679 replies to this topic

[w7ay]

A $100 eyepiece before was $100 from China.  Now, it'll be $100 + $35 duty + ~$25 brokerage = $160.

Actually, it might be $60 + $21 duty + $25 brokerage = $106, since that is what a Chinese quality eyepiece can be built for :-).

 

Chen

[Starman1]

Actually, it might be $60 + $21 duty + $25 brokerage = $106, since that is what a Chinese quality eyepiece can be built for :-).

 

Chen

My $100 eyepiece was hypothetical and I was presuming that was the Chinese price.

[RLK1]

My $100 eyepiece was hypothetical and I was presuming that was the Chinese price.

I haven't seen any price changes yet for most of the items I checked on Aliexpress. For example, the relabel of the Hyperion eyepiece brand are still priced as before, $89.89 shipped:   

https://www.aliexpre...ayAdapt=glo2usa

Note, there's 83 listed by the vendor as currently available.

[joehudock]

It could be we have just had a too good to be true deal for too long. Back in the early 60's you could buy clear California redwood for less than locally produced common grade lumber. You could also get an Italian army surplus rifle with telescopic sight for less than a single-shot plain vanilla Mossberg. Those deals did not last and for good reason things needed to change. I just had a seller apologize for having to charge $5.70 to ship an SVP motor cover from Illinois to Pennsylvania. But you can ship an adult panda from the PRC for only $1.99. That deal will not last.

[w7ay]

I haven't seen any price changes yet for most of the items I checked on Aliexpress. For example, the relabel of the Hyperion eyepiece brand are still priced as before, $89.89 shipped:   

Bear in mind that the tariffs incur during import, and the shipping agent might be the one that bills you, when the package passes through Customs.

 

For example, DHL sent an email to me not long ago asking me to pay the tariffs for a spectrometer from France.  Albeit it is over $1000, so that is pretty normal.  

 

Amazon increased the price for their Mele 4C because it was being shipped within the States (and they have already paid for the extra 10% tariffs), but if your AliExpress package is coming from China, you may end up being dinged when the package arrives at Customs.  Ditto if you buy a Mele 4C from a Chinese source -- the initial cost will not have to include that 10%.

 

Chen

[RLK1]

Bear in mind that the tariffs incur during import, and the shipping agent might be the one that bills you, when the package passes through Customs.

 

For example, DHL sent an email to me not long ago asking me to pay the tariffs for a spectrometer from France.  Albeit it is over $1000, so that is pretty normal.  

 

Amazon increased the price for their Mele 4C because it was being shipped within the States (and they have already paid for the extra 10% tariffs), but if your AliExpress package is coming from China, you may end up being dinged when the package arrives at Customs.  Ditto if you buy a Mele 4C from a Chinese source -- the initial cost will not have to include that 10%.

 

Chen

While I suppose that's possible, I haven't experienced that with the American tariff already in existence for years for parcels coming from Aliexpress in China into the USA after passing through customs. In fact, the only similar circumstances I've seen people complain about are those who have encountered similar fees in other countries.

[MJB87]

While I suppose that's possible, I haven't experienced that with the American tariff already in existence for years for parcels coming from Aliexpress in China into the USA after passing through customs. In fact, the only similar circumstances I've seen people complain about are those who have encountered similar fees in other countries.

My understanding — correct me if I’m wrong — is that if the packages were under $800 in value they were not subject to tariffs under the de minimis rule. So far, the rule appears to be staying in effect.

[Starman1]

My understanding — correct me if I’m wrong — is that if the packages were under $800 in value they were not subject to tariffs under the de minimis rule. So far, the rule appears to be staying in effect.

Yes, they eliminated that and all the freight carriers squawked, so they backed down and de minimis is still in effect.

[Polyphemos]

Yes, they eliminated that and all the freight carriers squawked, so they backed down and de minimis is still in effect.

I also imagine it would have been fiscally unsound to spend $20 of tax payers money to recoupe $0.13 tariff on $1.34 worth of 5mm grub screws.

Edited by Polyphemos, 09 February 2025 - 07:40 PM.

[HouseBuilder328]

Just got the email from Oberwerk now at 7.38pm, Saturday.   Just great:

 

 

"At Oberwerk, our mission is to offer premium binoculars without the premium price tag. Unfortunately, due to the new 10% tariff on imports from our manufacturing plant in Kunming, China, we will need to increase prices on most of our products.

 

Price increases take effect Saturday, February 22, 2025 and will average to about 5%."

[scotsman328i]

Just got the email from Oberwerk now at 7.38pm, Saturday.   Just great:

 

 

"At Oberwerk, our mission is to offer premium binoculars without the premium price tag. Unfortunately, due to the new 10% tariff on imports from our manufacturing plant in Kunming, China, we will need to increase prices on most of our products.

 

Price increases take effect Saturday, February 22, 2025 and will average to about 5%."

Yep, imagine that…you pay half, they pay half. 

[RLK1]

Yep, imagine that…you pay half, they pay half. 

And how does that "help" anyone? 

[scotsman328i]

And how does that "help" anyone? 

It doesn’t. I’m just stating the obvious. 

[HouseBuilder328]

It doesn’t. I’m just stating the obvious. 

 

I understand, but you added in "Imagine that" to your sentence.  As in, "duh."

 

None of us think this helps anyone with other endless bills to pay and salaries that don't increase and higher prices everywhere. 

[scotsman328i]

I understand, but you added in "Imagine that" to your sentence.  As in, "duh."

 

None of us think this helps anyone with other endless bills to pay and salaries that don't increase and higher prices everywhere. 

That’s how you decided to read it. I meant it as the other definition of “imagine that, current world events have mandated tariffs that now will increase prices ultimately for the consumer to pay”. We all have been told that the country that has had tariffs imposed upon them will be the ones that have to pay them, but the reality stands that ultimately it will be the consumer and importing business, thus, the we pay half and they pay half. ‘Imagine that’ dictates the sarcasm of we all knew this would happen. 

[BlueMoon]

In a FB forum I frequent, a new user just received an item he ordered from China. He paid a "brokerage fee" along with an increased shipping amount as two separate amounts. The "brokerage fee" was as much as the shipping fee. As I've not seen a "brokerage fee" like this before so I asked him what it was. He didn't know. He said it was listed on his billing without any explanation. I'm thinking it's a "middle man" fee from the company importing the item. Makes one wary about who their doing business with and knowing just what one is paying for.

Edited by BlueMoon, 15 February 2025 - 08:56 PM.

[RLK1]

I've been checking prices periodically on Aliexpress for astronomy-related items, and although prices vary on items from time to time depending on the vendor, the items I have been following do not show any increases at this time.  For example, the price for a relabled version of the hyperion eyepieces is the same as previously noted in my post in this thread: $89.89 shipped. Of course your state sales tax, if applicable, would be added at checkout as always. Additionally, another one of their frequent coupon events begins in two day for an additional $12.00 off the aforementioned price of the eyepiece among other similarly priced items.

[Starman1]

Yep, imagine that…you pay half, they pay half. 

Unfortunately, the margins in the astronomy market are so low that many will not be able to absorb the hit.

If they keep margins the same, the retails go up by the same as the tariff--10%--because costs go up the same %.

But if they keep the markup $ the same, the retail price goes up less than 10% and they take a little lower margin but make the same profit dollars they did before.

That is obviously what Oberwerk did--but if they actually only add 5%, they are not only lowering their margin, but increasing their cost by some as well.

That is wonderful, but few retailers will be able to take the hit.  We'll see.

[Starman1]

That’s how you decided to read it. I meant it as the other definition of “imagine that, current world events have mandated tariffs that now will increase prices ultimately for the consumer to pay”. We all have been told that the country that has had tariffs imposed upon them will be the ones that have to pay them, but the reality stands that ultimately it will be the consumer and importing business, thus, the we pay half and they pay half. ‘Imagine that’ dictates the sarcasm of we all knew this would happen. 

Anyone who actually believed that (what's in bold) needs to go back to 3rd grade. 

I expect to see across the board 10% increases for Astro goods once new product arrives at the port. 5% indicates belt-tightening.

[Starman1]

In a FB forum I frequent, a new user just received an item he ordered from China. He paid a "brokerage fee" along with an increased shipping amount as two separate amounts. The "brokerage fee" was as much as the shipping fee. As I've not seen a "brokerage fee" like this before so I asked him what it was. He didn't know. He said it was listed on his billing without any explanation. I'm thinking it's a "middle man" fee from the company importing the item. Makes one wary about who their doing business with and knowing just what one is paying for.

All importers have clerks who work for companies that check the goods in and report them to US Customs and pay any necessary tariffs.

These companies charge for the paperwork and time to check the goods through Customs.  It's called a brokerage charge or fee.

Some shipping companies like DHL, UPS, FedEx, are their own brokers and simply add to the charges in a shipping bill.

Every time I imported something, I paid a brokerage charge as well as the Duty/Tariffs.

People who get one item of <$800 have, in the past, paid no brokerage charges, though I don't know why.  Some countries charge a brokerage fee regardless of value.

I guess it was called de minimus and wasn't worth the time to do an importation for a single item.

It is probably a sign the US just imports to many single item products and has too few people who work for US Customs, LOL.

 

But people who imported >$800 not only paid tariffs all along, they also paid a brokerage charge.

de minimus importation $ varied according to the country of origin.  Germany and Australia were higher than $800.

[Starman1]

I've been checking prices periodically on Aliexpress for astronomy-related items, and although prices vary on items from time to time depending on the vendor, the items I have been following do not show any increases at this time.  For example, the price for a relabled version of the hyperion eyepieces is the same as previously noted in my post in this thread: $89.89 shipped. Of course your state sales tax, if applicable, would be added at checkout as always. Additionally, another one of their frequent coupon events begins in two day for an additional $12.00 off the aforementioned price of the eyepiece among other similarly priced items.

I read that they imposed tariffs on all de minimus shipments, then rescinded that a couple days later.

If so, that means the US customer is back to paying no duty or brokerage charge for small orders.

I wouldn't expect the Chinese companies to raise prices unless the factory raises prices to them.

[DVexile]

 

People who get one item of <$800 have, in the past, paid no brokerage charges, though I don't know why.  

There are essentially three levels of customs handling:

 

Under $800 has often been de minimis meaning essentially it isn’t even touched and requires essentially no paper work.  Thus no brokerage or customs handling fees of any kind.

 

Under $2500 is often informal entry which uses streamlined electronic paper work that can be filed and even approved prior to the parcel arriving in the US. I believe this usually doesn’t necessitate a broker and the shipping retailer can do the work themselves.  This is what happened when I ordered about $2100 of binoculars from Japan.  No brokerage fees, cleared customs before it landed in the US, at my door via DHL in under 48 hours.

 

Over $2500 usually requires formal entry which now invokes all the fun of interacting with CBP and is typically where a broker of some form is used.  So usually fees associated with this, including handling fees by CBP themselves in addition to the broker.

 

The really burdensome thing about the new China tariffs when first announced was that not only was de minimis being terminated, but it was going to require formal entry of every parcel regardless of value.  And that of course would have completely broken CBP which is likely why it was almost immediately rolled back.

[scotsman328i]

Anyone who actually believed that (what's in bold) needs to go back to 3rd grade. 

I expect to see across the board 10% increases for Astro goods once new product arrives at the port. 5% indicates belt-tightening.

Don is absolutely correct, and it’s going to get worse. 

[RLK1]

I read that they imposed tariffs on all de minimus shipments, then rescinded that a couple days later.

If so, that means the US customer is back to paying no duty or brokerage charge for small orders.

I wouldn't expect the Chinese companies to raise prices unless the factory raises prices to them.

I guess my point is you can evidently still get a good deal, unless something changes, on various astronomy-related items such as eyepieces, including some top performers, direct from China via aliexpress. 

At least one or more of the Oberwerk eyepieces, for example, appear to be identical to the "angeleyes" units available via aliexpress and I have the 22mm model and it cost far less than buying it from Oberwerk and probably more so now if their prices are going up. 

 

Of course, unfortunately, that doesn't help the bottom line at Oberwerk or those vendors in similar circumstances or that of the consumers who purchase their products. So, if it's going to get worse, as another posted has commented, then the tariffs, as feared, are going to inflict more harm than good.  

[Doug Culbertson]

I guess my point is you can evidently still get a good deal, unless something changes, on various astronomy-related items such as eyepieces, including some top performers, direct from China via aliexpress. 

At least one or more of the Oberwerk eyepieces, for example, appear to be identical to the "angeleyes" units available via aliexpress and I have the 22mm model and it cost far less than buying it from Oberwerk and probably more so now if their prices are going up. 

 

Of course, unfortunately, that doesn't help the bottom line at Oberwerk or those vendors in similar circumstances or that of the consumers who purchase their products. So, if it's going to get worse, as another posted has commented, then the tariffs, as feared, are going to inflict more harm than good.  

Two weeks ago I bought an ES68 24mm on Aliexpress for $155 + sales tax. It arrived quickly once it cleared customs. I looked today and they are still the same price. I really like to help US vendors but $100 price difference is significant.