DHL charged me tariffs on misc. Volks DD goods?

As the title says, I somehow got lucky and Alphinaud DD wasn't hit
but.. a bodysuit, the Uchinoko-Kawaii Dollfie Tote Bag and DD Head Cap were hit for 65usd in tariffs.
Unless the Tote was made in China?
I'm not sure how exactly DHL calculated the tariffs?? And it says country of origin "Japan" on their website
De minimis isn't over yet for Japan and the total w/o shipping was a bit under 12,000 yen so I'm pretty confused as to why I was hit 
and for such a big percentage at that? not counting their 17usd processing fee, I was charged 45.90usd.

I'll pay it since I need the bag for an event next weekend and dodged Alphinaud's somehow.
But yeah, mainly making this post as a heads up/warning of sorts!

Edited August 24 by Hazukami
typos

6 hours ago, Hazukami said:

As the title says, I somehow got lucky and Alphinaud DD wasn't hit
but.. a bodysuit, the Uchinoko-Kawaii Dollfie Tote Bag and DD Head Cap were hit for 65usd in tariffs.
Unless the Tote was made in China?
I'm not sure how exactly DHL calculated the tariffs?? And it says country of origin "Japan" on their website
De minimis isn't over yet for Japan and the total w/o shipping was a bit under 12,000 yen so I'm pretty confused as to why I was hit 
and for such a big percentage at that? not counting their 17usd processing fee, I was charged 45.90usd.

I'll pay it since I need the bag for an event next weekend and dodged Alphinaud's somehow.
But yeah, mainly making this post as a heads up/warning of sorts!

De minimis doesn't end for Japan until the 29th.

Items made in China are subject to 30% and were not exempt starting in May, regardless of where they ship out from. For Volks, only the dolls and a smattering of outfits (which are emblazoned with a made in japan sticker) are made in Japan. Everything else I've received over the years has been made overseas.

It's really unfortunate, but I think what was levied is correct in terms of what was done. I don't know how they reached a total $46 from $85 worth of goods though.

Edited August 24 by chef_mai

This whole thing is still such a mess and I'm hearing people being charged all kinds of numbers while others completely dodge it that I feel like they're just charging whatever the f they want at this point. It's so frustrating.

I've been collecting BJDs since 2006 and the angry stories about DHL have always been legion. I generally see two kinds:

1). If you don't live right next to a major metropolitan area then getting a package out of them is nearly impossible. And I mean major - something like ten US cities, max. They do not have the infrastructure to deliver to smaller cities/towns/rural areas and they never tell anyone overseas about this.

2). If they think they can get away with dunning you for cash, they always will.

They may or may not have gotten better about #1 in the intervening twenty years - they probably have - but #2 never seems to change. Previously it was something I mostly heard from European people, but now that DHL have the excuse to cashgrab Americans, they're going to.

9 hours ago, GirlWiththeDragoonTattoo said:

This whole thing is still such a mess and I'm hearing people being charged all kinds of numbers while others completely dodge it that I feel like they're just charging whatever the f they want at this point. It's so frustrating.

Actually, it's such a mess that various postal services in various countries are halting all parcel deliveries to the USA starting this week. Japan hasn't done that yet.

8 hours ago, Gallye said:

I've been collecting BJDs since 2006 and the angry stories about DHL have always been legion. I generally see two kinds:

1). If you don't live right next to a major metropolitan area then getting a package out of them is nearly impossible. And I mean major - something like ten US cities, max. They do not have the infrastructure to deliver to smaller cities/towns/rural areas and they never tell anyone overseas about this.

 

 

I Dunno; i live in a Rural Region, and over the Last Two Years i had been taking AmiAmi Shipments via DHL on a pretty much Monthly Basis...

and only Once or Twice did they ever even so much as minorly Goof Up.

Never did they add any sort of Surcharges along the way that i can Recall.

DHL always Delivered to me Directly from their Seattle WA. Dist. Center...

and i am several hours away from there, here in IRRIGON/UMATILLA OR. so there is All of That to Consider i Suppose.

