Shipping into US - actual new tariffs & import fees - your experience

[DarkHammer]

Did any of you buy anything recently and have it imported into US? How much did you pay in fees and tariffs? I assumed it costs more now to import guitars/items from Japan or Europe or even Canada, but I was shocked by how expensive it became.

I was considering purchasing some records from Canada and ran estimate through BorderBuddy app to get a sense of what I should be expecting. To say that I was shocked is an understatement!!!

Thanks for contacting BorderBuddy about your shipment into the United States. Below is your free, no-obligation quote.

Description	music records
Country of Manufacture	US
Total Value	$511.00

Customs & Fees

Customs Import fees	$395.52
BorderBuddy Clearance Fee	$185.00

Fees and tariffs are around 120% of purchase price (value around 500, fees about 600 = 400+200)!!! Add taxes to this and we are on the hook to pay 2.5 the purchase price!!!

Is this really how it is now? What was your experience?  

 

Edited February 9 by DarkHammer

[cmatthes]

Such bullshit.

[The Shark]

My violin guitar was supposed to be dinged for 19%.  I paid $1,275 USD and the customs/duty was $58.25.  I think it depends on the country.  Mine came from Indonesia.  I couldn't figure it out.

Edited February 9 by The Shark

[cmatthes]

5 minutes ago, The Shark said:

My violin guitar was supposed to be dinged for 19%.  I paid $1,275 USD and the customs/duty was $58.25.  I think it depends on the country.  Mine came from Indonesia.  

That's not bad at all!

My son was looking at a guitar from Japan (not sold in the States), and the tariffs/fees were close to $1,500.  The guitar itself was a hair over $2k US...

[DarkHammer]

7 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

That's not bad at all!

My son was looking at a guitar from Japan (not sold in the States), and the tariffs/fees were close to $1,500.  The guitar itself was a hair over $2k US...

so, it's possible you'd be paying almost double for a guitar after all fees and taxes. I guess days of getting cool guitars from Japan or other countries are over!

[cmatthes]

Hopefully, not for too long.  The dollar was pretty strong v the JPYen, but that's likely going to change too, so we'll see.  I think the best thing to do is to plan a trip to Japan and try to bring something back, but not sure how much better that'll be, since you're just saving on the broker/importer fees at that point.

[Jeff R]

Depends on the country and the nature of the goods. In December, I ordered $3500 in bulk bar magnets I use in some of my humbuckers from one of China's most popular foundries among US pickup makers.

Due to country of origin and the nature of the items (keywords being "permanent magnets," "rare earth"), I owed 47.1 percent of the value in tariffs and import stuff. After FedEx jumped in with their extra fee for the clearance paperwork, I paid $1715 to clear customs.

 

1 hour ago, cmatthes said:

That's not bad at all!

My son was looking at a guitar from Japan (not sold in the States), and the tariffs/fees were close to $1,500.  The guitar itself was a hair over $2k US...

Chris, you need to ask seller to itemize that quote. Current baseline tariff from Japan is 15 percent and while I am not an expert, guitars don't appear to be subject to exception categories that would definitely inflate duties. Granted, duty is only one of a few applicable fees, but a line item assessment may reveal they are trying to eat you alive on not only shipping (typically $150-300 from Japan to USA) but item packing, packing materials, parcel handling. etc.   

[cmatthes]

1 hour ago, Jeff R said:

Chris, you need to ask seller to itemize that quote. Current baseline tariff from Japan is 15 percent and while I am not an expert, guitars don't appear to be subject to exception categories that would definitely inflate duties. Granted, duty is only one of a few applicable fees, but a line item assessment may reveal they are trying to eat you alive on not only shipping (typically $150-300 from Japan to USA) but item packing, packing materials, parcel handling. etc.   

Thanks, Jeff!  I think dealing with that kind of soured him on the whole thing anyway - it honestly was a case of "the math not mathing", but they wouldn't back off from it...which probably says more about who you're dealing with maybe?

[Steve Haynie]

Going in the other direction, at the end of 2025 I had packages to send to relatives in France.  When I was told that my relatives might have to pay a certain VAT the gifts ended right then.  The tax was going to be more than the value of the contents of the packages.  To send a book, I pre-paid the tax and it was equal to the price of the book.  

A friend who sent gifts to Denmark has run into the same problem.  

