Comment by parsimo2010
7 days ago
I suspect that this $25/50 per item policy is to prevent people from claiming a lower value than the actual price of the item. I've received international packages marked "gift" with a value of $10 that I had paid much more for.
I doubt the US will even manufacture substitutes for most of the things I liked and ordered from AliExpress. People with hobbies primarily supplied by Chinese manufacturing (like mine- electronics, 3D printing, FPV drones) are just going to be paying more for the same thing. There's no way we'll get an American substitute for niche products- all the US chip fabs are going to be filled with orders for higher dollar parts.
Note that the fact sheet says per item, not per shipment. So there doesn't even seem to be a way to make one big purchase of several items to pay a single fee. They will hit you for every item in the shipment.
Quick edit: I also note that the fact sheet makes a distinction between things sent through international post vs. other means. If you send via UPS/FedEx/DHL there will be regular customs fees (34%?), and through post you will have the $25/50 per item fee. So I will definitely have to pay attention to the shipping method for anything bought from AliExpress from now on.
Quick edit 2: I literally have a PicoCalc from ClockworkPi coming in the mail in a few days- I guess we'll see if DHL charges me any extra fees.
I wonder how item will be defined. If I order a pack of 100 tiny magnets from AliExpress, is that $30 or $3000?
To add some color: when I've placed orders like this in the past the small items didn't come packed like consumer goods in a nice box but in something like a zip lock bag or an envelope.
It's per package overall, surely...
Not per item within the package. Per shipping item.
Also people buying stationary stuff from China, how will their pricing be?
I'm not sure how it'll work in the US but in the UK when I'm buying cheap Chinese stuff on eBay there are usually two options - have it posted from China which is cheapest but slow, or order it from a UK distributor who has bulk imported from China which costs a bit more but arrives in a couple of days. I guess everything will move to the latter system?
Realistically, the $25 minimum is to cover the costs of handling the imports (with some premium), so it doesn't make sense to charge it for every item in a batch separately.