Customs Fees charged by UPS to Buyer Upon Delivery

[vintagerosanne]

Sold an item for $25.00 US plus $19.99 shipping to a person in California.  No communication from Buyer whatsoever.  UPS was not able to deliver because Buyer Refused delivery.  UPS claims that there was $53.00 US Customs owing to Buyer at the door.  UPS called and asked me to pay it!  In order for me to receive the item, I have to pay the $53.00 US.  Anyone else experience this?  This is June 2025.  Thank you.

[ecgt]

We had this happen in May (buyer refused UPS delivery). UPS charged us return shipping in July via eBay and then we were hit with additonal charges (duty, tariffs and brokerage fees) through eBay at the beginning of September. 

Buyer lost their dispute through eBay because they refused delivery, but we still ended up being on the hook for more than $100 in additional charges. This was a $35 item that was made in China.

We will only use UPS for domestic shipping now, as it's not worth the risk to ship via UPS to the USA.

[visual-sound]

The answer is simple - Stop selling to the US. That's what I've done. Yes I'm losing some sales but I'm saving myself a lot of hassles!

[reallynicestamps]

devon@ebay 

We need clarification that eBay will stand by their long-standing policy on Undeliverable shipments.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?...

[recped]

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@visual-sound wrote:

The answer is simple - Stop selling to the US. That's what I've done. Yes I'm losing some sales but I'm saving myself a lot of hassles!

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That is not the answer, the correct answer is to never use carriers like UPS or FedEx for cross border shipping. This has been true since forever, long before the Trump tarrifs or the end of the de minimis exemption. Those two things have just made it MUCH worse.

FYI - FedEx has always been the absolute worst as they deliver packages and then a week or two later they send a bill to the recipient. Since the buyer already has the package there is no incentive for them to pay FedEx. In this situation FedEx bills the unpaid amount back to the shipper, if you are using eBay's accounts they bill eBay who takes the money from the seller, if you don't pay it your eBay account will get shut down. At least with UPS you can get your goods back (at a steep cost), with FedEx you lose your money, you lose your item AND you are forced to pay all the outstanding brokerage fees and duty which under the new Trump rules are not refundable.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@morepleaseshop wrote:

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@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

If the buyer refuses, it will be charged to your eBay balance at a later date. You can find social media posts with horror stories about this. This is assuming that you printed the label via eBay labels. 

This was exactly my worry. If the UPS will try to recoup their charges from me. Yes, I printed ebay labels.
I don't have any sosial media,so, can't see thouse, but I found this thread and wonder how it worked out in the end.

I wonder if contacting UPS and stopping them from shipping items back will help...

So far the buyers are not demanding anything, but I'm more scared to be charged with what they refused to pay and more.

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No, you have to pay the customs fees on refused shipments whether you get the stuff back or not. UPS pays the fees to import and needs to recoup from someone, if the buyer doesn't pay, the seller will have to.

This hasn't happened to me since I don't use couriers, but there have been a few anecdotal posts in this forum of people having to pay fees that their buyers refused to pay.

C.

[recped]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

devon@ebay 

We need clarification that eBay will stand by their long-standing policy on Undeliverable shipments.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy...

https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?...

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No clarification needed, the policy is the policy, if tracking shows refused by buyer due to duty/tariffs they lose the MBG rights. The tracking notation must be very specific, the the issue must not be the result of a sellers failure to correctly declared the item description and value on the customs declaration.

In the OP's case while they may be able to refuse to refund the buyer they are stuck with the UPS brokerage fees, return shipping and any duty/tariff paid.  In this case keeping the buyers money still isn't sufficient to cover all the UPS charges. eBay isn't going to cover any of that.

[morepleaseshop]

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is as I suspected...

I now got one more refusal to pay and this one is also mentioning chargeback. The others might try it too I suppose if they are despicable enough not to own their ignorance.

At least it's the last one. I have blocked US sales now, but these 3 went out pretty much together, I had no chance to have this experience with just one.

What makes me really angry is why ebay allows UPS to do it. They say those charges are buyers responcibility, but they don't act on it and let UPS (or Fedex) punish us. Instead of forcing buyers to be responcible, UPS goes the easy way and ebay washes their hands off. And what if I didn't buy the label on ebay? who will they charge then, some other random seller, because they "have to get someone to pay"?! What an interesting concept.

When Fedex was just added to ebay labels and was cheaper than Can. post I had one buyer call them and change the address after I shipped the item. Fed ex just silently charged me the fee that doubled my cost  of shipping. And ebay, again, said it's not our problem, but they do allow them to create that problem and do not protect us. UPS and others can directly reach into our pocket and that's totally wrong!

[vintageandglamor]

I've had not the greatest consistency with UPS. The last time I called, he informed me, as the shipper if the item is returned, the Brokerage fees DO NOT get chargered to me, and I would only be charged returned shipping. I made him create a case to reference to with confirmation.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@vintageandglamor wrote:

I've had not the greatest consistency with UPS. The last time I called, he informed me, as the shipper if the item is returned, the Brokerage fees DO NOT get chargered to me, and I would only be charged returned shipping. I made him create a case to reference to with confirmation.

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They may waive the brokerage fees (if I believe that), but IEEPA tariffs will still apply.

In answer to the previous post, if you don't buy a label on eBay they will still charge the tariffs back to the seller if the buyer doesn't pay. I have a FedEx account linked to my credit card, they will get their money from that. If I buy my postage in a UPS store and pay at the counter, I presume they just send a bill and then send it to collections and add it to your credit report if it's not paid.

C.

[flipistics]

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@morepleaseshop wrote:

What makes me really angry is why ebay allows UPS to do it. They say those charges are buyers responcibility, but they don't act on it and let UPS (or Fedex) punish us. Instead of forcing buyers to be responcible, UPS goes the easy way and ebay washes their hands off. that's totally wrong!

