Audiophonics no longer sells to USA

[xanalog]

They simply list a shockingly low price on the customs declaration. Think cents.

I would reply with "As if..." but then the topic gets back into governance and politics.
Mumz da word!

 

[Buckeye Amps]

I would reply with "As if..." but then the topic gets back into governance and politics.
Mumz da word!

Not sure what you mean...

 

[kemmler3D]

The last few shipments I've sent to the USA have spent weeks in customs and often required the recipient to fill out various hard to understand forms with information they can't be expected to have.

Not a great recipe for happy customers, and cost time and effort for the sender as well, so I am not surprised some companies just can't be bothered / don't find it to be worth it.

Bingo. The cost of tariffs per se is easy enough to deal with. +15% price is what it is and people will buy or not buy accordingly.

The real problem is that there are major logistical disruptions that come along with customs clearance, and the seller / shipper typically gets the blame. It's hard to sort out and a lot of shipments end up coming back. If US sales are not a big part of your business, these returned shipments and bad reviews that come along with all of it can easily make it not worth dealing with.

 

[JW001]

Let us hope that the US Supreme Court will shot down these third world inspired tariffs.

Hahaha!

 

[EngineerNate]

The problem is also that on reasonably priced items the tariff+processing fees become an unreasonable percentage of the item sale price.

I have been turning to the second hand market recently but I assume as others do the same those prices will get out of control soon.

 

[Chrispy]

Threads like this remind me how very glad am now a retired US Customshouse Broker and Freight Forwarder

 

[Vhond]

So did Trump with Auralic: kill the brand...

 

[Mart68]

I worked for FedEx 2006 to 2022 and U.S Customs have always been a nightmare.

I had a customer shipping expensive bathroom fittings (a plug was over a hundred dollars). Held up in customs for wrong commodity code. I checked, the codes were correct.

Finally resolved by sending images of the products along with the matching paperwork to show the codes were correct. A lot of time spent for no good reason. Far from the only issue but that one sticks in my mind.

We had other issues that had been with U.S customs for years waiting to be resolved. Years! In the meantime we don't get paid back by our customer for the duty we'd paid on their behalf. Losses on that ran into the hundreds of millions annually. You pay for that in higher freight charges.

There were always tariffs. All that's changed is the tariffs are much higher now. Obviously that now makes exporting cheaper products to the U.S unviable (presumably the intended consequence) but the process is the same, the paperwork is the same, the problems are the same.

 

[Karmacoma]

Bingo. The cost of tariffs per se is easy enough to deal with. +15% price is what it is and people will buy or not buy accordingly.

The real problem is that there are major logistical disruptions that come along with customs clearance, and the seller / shipper typically gets the blame. It's hard to sort out and a lot of shipments end up coming back. If US sales are not a big part of your business, these returned shipments and bad reviews that come along with all of it can easily make it not worth dealing with.

I don't think anyone spoke about It but it also has to do with the aftersale service disruptance, not just the sales, which was already difficult and will now potentialy become a total clusterf*ck, just too much effort for too little customers.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

There were always tariffs. All that's changed is the tariffs are much higher now.

That's an oversimplification. A few countries have always had tariffs on either all goods or certain goods. Mainly China.

But the majority of countries had no sweeping/general tariffs before 2025, especially the EU and most other Asian countries.

And customs clearance times have gone up drastically since these new tariffs were enacted in August.

 

[Mart68]

That's an oversimplification. A few countries have always had tariffs on either all goods or certain goods. Mainly China.

But the majority of countries had no sweeping/general tariffs before 2025, especially the EU and most other Asian countries.

And customs clearance times have gone up drastically since these new tariffs were enacted in August.

There were always tariffs for exporting into USA from EU or Asia. The only time there are no tariffs is if there is a free trade agreement between two countries or trading blocks. There was never such an agreement between EU and USA.

Seems to be a common misconception that tariffs are a new thing. I can tell you with 15 years experience with a major international carrier, that they are not.

Customs clearance times may have increased due to abolition of the waiver of tariffs on items below a certain value.

