the sellers problem.

Wed Aug 13, 2025 6:26 pm

My idiocy is pretty impessive if I do say so. But if you mean the tariffs, yes; my mailman says it seems I would pay EITHER $85 or $200 but he doesn't know which. Or maybe 35% of declared cost...

Obviously, a $50 part with 25 shipping and even 85 tariff means I am not buying it unless a desperately-needed part.

Please don't start poitical discussions here; I am hoping those who have ordered things from out of the US will start posting their experiences over the next few weeks. Getting this locked will not be helpful.

Ebay/Etsy apparently have people complaining at high levels about all this, so perhaps a de minimus can be reestablished some time in the future

Wed Aug 13, 2025 6:30 pm

Perhaps the tariff can be reduced by a reduction in the sales price. I am thinking a handling fee is however tariff free. Probably easiest to do with used parts from private sellers.

Wed Aug 13, 2025 6:30 pm

70bus wrote: I am hoping those who have ordered things from out of the US will start posting their experiences over the next few weeks.
But the percentage can and has changed, so their experience can be dated.

Go to the post office and ask the postmaster. they'll tell you how it works and give you a better idea.

Wed Aug 13, 2025 6:42 pm

I did. At least the station i went to, they said they'd know more by the deadline, but to expect at least $85. It's the used part that's getting them; they have tariff charts for new stuff, but 'country of manufacture' is not always 'country shipped from.'

Also, looking at tariff docs, I find it hilarious huge chunks of it are unchanged since the 1800s.

Section 12
Footwear, Headgear, Umbrellas, Sun Umbrellas, Walking Sticks, Seatsticks, Whips, Riding-Crops and Parts Thereof; Prepared Feathers and Articles Made Therewith; Artificial Flowers; Articles of Human Hair

"Clark, what time does the Zeppelin arrive with my shipment of riding crops?"

Thu Aug 14, 2025 4:31 am

zerotofifty wrote: Perhaps the tariff can be reduced by a reduction in the sales price. I am thinking a handling fee is however tariff free. Probably easiest to do with used parts from private sellers.

19 CFR 1592 covers this.

Thu Aug 14, 2025 6:23 am

70bus wrote:
Also, looking at tariff docs, I find it hilarious huge chunks of it are unchanged since the 1800s.

Section 12
Footwear, Headgear, Umbrellas, Sun Umbrellas, Walking Sticks, Seatsticks, Whips, Riding-Crops

"Clark, what time does the Zeppelin arrive with my shipment of riding crops?"

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thu Aug 14, 2025 6:52 am

70bus wrote: Also, looking at tariff docs, I find it hilarious huge chunks of it are unchanged since the 1800s.
Section 12
Footwear, Headgear, Umbrellas, Sun Umbrellas, Walking Sticks, Seatsticks, Whips, Riding-Crops and Parts Thereof; Prepared Feathers and Articles Made Therewith; Artificial Flowers; Articles of Human Hair

seems like horse feathers to me

Thu Aug 14, 2025 9:47 am

Glenn wrote: I've sold parts to customers in the UK and they had to pay VAT.

Just disproves that the seller pays the fees (tariffs).

A VAT and a tarrif, while they are both taxes, are totally different. And, the fact that they are both taxes and can both be applied either alternately or at the same time is part of the entire problem that we and other countries have been swallowing for 40+ years.

It's part of what this whole tariff thing is designed to stop.

Back in April you had people all over the net screaming about places like poor New Zealand, Australia and many others.....who "seem" to have very low tariffs like 2% on the US...and asking why we are whacking them with 15-20% tarrifs.

Simple, because they conveniently forget to mention that they are whacking us with with that 2% and then a 15% global minimum corporate rate tax as a member of the OECD.

That 15% was "supposed" to be to prevent large companies like Apple or Ford from coming to do business or bank in your country to avoid larger corporate taxes but quite a few countries have quietly just slapped that tax on everything.....kinda being used more like a VAT tax :wink:

Then you have the administrative non-tax/tarrif trade barriers which are just as effective as tarrifs to keep a company's goods out of a market.....like the EU has been doing in spades.

It's interesting to watch. Both Canada and the UK are huge on VAT taxes.

While it's not a tarrif, it is still money anc someone still has to pay it. It's designed and positioned so that the person selling has to pay for it. Ray

Mon Aug 18, 2025 2:55 am

Vat and tariffs are taxes of differemt nature

1. You don’t pay VAT on stuff bought in UK, EU and shipped to the US. You can even collect your VAt you paid on a visit to these countries on your way out

2 US tariffs are taxes paid by importers on things they bring in based in country of origin ( not country of shipping point) and May or may not be passed on to consumers, at the choice of the importers.

Us automakers have been eating tariffs this summer on imported content. This won’t last much longer.

Mon Aug 18, 2025 5:43 am

I was talking to one of our local glass shop owners this weekend. He has stopped buying glass made in the USA due to the counter tariffs imposed on US goods. He now buys all his glass from Mexico and tells me the quality is very good. We did not talk numbers but the windshield he put in my Jetta a month ago did not raise any cost flags for me over previous purchases.

I am taking the wife's Golf in for one tomorrow so will talk numbers then. Yes the tariff costs are passed directly on to the consumer, profit margins these days are too low for the vender to eat it!

Mon Aug 18, 2025 8:21 am

We purchased a Hurst repro bumper from a vendor in Belgium a few months ago. When I asked for a price shipped it was very hard for him to do.. The manufacturer/vendor was in a pickle. The steel he buys both from the EU and from others. With ever changing tariffs his costs were all over the map. Then the import duties coming to the US were changing almost weekly.
We finally agreed on the best number he got from UPS as of a certain date. If the final cost was significantly different when the bumper actually hit the US, we would settle up one way or another.
As it turned out the actual total cost was very close to the estimate.

His comment to me: "The orange headed man is killing a lot of small businesses over here."

Mon Aug 18, 2025 3:18 pm

Don't mention UPS to me! Just had another go around with them! Good God those people are incompetent!

Tue Aug 19, 2025 11:13 am

Quote: perhaps I should have asked the mailman "what's up with that?"

Well, the de minimus exemption ends this month; that's when the fun really begins. For new stuff, it's already a shit-show, but the used maket will be murky. My post office sain as far as they can tell, it will be a flat fee - $85 or 200, no idea which - until February, when it should go down to 15%. But someone could change that at any time; obviously the best result is tariffs go to 15% Sept 2 and at least we all know what to expect.

Over on ebay shipping prices have aleady shot up through their Global Shipping program, and they warn shipping costs may not be accurate. I was looking at a small used part that was $200, but the shipping was now over $50. If buying through some online sellers, it looks like they are charging some sort of fees already (brokerage, customs inspection, etc), but I'm curious what will happen with our classifieds sellers.

Again, not interested in politics or opinions, just: "did you get a USED part, did you get charged a tariff, and how much was it?"

Wed Aug 20, 2025 7:41 am

My solution has been to quit buying anything unless it's a need. The confusion around all this is mind boggling to say the least! :(