Modern Vespa

Heads up gang, my last 2 monthly SIP orders required extra fees (collected by UPS upon delivery). I finally talked to the right people at UPS and here's what they emailed me back.

"Shipments with commodities that are low value (De Minimis/below 800 USD) but are imported with China Origin or includes items with Chinese Origin after 5/2/2025 per the recent Executive Order are now subject to duties and cannot be exempted under De Minimis."

I looked at what I ordered from China. $6 inner tube cost me $111 in duty 🤦🏻‍♂️ Just looked at SIPs website for the inner tube and it does not show country of origin! I'll email them and see if it'll change, but I doubt things will happen quickly.

Nicht gut. SIP owes you that $111

Socalguy, bad news. The flywheel nut you need for your VMC build costs $115.83.

I'm holding my tongue.

lol it better come with a year's supply of bratwurst and Warsteiner

Damn
How much of that $111 is brokerage fees?

JFC

$29

$82 in duty for the total value of the contents (23 items, 1 for Socalguy, a few for me, the rest for the locals).

Heard from SIP. They're asking their boss but I doubt there's anything they can/ will do.

For years I've been buying under $800 worth of goods to avoid duty. Now that the value doesn't matter, I'll just buy what I need and not be strategic.

I just had the pleasure of paying $193 in tariffs on my thousand dollar order from Scooter Center. Boo.

Here in Brazil, since always, we've got tariffs worse than yours. Every SIP order I had, I've payed 100% taxes on it. Protectionism sucks (and even more for the scooterists).

Damn. You have my sympathies.

In my past lives, we dealt creatively with technology import restrictions that made importing some stuff flat out illegal, so it's not just scooter parts.

To make everything worse, my VBC1T build it was when exchange rates were USD 1/BRL 1.8. My VMA2T was with USD 1/BRL 5. Things have gotten expensive in 10 years.

There are a few guys doing tuning parts with 3D printers and such, but the ingenuity can go up until certain point.

It's really expensive to ride a Vespa here.

That sucks. Are there any vehicles that *don't* have extravagant tariffs on their parts, or is it all imports?

Brazilian economy is heavily taxed and protected since ever (60-100% taxes in everything since way before your president was born). We've had a ban in imported vehicles until 1990 (electronics and computers also had an import ban until the 1990s). Therefore, we developed an industry for both vehicles and aftermarket parts.

For anything more regular (Chevrolets, Volkswagens, Fiats, Hondas, Toyotas, Yamahas, Hyundais, Peugeots, Renaults and such), vehicles and parts are made locally, therefore it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to maintain.

For speciality vehicles, such as antiques and luxury imports, things get ugly and expensive, because the Real is undervalued to help exports (and because our fiscal situation is a mess).

In top of that, Brazilian production for Vespas was really low (only VBs, VBCs, a few Rallies and PX200s), made in CKD kits. Therefore, what we got here is almost all old stock parts and some consumables (such as cables, clutch discs, gaskets and seals). Everything else must come from abroad. It gets pretty expensive compared to our median income (about US$ 400/person).

The privilege of buying from SIP

Is it SIP? Don't you now have tariffs from just about everywhere outside the US? SIP prices haven't changed for me.

Yes.

Good luck to get money from sip
Hope you will get that back but I don't think your 111$ went to sip's pocket...

Including from an island that only has penguins living there!

Aliexpress charges the tariff fee. but ...
TEMU does not...as they claim everything is in a "local" warehouse US soil....LOL!!!!!

Maybe SIP should try getting a local warehouse?

So what happens if you buy say a $20 part from SIP and the tariffs end up bringing the total price up to $100? If you don't desperately need the part, can you simply decide to not pay for the tariffs and let the shipping company keep it?

Today received my FAR mirror from SIP.
All in price was $82, arrived in 7 days.
This price was $3 more than I paid an eBay seller in the USA. 12 yrs ago.

Exact replacement for the broken mirror on my LIKE200I!
O.S.

Far mirror from Germany, Very Far mirror if it was from India

More seriously, how much was the parts ? The shipping and the fee ?

Maybe order your mirror in the US next time.
https://www.scootermercato.com/Scooter-Parts/Mirrors/7212

But his is homogulated, so he can use it legally on German roads. It says so on the package.

This goes to a question that has been on my mind, which is how will Mercato handle SIP orders going forward? As a specific example, I have been thinking about ordering an Road XL exhaust. Presumably a tariff will be assessed on that. When and how would I find out the amount?

Thanks.

Thanks.
That seller did not come up on my search.
Never heard of them.
Actually - just today found original seller from 12 years ago.
Moto-Science.com
I was new to scooters and he gave me clear instructions on which adapter (simple $6 part) I would need to fit his FAR mirror to my Chinese made Kymco.
If I need another - I'll go with him for his customer service. And save $30 vs SIP!
O.S.

When local stock dries up, the resellers of Italian-made mirrors will have to pass on the tariff though won't they?

Jeff from Vespa Motorsport told me they were raising their parts prices due to tariffs.

Out pf 5 orders in one month. 2 had tarriffs fyi

Ordered 8/18 with 2 day shipping via UPS. UPS said absolutely nothing until a friend of a friend who works for UPS found it needed a HS-7 form. Filled it out and emailed it in just to speed up the process. No comms after, and I tracked it online. Package arrived today.

My latest shipment was $1200 with shipping. Paid $695 for customs and duty.
Nothing with Chinese origin. Czech, Germany, Italy, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Might hold off on monthly orders until everything settles down.

Ouch! That sucks man....

I'm kind've bracing for impact when my package finally breaks loose from Frankfurt.

MJ - that is a rough bill!

Similar and poignant story for me today -

2 weeks ago I ordered some used car parts from Ebay Canada.Parts $35, UPS shipping $30 shipping. Total $65. UPS send me a email bill to be paid before delivery, additional fees of $41.50. $17.50 government fees (tariff) + $24 brokerage fee. So the total fee is more than I paid for the parts before shipping! The brokerage fee is more than the tariff! WTF?!? Welcome to the New World Order.

Comparativley not a high number, but percentage and on principle; this is so dumb

brace your bank account

dear lord

An update from to my SIP order-

I actually place all my orders through a friend. I placed my order Aug 25th. I got a text from him Sept 1st (labor day) to come over and pick up my stuff. The parts must have cleared through customs before the aug 29th deadline, because there were absolutely zero tariffs! My friend did say that the total price of the order was less than $800. After the oversized shipping cost, i spent just under $500 for a $460 JL pipe!! So far i consider myself VERY fortunate. I was expecting (concerned) to pay closer to $750+.

https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/product/racing-exhaust-jl-rst-for-lambretta-125-li-lis-dl-gp-150-li-lis-sx-dl-gp-175-tv-2-3-200-tv-sx-dl-gp_22088200

My friend has an ups account, and i don't know if they can go back and charge him any forgotten tariffs though.

Congratulations on not getting the tax hammer!

The Lambretta is looking like an art piece! I hope my Indian project can look a fraction as good.