In Jeff's case, he is a manufacturer creating a product.  Everyone else here is a hobbyist.  No one is theoretically competing with American businesses.  There should be no need for a tariff.  Tariffs are about balancing trade, not one-off purchases or gifts.

[Disturber]

6 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

Going in the other direction, at the end of 2025 I had packages to send to relatives in France.  When I was told that my relatives might have to pay a certain VAT the gifts ended right then.  The tax was going to be more than the value of the contents of the packages.  To send a book, I pre-paid the tax and it was equal to the price of the book.  

A friend who sent gifts to Denmark has run into the same problem.  

In Jeff's case, he is a manufacturer creating a product.  Everyone else here is a hobbyist.  No one is theoretically competing with American businesses.  There should be no need for a tariff.  Tariffs are about balancing trade, not one-off purchases or gifts.

I used to be able to avoid custom and tax fees when I ordered things with a value under 100 $. But since about 10 years ago the customs here in Sweden scan every package code and I then get a message that I need to pay about 30% of the value of the goods, including shipping cost, to get the package delivered. If I don't pay the fees I guess they send it back to the sender, I don't know. 

I used to buy a lot of CDs, guitar pickups, pedals and other small stuff without problems. Now it's hardly worth it. I try to buy from within the EU instead. 

[ARM OF HAMER]

                           I have a VERY rare book coming from Paris, France [The book was only available in France for a short time]...............the book alone was $157.00 plus shipping. Wonder what I'll be paying on this end when it arrives 😲

[duncans]

I ordered a Wangs amp from China acouple months ago. Sale price $775, free shipping.       UPS hit me for approximately $150 for tarrifs, Wangs refunded that back to me.

I checked Border Buddy before hand, if I remember correctly they quoted $300-350 for fees.

 

[currypowder]

Since the tariffs started and de-minimus exemption ended, I have almost completely ceased my importing activities from Japan. The added 15% is the main reason, but I'm also unable to use EMS as a shipping service, my proxy forces me to use FedEx, UPS or DHL, all of which have become more expensive (around $250 for a guitar). Given how unbelievably soft he used guitar market is, it makes no financial sense to import any guitars unless I am fairly certain of keeping it for a good long while. 

I did recently buy a pair of pickups from Japan and ended up paying 15% tariff and a small UPS fee (about $10). Given the size of the package was also small, the shipping wasn't too bad either at $50. None of this was a surprise to me and I had factored it all in to my decision to purchase them. And the mechanism to pay the tariff/fee was simple, UPS sent me an e-mail with an invoice and I paid it online. Overall, took 2 days to get to me from Japan.

[Disturber]

6 hours ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

                           I have a VERY rare book coming from Paris, France [The book was only available in France for a short time]...............the book alone was $157.00 plus shipping. Wonder what I'll be paying on this end when it arrives 😲

Does it include pictures of naked french ladies? That might cost extra.

[The Shark]

On 2/9/2026 at 1:31 PM, cmatthes said:

That's not bad at all!

My son was looking at a guitar from Japan (not sold in the States), and the tariffs/fees were close to $1,500.  The guitar itself was a hair over $2k US...

The guy that built it sent it in two boxes.  The neck and parts in one and the body in the other.  He labeled them guitar parts, so I think there's something about finished goods that is way more expensive.  

[The Shark]

Also, I bought a PRS from Lauzon in Canada.  Because the guitar was made in the USA, there was no tariff.  

[beezerboy]

working on shipping a guitar from Idaho to Anchorage... $244 is about the cheapest we can come up with. about 30 bucks less to Seattle

[ARM OF HAMER]

5 hours ago, Disturber said:

Does it include pictures of naked french ladies? That might cost extra.

                        Nope but it DOES have a "Hot" Jazz guitar player. "A Life in Jazz Guitar" Tal Farlow. I got the "Luxury" edition with the red slipcover, CD, signatures of Michele Farlow, ["Tal's Wife"] and the author Jean Luc Katchchoura, and 3 large prints from the private Tal Farlow collection. Numbered edition of 150.      

Edited February 11 by ARM OF HAMER

[Disturber]

10 hours ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

                        Nope but it DOES have a "Hot" Jazz guitar player. "A Life in Jazz Guitar" Tal Farlow. I got the "Luxury" edition with the red slipcover, CD, signatures of Michele Farlow, ["Tal's Wife"] and the author Jean Luc Katchchoura, and 3 large prints from the private Tal Farlow collection. Numbered edition of 150.      

Nice!!! Have a good read.