Tariff troubles for online shoppers

This year’s new regulations on tariffs and customs are leaving holiday shoppers with unexpected fees on some of their purchases, according to recent reporting by WLWT. 

Charles Sox, professor of Operations Management and Business Analytics at the University of Cincinnati’s Lindner College of Business, spoke to WLWT about why shoppers are facing these surprise payments. Sox said the holiday season’s focus on online shopping can leave key information on pricing easy to miss. 

"Anytime you're ordering anything, look at: What's the country of origin? Where is it coming from? Does it indicate the duty being paid in advance? If not, just be prepared," Sox advised.

"This goes back to the summer when the administration implemented their tariff policies and eliminated the de minimis exemption for small packages under $800. So all the e-commerce that's going on, I knew that was going to have substantial impacts," Sox told WLWT. 

"Carriers like UPS and FedEx and others are now having all this extra headache of paying customs duties on all these small packages that they didn't have to handle before," he said.

See the full story on WLWT.

Featured image at top of tariff tape over shipping containers. Photo/iStock/D-Keine