Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US
Just received a notice from Fedex for an order that I placed in August. Order was for $30 for a spool of wood filament. $22 FedEx shipping. Delivered a week later. Now they say I owe them an additional $9 in "Duty Fees" or there will be "Unnecessary Delays."
As you can tell from another thread here, the local US supplier is expensive and unreliable so that leaves us US Prusa fans in a bit of a pickle (as we say).
RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US
The answer is simple, Amazon. You can buy many Prusa products, including filament there. Even for things shipped from other countries, including China, there are no duty fees. Amazon covers it all and its included in the price upfront. Its sad we are here, but we are.
RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US
I wish, since I buy lots of filament from Amazon. Their "Prusament Store" has a limited selection of filaments and they have no parts for my MK4/S (other than Chinese knock-off nozzles).
RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US
How many parts do you need? My MK3 part cooling fan went out, and the Amazon replacement works fine. Most Prusa original parts, at least the fans, are made in China anyway.
RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US
Well its a bit off topic but on my MK4S there seems to be a tendency for a plastic blob to form around the bottom of the extruder when things go astray during a print. If I have a really bad incident, the whole hot end needs to replaced because its covered in plastic, including the delicate thermistor etc. I prefer to buy the whole assembled unit which is about $50US at Prusa. This is NEVER in stock at the US supplier and even the components (heater, etc) are often out of stock. They also often are out of print beds which seems to be the item that I need to replace most frequently. And yes I am very careful to maintain them as specified.Fortunately several of the other components are printable and I now have those on hand thanks to my (non-Prusa) black PETG. In fact the only Prusa Filament I own is the Orange PETG for printing replacement parts and their Wood filament which is unique. I ordered the Wood Filament from CZ because it is highly regarded and is not available in the US.
Back on the topic. DHL (which is the other Prusa shipper to the US) announced they are suspending most (all?) shipments to the US. My wife has some has a DHL order sitting somewhere in Europe that may never arrive. Bottom line is that shipping to the US from pretty much anywhere (including Canada) is in chaos. Many shippers are suspending service (DHL, Royal Mail) until they can figure out what's going on.
RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US
Well its a bit off topic but on my MK4S there seems to be a tendency for a plastic blob to form around the bottom of the extruder when things go astray during a print. If I have a really bad incident, the whole hot end needs to replaced because its covered in plastic, including the delicate thermistor etc. I prefer to buy the whole assembled unit which is about $50US at Prusa. This is NEVER in stock at the US supplier and even the components (heater, etc) are often out of stock.
If you would like to start a new topic on this or DM me, would be happy to give you advice. Short answer is you don't need to buy the parts from Prusa. Generic nextruder nozzle assemblies can be bought on Amazon and elsewhere for half the price Prusa charges and BIQU Cryo is arguably a better and cheaper build plate (Prusa plate is 2-2.5x the price).
OK, back on topic.
RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US
At first, I thought it was a scam. Recieved an email from FedEx stating that I owed $19.35 for duties on a shipment from Prusa (Camera) for my Core One printer. Only delayed by 7 days in Memphis. Duty charges was for the camera only. No other parts has a duty. I called FedEx concrning this, thinking it was a scam. It took over an hour on the phone with FedEx, and was told to ignore the Emails and text messeges. Today, I recieved a 10 page letter (Invoice) for the $19.35. I actually needed the camera for the Core One. My other cameras on the other 2 printers will not work on the care one. (Not enough space).
Not happy about this for several reasons - but thats another rant for a different time.