Are there any tariff/duty to be paid for foreign coin buys ?

I see on eBay that a Canadian seller mentioned that there would be duty fees for us American buyers purchasing coins from him. Anybody experience this when buying coins from Canada or Europe ?

 

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No issues so far.

 

I started a thread about this recently on the World Coins forum. On eBay at least if you look at any listing from outside the U.S. there is a statement on the page saying your purchase will likely be subject to tariffs either at customs or at time of delivery. Based on that I am expecting that you will be charged a tariff if the item passes through customs.

 

In July I bought 2 Early Dated coins from Holland. Before the USPS would let me have the package I had to write them a check for $450. UPS and FedEx are doing the same. I'm not sure if there will be any refunds.

 

No issues so far with my ancient coins coming from Europe.

 

That would be because, as I have posted on other threads, there is no tariff on ancient coins --

Ancient coins coming into the US are (currently) not subject to tariffs as long as the proper Harmonized Tarrif Schedule (HTS) number is used on the forms. For ancient coins, the HTS number that should be used is 9705.31.00 -- "Coins made prior to the 14th century and not known to be the direct products of excavations, finds or archaeological sites"

You can certainly get a fee from a company like FED EX; but that is not a tariff, just their own fee.

 

With the August 29, 2025 end of de minimus world-wide, you will definitely be seeing more use of "formal entry" with associated fees, even if the tariff is $0.

More than ever, it's going to become more critical that sellers create correct & proper commercial invoices.

 

Wow, that hurts. Thanks for your sharing your experience. Was that a 15% tariff.

 

Since these tariff rules seem to be changing every week. I'm gonna wait till the smoke clears before buying from foreign sellers.

 

One of my fav fleaBay sellers out of Hong Kong has started shipping to the US again. It's been hard on him, as without me, a lot of his auctions just kept rolling over without bids.

According to fleaBay, it's DDP. We'll see.

Shipping is 3x what it was, but that's still cheaper than another vendor who is charging $60 per $30 item.

 

What about buying from these guys....

 

The two Early Dated coins were $8000 total. Unlike most collectors, I buy
when the opportunity presents itself. many of the Early Dated coins are rare
and come along infrequently, once or twice in 50 years. I'm 70 years
old so I buy when I can.

 

I’ve been nicked with surcharges on British coins I’ve purchased from London dealers. The way things are at the moment, I would not order anything.