Tariffs and Taxes on China orders from Ebay.

There are no import duty/taxes into the USA and the Chinese mark stuff low value or gift usually. (Don't tell Trump)

Don't worry about it. I've bought thousands of parts from China and never had to pay any duty or tariff.

But then, I don't think I've spent any more than $100 on any given order.

I have used Banggod, Aliexpress and Gearbest and as yet no taxes or tariffs on some 120 orders.

Don't worry aoburt it. I have ordered lots of things off Ebay from China. Some parts and some circuit board assemblies. Most of the time it takes about 3 weeks or so to get here. I did have one item that was only about $ 8 including shipping that took about 2 1/2 months, but it got here.

The taxes and whatever are in the price you see on Ebay. You will not be charged mpore at a later date.

It amazes me how they have shipped in some items that only cost about $

2 or less. To get a 1 st class letter out of the US to another country costs about $ 1.25. China does pick up the out going postage form what I have heard.

So far everything I have ordered has met my expectations. Some simiconductors dont. Friend ordered about $ 25 worth of transistors (about 8 of them) and they were all bad.

While you are looking around on ebay look for a component tester. It is a circuit board with a lcd display. It will have 3 leads and a 9 volt battery terminal. They are usually less than $ 20 and will test about anything you hook to it that will work at 9 volts or less. Best spent money for testing I have ever seen.

It's Lawyer speak" for cover your ass. The only time I've had problems is buying stuff from Canada and using UPS, where it went into a customs warehouse and customs wanted to rape me on duty fees. Similarly sending stuff to England where the hose the buyer with value added taxes.

I have had ZERO problems with buying stuff from China via eBay or Aliexpress.

--
Jeff-1.0 
wa6fwi 
http://www.foxsmercantile.com

Don't think that's accurate. They specifically say that they aren't responsible. Last I looked, there was a limit for US duty free in this type of transaction and it was something like under $250. Who knows what Trump is gonna do.

I've had very few EBAY items that were what I expected. Most just failed to disclose...others outright misrepresented the product. If the price is very low, it may still be worth it. There are some really cost-effective products, like flashlights, that are WELL short of specification, but still a great value. I don't trust the specs posted for anything.

Ok, I wont worry anymore now..... I just read that legal disclaimer and got all worried....

The shipping on this item was $1.50. I cant imagine how they can ship it for so little money, but they must be making money, or they would not sell / ship for so little.

I hope you got a refund...

While I'm interested in this, I have to ask what makes this any better than a common VOM?

I remember back in the 70s I took a cheap pocket transistor radio, connected a 600V paper cap (something like a .05) to the volume control in that radio, and connected some shielded wire to that cap and put a test lead probe on the other end. That was very handy for testing the audio stages and even some RF stages in both tube and transistor radios, while the device being tested was turned on. (If I no longer heard any sound, I'd know I hit the problem spot.

I wish I could remember how that was made exactly.... I think I found that in Popular Electronics or some other magazine.

To explain that you just have to look at the item on Ebay. You get a lcd display and PC board that you have 3 leads comming out of it. Take most any component and hook any of the leads to the component, 2 leads if a capacitor, resistor, inductor, 3 if it is a transisitor. Push a button and in about 2 seconds the display will tell you what kind of device it is, the value of it, and if a diode or transistor which lead is which of the component.

There is a company that makes a similar device in a nice case called Peak. They sell for about $ 100 but you need two as one is for simiconductors and the other is for the passive components.

Here is an example from Ebay.

It is also Ebay item number:271611840945

The one I have is accurate enough to tell if the component should work in most circits.

Sometimes it may get fooled as when testing the very old Germanium transistors. Swapping the leads around oftenclears up this problem.

The single-item or combined-to-single-order for non-alcoholic, non-tobacco, non-pharmaceutical goods from outside the US to the US is $800 with some e xceptions.

Many Chinese sellers use a US shadow address to avoid even this limit, with the Chinese supplier acting as a 'shipping agent' for the US address. In t his case, the item is technically of US origin. And in the listing, the 'lo cation' will be this shadow address, not China.

Put another way, don't worry about it.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

I reacted the same way. Even with the power of assembly line production and possible coolee wages, it still amazed me. I think I bought a bluttoothe receiver, that plugs into USB, for $1. thought that was 4 years and the price has gone up a litte.

I'm told the same thing, that China subsidizes the postage (or maybe justn't charge?) and I'm told that receiving countries are not allowed to charge postage, on mail or packages, I guess.

The US exports a lot of stuff too, but not little things, I think. Mobos otoh....

" In 1969, the UPU introduced a new system of payment where fees were payable between countries according to the difference in the total weight of mail between them. These fees were called terminal dues. Ultimately, this new system was fairer when traffic was heavier in one direction than the other. As a matter of example, in 2012, terminal dues for transit from China to the USA was 0.635 SDR/kg, or about 1 USD/kg.[10]"

Probably an export subsidy. The Chinese subsidize manufacturers, the US subsidizes sport stadiums.

There's several youtube videos on the Chinese component tester. Here's the first one that popped up for me:

I have one. It's pretty cool.