 

[Mort]

There were always tariffs for exporting into USA from EU or Asia. The only time there are no tariffs is if there is a free trade agreement between two countries or trading blocks. There was never such an agreement between EU and USA.

Seems to be a common misconception that tariffs are a new thing. I can tell you with 15 years experience with a major international carrier, that they are not.

Customs clearance times may have increased due to abolition of the waiver of tariffs on items below a certain value.

Reductive reasoning. Simply not that simple.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

There were always tariffs for exporting into USA from EU or Asia. The only time there are no tariffs is if there is a free trade agreement between two countries or trading blocks. There was never such an agreement between EU and USA.

Seems to be a common misconception that tariffs are a new thing. I can tell you with 15 years experience with a major international carrier, that they are not.

Customs clearance times may have increased due to abolition of the waiver of tariffs on items below a certain value.

Interesting, then why had I never paid a single cent in tariffs for all my imports from the EU between 2020 and June 2025?

 

[Mart68]

Interesting, then why had I never paid a single cent in tariffs for all my imports from the EU between 2020 and June 2025?

I have no idea. Where they low value items? I can't recall now what the threshold was, maybe below 30 dollars.

Usually the carrier pays Customs and you pay the carrier along with the freight charges and the customs broker fee.

Possibly the tariff amount was so small compared to the freight charge you did not notice? It would all be on the same invoice. Many items were only tariffed at 2 or 3 percent prior to the 2025 increases.

Possible you were importing something that was never tariffed although I can't imagine what that would be.

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

There were always tariffs for exporting into USA from EU or Asia. The only time there are no tariffs is if there is a free trade agreement between two countries or trading blocks. There was never such an agreement between EU and USA.

Seems to be a common misconception that tariffs are a new thing. I can tell you with 15 years experience with a major international carrier, that they are not.

Customs clearance times may have increased due to abolition of the waiver of tariffs on items below a certain value.

Quite a relief to know that the disruption and uncertainty isn’t really happening and that things are the same as they’ve always been.

 

[Mart68]

Quite a relief to know that the disruption and uncertainty isn’t really happening and that things are the same as they’ve always been.

Not what I said at all.

It may be that Buckeye was importing goods that were tariff free under the WTO ITA agreement to which the USA and EU are participants. This covers some electronic components.

 

[boXem]

I understand the decision from Audiophonics. Exporting to US has become seriously stress inducing since a few months. The business needs to be worth it to continue.

I can't recall now what the threshold was, maybe below 30 dollars.

For EU goods there was a first threshold at $750 under which no tariff was applied, then under $2500 tariff was applied but only basic paperwork, and full declaration process above $2500. Now tariff are applied from the first $. At some point they also asked for full declaration process but I believe that they reverted on this.

Quite a relief to know that the disruption and uncertainty isn’t really happening and that things are the same as they’ve always been.

If it's sarcasm, I have to admit that you are pretty good at it.

 

[Power Pop 23]

I am very saddened for Audiophonics and other foreign businesses relying on a market in the USA.


As to sarcasm, this is one more incentive to use the 'Peace Arch' in Blaine, WA USA to smuggle goods from Canada to the USA...

Peace Arch Historical State Park | Washington State Parks

parks.wa.gov

 

[Buckeye Amps]

I have no idea. Where they low value items? I can't recall now what the threshold was, maybe below 30 dollars.

Usually the carrier pays Customs and you pay the carrier along with the freight charges and the customs broker fee.

Possibly the tariff amount was so small compared to the freight charge you did not notice? It would all be on the same invoice. Many items were only tariffed at 2 or 3 percent prior to the 2025 increases.

Possible you were importing something that was never tariffed although I can't imagine what that would be.

My question was more rhetorical/sarcastic, as I already knew the answer.

Again, the general/sweeping tariffs that are now in effect across the board are new. And their enforcement has impacted customs clearance times significantly.

 

[Koeitje]

View attachment 496098

The problem is also that on reasonably priced items the tariff+processing fees become an unreasonable percentage of the item sale price.

I have been turning to the second hand market recently but I assume as others do the same those prices will get out of control soon.

I like how they are very clear in where the extra costs are coming from.