Re: Swan Eaters: Rasputin Was A Jerk

Bobbie Sellers  <blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com> wrote:

On 4/30/25 14:08, rkshullat@rosettacondot.com wrote:

 
Thinking about this...if you're Amazon (rather than, say, Temu) how do you
disclose your tariff costs without disclosing your markup? If I'm buying
from Temu the tariff is going to be based on the price I pay. For Amazon it's
the price THEY pay. I can't imagine Amazon would be happy about everyone
knowing the markup on every (imported) product they sell.

Yes, but unless you know the tariff rate, it doesn't tell you the price
they are paying.  And the tariff rate depends entirely on how good the
importer is at working the system.

I get transformers from Scotland.  If I import them as "Electronic
Transformers" I pay a duty.  If I import them as "Power transformers"
I would pay a still higher duty.  But because I import them as
"Telecommunications transformers" I don't pay any duty at all.
(In reality they are electronic and telecommunications transformers
and calling them power transformers might be a bit of a stretch even
though they do carry audio power.)

When I ship equalizer modules out of the country, I ship them as
"Audio Consoles and parts" to some locations, but to others I
ship them as "Tape Recorder accessories" and to one I ship them
as "Electronic Filters."  The modules fit all three descriptions,
but the duty on all three is different and how it differs depends
on the country.

Places like digikey have a whole army of importation experts who do
nothing but memorize tariffs and manage things through customs.  Back
in the days when I was a kid and there were far more tariffs than
there are today, there used to be a lot of "import-export corporations"
that did nothing but manage this stuff for people who wanted to
purchase large quantities from abroad.

They would be happier in spending their cash and credit in ignorance of
the Federal Sales Tax that Tariffs in the USA, at least
are?. Great thing about the California Sales Tax is that we have at
least an idea of the additional costs imposed.
On good reciepts here the Sales Tax is clearly shown.

To be honest I don't like that... I much prefer VAT where you can look at
the price on the menu and pay exactly that price.  I live in a town where
the sales tax on meals is higher on one side of the street than it is on
the other side (which is a different county).
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."