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I'm pretty sure this is mentioned in the terms you agree to when you create a UPS label in eBay. The more interesting one would be a chargeback.  I don't know what happens in that scenario. I don't recall that being one of the things the seller protection policy covers for chargebacks, but I may have missed it.

devon@ebay  what happens if a buyer refuses a shipment because of tariffs but then initiates a chargeback? Are sellers covered for this type of chargeback under the seller protection policy?

[morepleaseshop]

I don't remember it in the terms, but you are most likely right. I have difficulties digesting the kind of language they use in the legal documents, might've missed it.

As for the chargebacks,  i've never had to do it myself, but don't you have to have a valid reason to do one or does the bank accepts any kind of noncense?

[flipistics]

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@morepleaseshop wrote:

I don't remember it in the terms, but you are most likely right. I have difficulties digesting the kind of language they use in the legal documents, might've missed it.

As for the chargebacks,  i've never had to do it myself, but don't you have to have a valid reason to do one or does the bank accepts any kind of noncense?

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I've never done one, but they'd probably accept the buyer saying they never received the item. That doesn't mean they'd win.

As a seller, I've only had one buyer do a chargeback against me and I won the case (the buyer's bank ruled against their own client). The reason for them filing it was complete and total nonsense though.

[morepleaseshop]

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@flipistics wrote:

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@morepleaseshop wrote:

I don't remember it in the terms, but you are most likely right. I have difficulties digesting the kind of language they use in the legal documents, might've missed it.

As for the chargebacks,  i've never had to do it myself, but don't you have to have a valid reason to do one or does the bank accepts any kind of noncense?

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I've never done one, but they'd probably accept the buyer saying they never received the item. That doesn't mean they'd win.

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Well, I'm saving the screenshots of tracking where it said they refused and hope the bank people are not stupid.

All this is such a nigthmare...

[recped]

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@morepleaseshop wrote:

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Well, I'm saving the screenshots of tracking where it said they refused and hope the bank people are not stupid.

All this is such a nigthmare...

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It's not a bank you need to satisfy it's eBay Seller Protection. Regardless if a seller "wins" eBay is on the hook for any chargebacks. It would be a rare situation for eBay to actually win a chargeback.

Just like eBay favors buyers, banks and credit card companies favor their cardholders, THEY hold all the cards and no merchant or money processor can walk away from Visa or MC.

[morepleaseshop]

No, I know that. By the bank people not being stupid I meant that they will ask him for details and if he doesn't lie about circumstances will see it's his own fault and not accept his claim. And if he lies, I have the screenshots, which I know ebay will ask me to submit to them anyway. I had a buyer chargeback once because he "didn't recognize the transaction". I submitted the proof and it was quickly resolved in my favour. Though, to be honest, I have no idea if that was a result of the bank decision or ebay protection.

[vintageandglamor]

eBay covered me!

[reallynicestamps]

@recped @flipistics 

I agree that no clarification should be necessary.

But eBay should also confirm that their 'bots and AI have been programmed for the tsunami of Undeliverables due to Refusal. 

Belt and suspenders. 

[movie_galaxy]

22 days ago, I sent a movie to a US customer and paid $12 for UPS to deliver it.

I received an invoice today for an adjustment of $7 and change to bring the price up to $20.

So, I lost money on the transaction. I essentially gave the item away for free.

So many obstacles and headwinds and things just keep getting worse.

I don't know why I was charged the extra $7 - was it for a return/refusal by the customer?

I can't even select any option for UPS to dispose of the package even if I wanted to in such cases as UPS doesn't give me that option when I buy the label through Netparcel.

If I turn off US listings, this will affect my Canadian sales as the algorithm doesn't seem to like that.

If I keep my US listings active, I experience problems with customs and courier fees.

And now that US customers are being charged extra fees upon delivery by UPS and others, even if the tariffs get removed some day in the future, it's likely that we, as Canadian sellers, will lose those American customers forever - as in they won't buy from Canadians even after the tariffs are struck down.

[john_koenig99]

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@movie_galaxy wrote:

I don't know why I was charged the extra $7 - was it for a return/refusal by the customer?

I can't even select any option for UPS to dispose of the package even if I wanted to in such cases as UPS doesn't give me that option when I buy the label through Netparcel.

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Man, that really sucks.

Did you try to contact UPS to get an explanation for the extra charge? (Not that they have the most stellar costumer service; ask me how I know 🤨) Does the tracking indicate that it was succesfully delivered, or does it show that delivery was refused?

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@movie_galaxy wrote:

22 days ago, I sent a movie to a US customer and paid $12 for UPS to deliver it.

I received an invoice today for an adjustment of $7 and change to bring the price up to $20.

So, I lost money on the transaction. I essentially gave the item away for free.

So many obstacles and headwinds and things just keep getting worse.

I don't know why I was charged the extra $7 - was it for a return/refusal by the customer?

I can't even select any option for UPS to dispose of the package even if I wanted to in such cases as UPS doesn't give me that option when I buy the label through Netparcel.

If I turn off US listings, this will affect my Canadian sales as the algorithm doesn't seem to like that.

If I keep my US listings active, I experience problems with customs and courier fees.

And now that US customers are being charged extra fees upon delivery by UPS and others, even if the tariffs get removed some day in the future, it's likely that we, as Canadian sellers, will lose those American customers forever - as in they won't buy from Canadians even after the tariffs are struck down.

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$7 doesn't seem to be enough for tariffs/brokerage fees... even cheap brokerage fees are what, $10?

I'm thinking they re-evaluated the size of your package (perhaps in error) and are charging you additional shipping. I'd call to find out the reason for the charge, then let us know here.

C.