You lost me here
I still only partially get what you’re saying
If they lie on the invoice and say it’s $30 instead of $275.
You pay the tariffs only on $30.
You still pay the supplier $275. They ship it to America. When it gets to customs, it has an invoice of $30. Customs charges you $37.50 for importing
If that invoice was the real cost of $275 then you will have to pay $318.75 in custom charges.
The item still cost $275. Your Chinese supplier still got $275.
The only one who’s paying more if the invoice price is correct is the importer.
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That makes sense now I just had to re-read your post a few times.
So the 245 is not on the invoice…was never paid in the eyes of the U.S. govt …but is still paid to the supplier…that’s what I consider under the table
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It dont really have to be on the invoice.
In reality, the supplier can charge you anything they want.
They can say the product was $30 and charge a consulting fee of $245. At the end of the day. The supplier is getting what he wants.
You’re still only paying for taxes on thr $30. There is nothing under the table. This is just a matter of telling the truth on the cost of the item.
There is a million ways to justify the lower invoiced price. That’s why it’s not really fraud.
Anyone ever sign over a car on the title cheaper that you actually paid so when you register that car. You pay less taxes.
Same thing
It’s not under the table, the tarrif is just unreasonable, and actually a lot of goods are getting into in US in this way, otherwise you can’t buy cheap staffs on Amazon, eBay, Temu…
If you worry about the fraud, try to use credit card, Paypal and never use Zelle, T/T for pay.
@Killa12345’s math is solid. Duties and Tariffs are paid on the value of the product stated on the Commercial Invoice provided by the foreign supplier. That document is frequently generated “FOR CUSTOMS PURPOSES ONLY”, showing only the costs of the actual products that will be charged customs and tariffs. Same process for sea and air transport.
I’m familiar only with the import of gases and chemicals, but have learned that typically the exporters of Chinese products are not manufacturers, but rather brokers / trading companies.
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Under declaring the value is not a long term strategy. I envision this happening in stages.
- Under declare- customs requires payment proof, ie bank statements
- Under declare with proof- customs looks at historical data from that hts code the shipper has previously used
- Under declare with new blank entity- customs uses other companies to determine fair value
It’s a whack a mole strategy that will happen with other methods as well like trans shipment. Some will stay ahead, others will get caught, and some will just bite the bullet and reinvent their supply chain.
Unfortunately Trump is unpredictable so it’s hard to do anything substantial here. He could drop the tariffs tomorrow or put them on other countries.
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@Killa12345 interested in your take on the tariff news of the day with the Chinese trade agreement. Do 90 day windows help or can we expect more destabilization in 3 months?
Even if businesses can get more stock, consumer confidence is gonna be hurt for a while
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it has to be better than it has been. i think all this rhetoric is just to get these countries to the table to talk equal free trade or tariffs across the board.
there are a lot of unfair tariffs countries impose on our goods while we allow americans to import other countries goods without any customs. i love being able to buy cheap shit on aliexpress tax free but i also want to send goods to other countries under a few hundred dollars where my customers dont have to pay tariffs either which isnt the case with 95% of the countries i ship to.
this creates an unfair advantage that other countries have really taken advantage with Especially CHINA. They have government subsidized 3rd party logistics which operate at a loss or even to promote country advancements.
There really isnt a good solution no matter how you do this. No side will be happy with the results no matter what happens in the next few years. The consumer is really the pawn in the game.
i see this as a way for businesses to increase the prices of stuff without really feeling impacted by this stuff. We have a container in customs at the moment in the middle of the highest tariffs rates ive ever seen. In the grand scheme of expenses. I dont think the increase is as painful as some of my other expenses and loses.
part of the game
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27 per item. I had 12 items in my cart. So the 300 was for all. But it looks like the tarrifs have been dropped basically
They can’t just drop them. These are some of the biggest and most beautiful tariffs we’ve ever seen…
Another tactic my Chinese supplier would use is she would send the order as a sample and if it was a big order we would send it to 2-3 different people / addresses in US
So instead of a 10,000$ packaging order it would be sent as 3 80$ samples
And I paid her PayPal Friends and Fam
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I’m hoping to not pay nearly as much now. Pretty interesting how fluid customs works in these weird times.
Crazy they are actually evaluating when the shipment is in customs and paying more or less depending on what the tariff rate is on that particular evaluation date.
This is like truly gambling with the customs department. This container been stuck for 11 days now. 
.
If the economy keeps moving in this direction. Logistic specialists are gonna become a very high paying and high demand occupation.
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So what do you think a ~$300 order of CNC parts from China would have tacked on top?
At 30% right now. Can’t imagine more than $90. Something that small, why not just state it’s a sample?
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Yea customs isnt stupid and ive had them hold a depositor to get a “value estimation” and once it was done they told me the extra i owed which was more then what i really paid lol
People swear like customs is dumb and doesnt catch people doing this…
If you use to pay 275 theyll be able to see that as anyone can see your import history and when all of a sudden youre paying 30 theyll get you
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Import via DDP terms, and skip all the headaches. a supplier I work with hasn’t raised our prices more than 3%
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We sample competitors from around the world and source product for customers based on specifications. Delivered Duty Paid makes our lives so much easier.
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