I have been ordering stuff from China for a few years, anything from $1 to ~$120 or more, and have never had to pay any tariffs or taxes. And most of the stuff from China comes with free shipping.

Cheers, Dave M

analogdial wrote:

subsidizes sport stadiums. "

Now you hit a nerve. that has been one of my peeves for a long time. Cities pay these sports teams to build a new stadium and it costs regular people like $100 to go there (each) and cannot bring their own beer so they have t o buy it there which costs ten times what it is worth, a hot dog is like ab out ten bucks. Just water costs a bunch and they turn off the coolers for t he water fountains. These pieces of shit never miss an opportunity to make a buck. Don't even go there without $200 that you can burn.

This is about what the banks do to countries. They were OK, but then the ba nk offers them money to "improve the infrastructure" ostensibly to attract industry which in turn should generate income and provide tax revenues whic h will supposedly pay off the debt.

But they are just out to make a buck and it is a bunch of bullshit. One guy can do the work of ten. The jobs are not coming back ANYWHERE. And I mean ANYWHERE, even Germany. They are not whining about the Chinese taking their jobs, they know the problem. Productivity. They are probably the most prod uctive people in the world when it comes to precision things. At one time t hey made almost every fuel injector for engines in the world. This means fr om one to possibly sixteen of them per vehicle, in the whole world. (very f ew had sixteen, most had four to eight, but that is still a hell of alot of them)

As such, because jobs are not coming back, you get a situation like Greece. They claim tax evasion as a cause but when the government of a country doe s nothing for you, or does more against you, you don't owe them jack shit. When you got people taking their own kids to an orphanage because they cann ot feed them, I am pretty sure the government has f***ed them. Those jobs n ever materialised, and the fact is they never will.

--
Jeff-1.0 
wa6fwi 
http://www.foxsmercantile.com

shit never miss an opportunity to make a buck. Don't even go there without $200 that you can burn.

I don't do sports so do not care how much they charge the people. I do hate it when my tax money goes there.

Surprises me that they have not priced theirselves out of business. From what I have heard, the NASCAR racing has about done that. They have forgotten that it is a sport for the beer drinking hot dog eating redneck and not for the wine and chease eaters.

I do think it is ashame to charge big bucks for things people need like water at the events. Not sure what it is now,but 20 years ago they were getting about $ 4 for a bottle of water, or anything else to drink at the ball parks.

This is a bit like the movies - there is very little money in the actual ad missions for the theater companies. The money is in the concessions. So, $5 for a 12-ounce Coke is par for the course.

The cities need the sports teams for status, revenue generated by wage and income taxes, concession taxes, and more. But they cannot afford to maintai n them without a revenue stream. An $8 bottle of water is that stream. Abou t a buck goes to the concession, the rest is one-or-another form of tax to the city. The "gate" is for perhaps 95 days per year for a dual-use stadiu m (baseball & football and maybe a few concerts). And only in the case of a _VERY_ successful team is that stadium ever full even half the time. Footb all-exclusive stadiums run perhaps 10 days per year *including* special eve nts. Maybe 20 days in a good year. But they are there all year.

If you buy only chicken from KFC or Hamburgers from McDonald's, they lose m oney. But that $1.29 soft drink costs them about $0.05 - the most expensive part being the cup, second, the straw. That medium fries costs about $0.15 . And so forth.

Consider the issue, today, of going to a sports event. Between parking, que uing, and getting out afterward it is an ordeal, a little like flying steer age. Up near our summer house is an old-fashioned track (Numidia Raceway) w here good fun may still be had. And good-old-boys (and gals) still be found . But that is in Pennsyltucky, PA, not downtown major city.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

concerts). And only in the case of a _VERY_ successful team is that stadium ever full even half the time. Football-exclusive stadiums run perhaps 10 days per year *including* special events. Maybe 20 days in a good year. But they are there all year.

Yes, many cities make big bucks from the sports due to other sources of revenue. I live in NC and Charlotte is complaining about loosing all kinds of money due to the gays in sports. Seems they passed some bathroom law and the state sort of passed a law over rulling that. Then the gays of sports canceled out many events, or moved them to anoter state. Now Charlotte is crying about loosing all the hotel and other business from the out of town people.

Not to be political or anything.

But.

People have voted with their feet since the beginning of time. They go wher e they feel invited. They avoid where they feel threatened.

They go to an inviting environment. They avoid environments that are unwelc oming - and that means at any level.

There is no true test of any environment other than being there. In all the states I have been to (all but three, Hawaii, North Dakota and Florida), t he least inviting was Oregon by a large margin. The most, Texas and Minneso ta. This just from day-to-day stuff like buying gas, going to a restaurant, asking directions, renting a hotel room. Random encounters with normal peo ple. As with the below.

Of all the cities I have been in, with my wife or alone, the most welcoming was Istanbul. The least, San Diego.

Of all the countries we have visited (13 to-date, soon to be 14), Saudi was the most welcoming, with Canada running a very close second. France, not s o much. We will be testing Cuba in June.

But you get the point. I have choices where to go and what to do when there . And where to spend my discretionary income.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA