DDDHouse/Hong Kong Shipping thread

[eledoremassis02]

As you know, covid has caused alot of shipping delays and DDDHouse has also been effected. I did receive an update e-mail with the following

Regular Airmail Service is still suspended, looks like it will not resume during this month (April).

Hong Kong Post is enable a cheaper cost by Vantage Courier Service to USA, please let me know if you would like to change to Courier Service, we will then issue an individual paypal invoice to you for additional cost.
Vantage Courier Service reference cost :

1-2 Discs cost HK$160.00,

3-4 Discs cost HK$280.00,

5-6 Discs cost HK$360.00,

7-8 Discs cost HK$480.00.

[KINGDANGER]

I have about 5 titles sitting on ice right now also.

[hazelwu]

As everyone knows, now it's the tariff that's hitting our disc buying from HK. Some are holding the sales, Buyoyo is asking us to pay 145% tariff. I am thinking that I have no other choices but to ship my packages to my home in Taiwan.

[Fabs]

Man… 145%? I usually buy off eBay, and the seller usually takes about a week to ship what you buy. I found something I wanted, unfortunately only 2 days before the HKPost stoppage to the US, but I bought it anyways. I guess we’ll see how this goes.

[apollo828]

It's not ideal but one strategy is to ship to a reshipper in Japan, Taiwan, or some other countries. Depending on the amount of stuff you buy, it might be worthwhile. I'm adopting a wait-and-see attitude for now.

[hazelwu]

Originally Posted by apollo828

It's not ideal but one strategy is to ship to a reshipper in Japan, Taiwan, or some other countries. Depending on the amount of stuff you buy, it might be worthwhile. I'm adopting a wait-and-see attitude for now.

Reshippers also incur time and money too, even though it should be a lot less than 145%. Even though I have parents traveling to Taiwan once or twice a year, I doubt they can carry the number of discs I buy with flights. Not even Covid caused as huge of a hit as this! It's such a sad time making disc buying even harder!

[apollo828]

Yeah, normally I wouldn't do it. I don't really care about the time. It's the money that gets me. I don't know if the tariffs will apply to the actual price or to whatever is printed on the mailing slip (e.g., the Diskino sets I just got today that were ~US$60 retail but marked as US$9 on the invoice). If it's the invoice, it sucks but it may be best to plow ahead. If not, either use a third country or hop on a plane and pick up all of this stuff yourself.

[hazelwu]

Originally Posted by apollo828

Yeah, normally I wouldn't do it. I don't really care about the time. It's the money that gets me. I don't know if the tariffs will apply to the actual price or to whatever is printed on the mailing slip (e.g., the Diskino sets I just got today that were ~US$60 retail but marked as US$9 on the invoice). If it's the invoice, it sucks but it may be best to plow ahead. If not, either use a third country or hop on a plane and pick up all of this stuff yourself.

I am guessing it's the invoice price because that is the official price claimed by the seller regardless of how much we pay. Anyway, 145% of $9 is still quite high at adding $13 to just one item.

[kevers7290]

For the USA the tariffs apply to the country where the product was manufactured so having it shipped to another country first is not a perfect solution depending on the item. If it was made in China you are SOL no matter what.

[hazelwu]

Originally Posted by kevers7290

For the USA the tariffs apply to the country where the product was manufactured so having it shipped to another country first is not a perfect solution depending on the item. If it was made in China you are SOL no matter what.

Thanks for pointing that out! So is it okay for my mom to bring them from Taiwan to US as personal items in luggage through flights?

[kevers7290]

Originally Posted by hazelwu

Thanks for pointing that out! So is it okay for my mom to bring them from Taiwan to US as personal items in luggage through flights?

I can't see why not. Tariffs only apply to items transported by a courier service. An airline can't charge tariffs on luggage.

[hazelwu]

Originally Posted by kevers7290

I can't see why not. Tariffs only apply to items transported by a courier service. An airline can't charge tariffs on luggage.

Airlines can't charge tariffs on luggage, but US Customs have only a few hundred dollars of duty-free allowance I believe.

[eledoremassis02]

Update on DDDHouse:

Announcement:
Due to the unclear procedure for the clearance of packages arriving at U.S. customs, all shipments to the U.S. are temporarily suspended.
Donald Trump announced the elimination of tariff exclusions for small parcels of $800 or less effective May 2, 2025.
Meanwhile, from May 2, packages of $800 or less will be subject to a 145% customs duty or $100 fee per piece.

[Fabs]

$100 per disc? Well, looks like buying Blu-rays from HK is over. At least I was able to get in one last order before it happened��

[benricci]

Originally Posted by Fabs

$100 per disc? Well, looks like buying Blu-rays from HK is over. At least I was able to get in one last order before it happened��

$100 Hong Kong dollars which would be around 11 bucks USD. The $800 figure is in USD already, so it's a bit confusing but that's the answer I got when I asked for clarification.

This whole stupid situation sucks.

[Fabs]

Oh. If it’s in HKD, that’s not too bad. But yeah… This situation is horrible for those of us who love HK movies. I’m already wanting to buy more, but I’m not sure what to do.

[benricci]

Originally Posted by Fabs

Oh. If it’s in HKD, that’s not too bad. But yeah… This situation is horrible for those of us who love HK movies. I’m already wanting to buy more, but I’m not sure what to do.

I guess for the time being, just hold off on importing from HK. I know it sucks, but eventually things will likely get back to (somewhat) normal...I hope.

[Fabs]

Originally Posted by benricci

I guess for the time being, just hold off on importing from HK. I know it sucks, but eventually things will likely get back to (somewhat) normal...I hope.

That’s true. It just sucks because sometimes getting the Blu is the only way to watch some of these.

[hazelwu]

Now the tariffs are down to "only" 30% from China to US.

[Sinister Ash]

Originally Posted by hazelwu

Now the tariffs are down to "only" 30% from China to US.

Are imports from HK also affected by the China tariffs? It wasn't clear if their customs are treated differently.