That Said; i've been Abstaining from DHL ever since this T Business went down and AmiAmi Stayed them as a Shipping option,

So i guess DHL has ended up turning Rather Rotten within that time?

Edited Monday at 12:20 PM by Tasuke

4 hours ago, Tasuke said:

 

I Dunno; i live in a Rural Region, and over the Last Two Years i had been taking AmiAmi Shipments via DHL on a pretty much Monthly Basis...

and only Once or Twice did they ever even so much as minorly Goof Up.

Never did they add any sort of Surcharges along the way that i can Recall.

DHL always Delivered to me Directly from their Seattle WA. Dist. Center...

and i am several hours away from there, here in IRRIGON/UMATILLA OR. so there is All of That to Consider i Suppose.

That Said; i've been Abstaining from DHL ever since this T Business went down and AmiAmi Stayed them as a Shipping option,

So i guess DHL has ended up turning Rather Rotten within that time?

Nah, the US now faces the same regime as elsewhere or perhaps worse, thanks to the "T" and especially their execution that appears to be rather ill-thought-out. 

Also, I hope that no one in the USA is expecting a package worth over 100 dollars from the EU, because shipping those has been temporarily shut down (Guardian link explaining the problem neutrally)...😨 I wonder when Japan will follow suit.

30 minutes ago, Kemonomimicry said:

Nah, the US now faces the same regime as elsewhere or perhaps worse, thanks to the "T" and especially their execution that appears to be rather ill-thought-out. 

Also, I hope that no one in the USA is expecting a package worth over 100 dollars from the EU, because shipping those has been temporarily shut down (Guardian link explaining the problem neutrally)...😨 I wonder when Japan will follow suit.

Unfortunately Japan has already just followed suit: https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2025/0825_01_en.html

I'm so tired of everything 😒

It seems that it means only Japan Post specifically will not be handling packages bound for USA. And we will be forced to use the likes of DHL and similar.

(I like how it straight up says the guidelines are not clear tho. I'm not even surprised)

whoops haven't been on the forum since forever but ofc the first thing i notice is a thread about this 👋

 

if you want to keep up to date on things, i highly recommend following the thread(s) on MFC about the tariff situation: https://myfigurecollection.net/thread/21030

 

TLDR: the CBP has no system in place to collect tariffs on the volume of packages that would need to be collected, so it's currently the responsibility of other countries to collect it for them before shipping to the US, but the CBP also isn't telling anyone how to correctly calculate the %, which is why so many countries are halting shipments via services that hand off to USPS.  because unfortunately, most packages that arrive without the fees already paid will likely be destroyed (simply because that's the "easiest option" over returning to sender, of course, which they don't have to do).

afaik: Japan, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, UK, Belgium, New Zealand, have all announced or are expected to announce suspended services to the US.  Canada supposedly will only ship "pre-paid tariff" packages to the US until further notice.  i swore i saw someone mention Thailand in the thread somewhere, but i didn't see it when i skimmed through just now, but just be aware that a lot of countries are pausing services, not just Japan.  this does mean that your only options from most countries now are private services like DHL, Fedex, and UPS, but even DHL has suspended their 'e-commerce' or lowest tier services to the US (which also handed off to USPS for last mile delivery).

 

and OP probably got hit with such wild fees simply because the private services like DHL, Fedex, and UPS will charge you extra in ""convenience fees"" because they can, since that money goes straight into their pockets.  and the tariff fees are based off which code is listed for the item(s) on the customs form, so if your shipper uses a broad/generic code, you can even be taxed for items that shouldn't be taxed, like books, so currently it feels like a complete crapshoot on how much you'll get charged.  and please remember that packages can arrive from services like Fedex and UPS without fees, only for you to be billed weeks later.  so do not assume you are safe even once you receive a package.

