We often receive questions from customers about customs duties when ordering from overseas.
The most common question is:
"Is the shipping fee included when customs calculates the taxable amount?"
The simple answer is no.
Is Shipping Included in the Customs Value?
For example:
- Product price: $100
- Shipping fee: $80
- Total paid: $180
In this case, customs looks at the product value of $100, not the full $180 paid at checkout.
When Does Customs Tax Apply?
As a general guideline:
- ¥16,666 or less → Tax-exempt
- ¥16,667 or more → Taxable
The exchange rate used for this calculation changes every week.
Because of that, the exact USD amount can also change slightly.
As a rough guide, ¥16,666 is around $100, but this should only be treated as an estimate.
How Much Customs Tax May Be Charged?
A simple way to estimate the tax is to think of it as around 9%.
If customs tax is collected, there may also be an additional ¥1,000 processing fee.
For example:
If the taxable amount is around ¥17,000, the total amount collected could be approximately ¥2,500.
This is important because the customs charge can sometimes become almost the same as the shipping fee.
And if the order value increases to ¥20,000, ¥30,000, or more, the customs charges may also become higher.
What Is the More Economical Way to Order?
From a cost point of view, it may be better to keep the product value within the customs duty-free range.
This means placing an order that stays under the approximate customs limit and paying the shipping fee separately for each shipment.
In some cases, this can be more economical than placing one large order and paying higher customs charges.
Example: JUUL Pods
Start With the Box Price
Let us use JUUL pods as a simple example.
If one box of genuine JUUL pods costs $8:
Multiply by the Number of Boxes
$8 × 12 boxes = $96
This keeps the product value below the approximate $100 customs benchmark.
Check the Result
So, based on this calculation, ordering around 10 to 12 boxes of JUUL pods may stay within the duty-free range.
However, because the customs exchange rate changes weekly, we recommend checking the latest rate before placing your order.
Final Note
The main point to remember is simple:
We hope this makes customs duties easier to understand when ordering from JP Vapes.