58 minutes ago, Crow Horse said:

My parts arrived from Canada without any additional fees. I probably paid up front. It's water under the bridge now.

Auto parts are covered by the Free Trade agreement and aren't subject to additional fees.

Has anyone ordered from digitaka since their new policy went into effect? 

Not fishing tackle but I ordered two carbon steel pans from a company called Darto International out of Argentina. (they make great pans, btw if anyone is into carbon steel).

 

Anyway, the pans shipped on Aug 28 through DHL. I received a text & email from DHL on Aug 30 that I owe import duty of $78.11. I thought it was a scam because the pans themselves only cost $120 and Darto is well known for charging customers a flat rate for shipping ($15) and covering any additional tariffs or duty themselves.

 

I contacted Darto and sure enough, DHL did this and it's real. Darto said I could either pay the $78 and they would reimburse me, or they would handle it through DHL but it would take longer to get my pans. I elected the latter and my pans have been sitting in DHL's warehouse in Austin for the past week. I don't know what's going to happen but I'm not paying $78 in duty on $120 worth of pans. I have no idea how DHL came up that number, I don't think we have a 65% tariff on Argentina. It's very frustrating.

 

Which brings me to fishing tackle. I've been wanting a Daiwa 21 Zillion TW SV in 7.1 gear for a while and have been watching the Japan Lure Shop and Digitaka websites. Inventory is kinda spotty - JLS has been out of them for several months and Digitaka seems to get one or two in every month or so and they sell out almost immediately. Anyway, the other day JLS finally restocked, and I was about to put one in the cart but hesitated because of the Darto hold up. I don't want to get stuck in this loop again. 

 

Following this thread to see how the JDM's end up handling this. Please continue to post your experiences. 

8 hours ago, Dash Riprock said:

Not fishing tackle but I ordered two carbon steel pans from a company called Darto International out of Argentina. (they make great pans, btw if anyone is into carbon steel).

 

Anyway, the pans shipped on Aug 28 through DHL. I received a text & email from DHL on Aug 30 that I owe import duty of $78.11. I thought it was a scam because the pans themselves only cost $120 and Darto is well known for charging customers a flat rate for shipping ($15) and covering any additional tariffs or duty themselves.

 

I contacted Darto and sure enough, DHL did this and it's real. Darto said I could either pay the $78 and they would reimburse me, or they would handle it through DHL but it would take longer to get my pans. I elected the latter and my pans have been sitting in DHL's warehouse in Austin for the past week. I don't know what's going to happen but I'm not paying $78 in duty on $120 worth of pans. I have no idea how DHL came up that number, I don't think we have a 65% tariff on Argentina. It's very frustrating.

 

Which brings me to fishing tackle. I've been wanting a Daiwa 21 Zillion TW SV in 7.1 gear for a while and have been watching the Japan Lure Shop and Digitaka websites. Inventory is kinda spotty - JLS has been out of them for several months and Digitaka seems to get one or two in every month or so and they sell out almost immediately. Anyway, the other day JLS finally restocked, and I was about to put one in the cart but hesitated because of the Darto hold up. I don't want to get stuck in this loop again. 

 

Following this thread to see how the JDM's end up handling this. Please continue to post your experiences. 

Lots of mistakes seem to be happening, especially with DHL. Digitaka is a good option for the reel because they’re only charging 7.5% and paying the other 7.5% of the 15% Japan tariffs themselves. They also charge the 7.5% up front, so there shouldn’t be any surprises upon delivery. 

I ordered from a Canadian shop - $100 order (which meets the criteria for "free" shipping

 

UPS emailed and said I owed $29.75 ---- $12.75 for Tariff - $17 for "Brokerage Fee" 

 

No more ordering from our northern neighbours for me

29 minutes ago, WaskaCrank12 said:

I ordered from a Canadian shop - $100 order (which meets the criteria for "free" shipping

 

UPS emailed and said I owed $29.75 ---- $12.75 for Tariff - $17 for "Brokerage Fee" 

 

No more ordering from our northern neighbours for me

I warned about using UPS earlier in this thread (or another) due to their absurd brokerage fee.