Yeah I had a feeling I was overcharged ajsdoajsd
But I really needed the bag and didn't see the point in disputing it.
Fingers crossed I got away with Alphinaud's DD at least...
Mostly made this as a warning though to just not buy from Volks Japan and Japan in general until things are clearer.
Really didn't have much of a choice myself since EMS would've taken too long and thought I'd be fine since De minimis wasn't over yet.
Can't even tell what specifically was made in China, but oh well.. that's the way the cookie crumbles.

6 hours ago, OccultBeast said:

TLDR: the CBP has no system in place to collect tariffs on the volume of packages that would need to be collected, so it's currently the responsibility of other countries to collect it for them before shipping to the US, but the CBP also isn't telling anyone how to correctly calculate the %, which is why so many countries are halting shipments via services that hand off to USPS.  because unfortunately, most packages that arrive without the fees already paid will likely be destroyed (simply because that's the "easiest option" over returning to sender, of course, which they don't have to do).

And that's simply not how things are supposed to work according to international agreements. The Trump government is trying to make the foreign shipping companies to pay for the tariffs, instead of using the common mechanism where it's the customs agencies + local postal services that handle it. So the result is that almost everything simply gets halted. This is also likely why the European postal union has threatened to make the temporary ban permanent.

The reason companies like DHL don't have this problem is that they are private and have mostly streamlined and automated their customs handling, although the agents handling everything are still area-specific (e.g. DHL sends me a tax notice from their office in my own country).

I got Alphinaud and Alisae in on the same day last week. I got the notice from DHL that I owed import duties, which came to 15% of the value of Alphinaud. Since de minimis was still in effect, my only theory is that DHL took the value of both packages into consideration when determining if tarrif was owed (as de minimis is supposed to consider all goods imported on the same day, not per package) but only pulled the customs form for one package to calculate the tarrif. A friend of mine had the same experience, except in her case DHL calculated the 15% based on Alisae's value. 

Hilariously, even eith a 15% tarrif, it was still less expensive to import both dolls from Volks Japan than buying them from Volks USA or Square Enix due to the exchange rate. For this reason, I will still continue to import items from Japan, though I will more diligent in doing the math. 

The whole narrative around "tarrifs at paid by the exporting country" is such BS. Tarrifs are and always have been fees paid to the government by the importer of the good. Sure, the government could try to put the onus on the exporter to remit the tarrif, but that's a major attempt to dodge responsibility. Only the government has the ability to collect taxes. The US government does not have any direct methods to force another country to pay anything on imported goods. 

If the tarrif isn't paid and the shipment is destroyed or confiscated, that hurts the consumer. The overseas company has already received payment for the good, and is not responsible if the country importing the item does not have a way to collect the taxes imposed. 

Thanks for reporting this. What was the brokerage fee charged on top of the 15%? 

1 hour ago, asianed said:

I got Alphinaud and Alisae in on the same day last week. I got the notice from DHL that I owed import duties, which came to 15% of the value of Alphinaud.

 

1 hour ago, chef_mai said:

Thanks for reporting this. What was the brokerage fee charged on top of the 15%? 

 

It was $17 for "processing fee" and $1.31 in "regulatory charges." Actual import duty was $112.83, which is 15% of the declared item value. Since the custom forms from Volks Japan was in Yen, it appears DHL used a market exchange rate to convert to JPY to USD. 

7 hours ago, asianed said:

It was $17 for "processing fee" and $1.31 in "regulatory charges." Actual import duty was $112.83, which is 15% of the declared item value. Since the custom forms from Volks Japan was in Yen, it appears DHL used a market exchange rate to convert to JPY to USD. 

Sounds like DHL just expanded their custom charge collection system that's already in use elsewhere to include the USA, because those fees are very similar to what they charge around here.

As for the tariffs, they were just declared mostly illegal by a court decision in the USA, but with a deferred judgement until the second half of October, so the Trump government can appeal to the Supreme Court. I suspect that the result of this for postal services outside the USA will be that they will expand their ban on parcels over 100USD until the second half of October, because no company is going to be so insane to implement an expensive tariff payment system as long as it is unclear whether they're legal or not in the USA.