 

And it doesn't matter if you buy the baits from Canada and they are made in China, Japan, etc...you're still paying tariffs.

 

Was there any upside due to the strong US dollar? 

@RRocket - I wish I had seen your thread and info. before ordering - I understand the additional cost of the tariff and was prepared for that (I felt it would be in the $10-$12 range and it was) - yet I was naively thinking that because I met the "free shipping" requirement of the shop that there would be no additional charges - so the $17 UPS "Brokerage Fee" was disappointing to say the least.

The lures/baits I purchased were ones that I was not finding at US shops (colors/sizes/or just the lure itself) - but in retrospect I would have been better off waiting for availability in the US or doing without them - I purchased 8 items, so at $100 that came out to an average of $12.50 per lure/bait - at $130 (adding in the tariff and brokerage fees) it averages $16.25 per lure/bait (or $3.75 more per lure/bait)

I will not be doing that again - I heard today, on a podcast, that online orders from Canada to the US are down over 80% - and I can see why that is the case based on this experience 

I wonder what the shipping companies will do when they have very little to ship. I used to order many items from overseas, because I could get high quality items at low prices. It is a shame, but my overseas shopping has stopped completely.

20 minutes ago, rboat said:

It is a shame, but my overseas shopping has stopped completely.

My shopping for fishing gear has stopped completely because of inflation due to tariffs. It's come to a choice between fishing gear and eating.

55 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

My shopping for fishing gear has stopped completely because of inflation due to tariffs. It's come to a choice between fishing gear and eating.

You must not been eating much the last 4 years.

1 minute ago, QUAKEnSHAKE said:

You must not been eating much the last 4 years.

Last 6 months more like it - beef prices, even the cheapest ground beef, has gone up 33%, chicken is up 25%, pork is up 20%...everything is either up in price or they're doing 'shrinkflation' - smaller net weight/volume for the same price. Being on fixed income trying to absorb those increases is straining our budget.

 

Walk a mile in my shoes before spouting off inanities!

12 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

beef prices, even the cheapest ground beef, has gone up 33%

 

Beef prices are probably gonna get worse before they improve.

 

Google the screw worm.  It's on its way.

 

Beef is not really in my budget on a frequent basis anymore now either.

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Last 6 months more like it - beef prices, even the cheapest ground beef, has gone up 33%, chicken is up 25%, pork is up 20%...everything is either up in price or they're doing 'shrinkflation' - smaller net weight/volume for the same price. Being on fixed income trying to absorb those increases is straining our budget.

 

Walk a mile in my shoes before spouting off inanities!

No insanity is saying you have to chose between eating or buying fishing supplies, not believable.

On 9/4/2025 at 5:34 PM, Big Hands said:

It appears that my new reel is going to ship via FedEx.  simple Google search returns this regarding what FedEx will be charging:

 

"If FedEx pays the duties and taxes to customs on your behalf, you will be charged a Disbursement Fee, which is the greater of $4.50 or 2% of the duty and tax."

 

So, I estimate it will cost me an extra $4.50 on top of the actual tariff. If that is accurate, I still consider it a relatively good deal, and I get the reel I want with the features that are important to me.

 

I also ordered some lures that, even if I can find them domestically, would still be significantly more costly.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed and I won't know until the transactions are complete and I have the merch in hand.

 

So, I ordered a reel on one day (8/31 IIRC), and some lures the next day from the same seller. Yea, poor timing on my part to say the least, but I digress. . . . Package arrived on 9/10 with both orders in the same box.

 

No mention of additional duties, taxes or fees. . . . until today. Sort of. Early this morning (a Saturday, 9/13) I received a text message on my phone allegedly from FedEx stating that some "duties, taxes, and fees" are due and (this is where it got very interesting) it referenced the actual tracking number of the shipment. I was ready to delete and report the text, and thought I would check the tracking number on the odd chance it is legit. 

 

So far, the tracking number IS legit. Still not sure the notification by text is legit. Of course I have yet to click on the link provided in the text message. Instead I first went to the actual FedEx website where I had a totally ineffective and unsatisfying conversation with a chat-bot as expected, but the bot did provide me with a phone number to call. So, I did call FedEx at the number provided and spoke to two CS agents in succession, neither of which were actually able to reference my shipment because their international CS agents from their "Revenue Department" were not available on weekends.

 

The saga continues. . . .

1 hour ago, Big Hands said:

 

So, I ordered a reel on one day (8/31 IIRC), and some lures the next day from the same seller. Yea, poor timing on my part to say the least, but I digress. . . . Package arrived on 9/10 with both orders in the same box.

 

No mention of additional duties, taxes or fees. . . . until today. Sort of. Early this morning (a Saturday, 9/13) I received a text message on my phone allegedly from FedEx stating that some "duties, taxes, and fees" are due and (this is where it got very interesting) it referenced the actual tracking number of the shipment. I was ready to delete and report the text, and thought I would check the tracking number on the odd chance it is legit. 

 

So far, the tracking number IS legit. Still not sure the notification by text is legit. Of course I have yet to click on the link provided in the text message. Instead I first went to the actual FedEx website where I had a totally ineffective and unsatisfying conversation with a chat-bot as expected, but the bot did provide me with a phone number to call. So, I did call FedEx at the number provided and spoke to two CS agents in succession, neither of which were actually able to reference my shipment because their international CS agents from their "Revenue Department" were not available on weekends.

 

The saga continues. . . .

Where did you order from? Can you see how much they’re asking for without clicking the link?

On 9/13/2025 at 3:28 PM, Big Hands said:

 

So, I ordered a reel on one day (8/31 IIRC), and some lures the next day from the same seller. Yea, poor timing on my part to say the least, but I digress. . . . Package arrived on 9/10 with both orders in the same box.

 

No mention of additional duties, taxes or fees. . . . until today. Sort of. Early this morning (a Saturday, 9/13) I received a text message on my phone allegedly from FedEx stating that some "duties, taxes, and fees" are due and (this is where it got very interesting) it referenced the actual tracking number of the shipment. I was ready to delete and report the text, and thought I would check the tracking number on the odd chance it is legit. 

 

So far, the tracking number IS legit. Still not sure the notification by text is legit. Of course I have yet to click on the link provided in the text message. Instead I first went to the actual FedEx website where I had a totally ineffective and unsatisfying conversation with a chat-bot as expected, but the bot did provide me with a phone number to call. So, I did call FedEx at the number provided and spoke to two CS agents in succession, neither of which were actually able to reference my shipment because their international CS agents from their "Revenue Department" were not available on weekends.

 

The saga continues. . . .

Same here. When I got the text from DHL on some carbon steel skillets I ordered from Argentina saying I owed $78 for "import duty" or whatever, I initially thought it was a scam. But it wasn't, it was real. 

 

So if you've already received your package what's FedEx going to do if you don't pay? How much was it if you don't mind my asking, or did it not say?  

On 8/28/2025 at 1:02 PM, FishTank said:

 

I wonder which one of us is brave enough to cross that bridge and make a purchase.  It will be interesting to hear how that experience goes.

 

I think I'm going to be holding off until things change. 

 

I did on the 12th. Got a reel and some line coming from Digitaka.  $474 total order $35 added on for tariff with the other half covered by Digitaka. .

FM  

57 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

I did on the 12th. Got a reel and some line coming from Digitaka.  $474 total order $35 added on for tariff with the other half covered by Digitaka. .

FM  

Awesome. So it works as intended. Great to know! Thanks!