JLC tarriffs etc. to US ?

[mikeselectricstuff]

I'm just costing a  job for a US customer - can anyone give an indication of what US customers are paying these days in terms of customs/tariffs etc. on PCBAs from China ?

[Doctorandus_P]

Apparently the tariffs from the guy with the pumpkin head were illegal, he lost some court case and now has to pay back over USD 160 Billion of tariffs. If that money ever gets back to the consumers who paid it is another question. Apparently he also whipped up some other tariff scheme with slightly different rules to keep on collecting tariffs. But that is a temporary measure, and probably illegal too.

Overall, next week, the rules can be different from today. It's a huge and unpredicatable mess.

The thread below (December 2025) suggest the tarrif rate fluctuates between 300% and zero, depending on the mood of the shipping company.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/manufacture/lcscglobal-direct-shipping-to-usa-tariff-question/msg6121329/#msg6121329

Even here in the Netherlands shipping companies are scamming people when they get a chance. A few years ago there was a situation that you had to pay extra because of changed VAT rules. For small packets, this meant something like EUR 2 of tax, and then an added EUR 17 of "handling fees". That money went straight to the shipping company. But that has been stopped now.

[phil from seattle]

I'm just costing a  job for a US customer - can anyone give an indication of what US customers are paying these days in terms of customs/tariffs etc. on PCBAs from China ?

It's still pretty chaotic. I would not quote anything to a customer. I suggest you simple call that out to them and have them pay it separately when the goods are shipped.  You can get a sense of it by going through the whole process - at the end JLCPCB will have a line item on their bill. FWIW, JLCPCB gives you no way to tie their charges to specific tariff rates.  Sigh...

[Doctorandus_P]

The video below is (for a big part) about the current chaos and payback of the tariffs.



It's also gives a bit of insight in the total corruption of the whole current us government, and how they combine the deliberately created chaos with insider information to make the billionaires richer.

[langwadt]

Apparently the tariffs from the guy with the pumpkin head were illegal, he lost some court case and now has to pay back over USD 160 Billion of tariffs. If that money ever gets back to the consumers who paid it is another question. Apparently he also whipped up some other tariff scheme with slightly different rules to keep on collecting tariffs. But that is a temporary measure, and probably illegal too.

and he's now making badly hidden threats, that companies shouldn't ask for the money back and he will "remember" those who do ask for the money back

Even here in the Netherlands shipping companies are scamming people when they get a chance. A few years ago there was a situation that you had to pay extra because of changed VAT rules. For small packets, this meant something like EUR 2 of tax, and then an added EUR 17 of "handling fees". That money went straight to the shipping company. But that has been stopped now.

you expect the shipping company to do the tax paper work and handling the payment for free?

[Doctorandus_P]

you expect the shipping company to do the tax paper work and handling the payment for free?

No, I estimate that would at most add 10ct to the cost of a packet. EUR 17 is extortion though abuse of power. It's also very much off topic here. Can we leave it at that?

[fourfathom]

Here is a pre-order I did on April 14 for a run of 50 assembled boards. This is for their pre-paid tariff (etc.) service and as I recall DHL shipping.  JLC will probably ask me for perhaps $5 additional to handle  the soldering of the edge-mount SMA connectors (eight per board).   I haven't pulled the trigger on this, but plan to very soon.  My previous pre-paid orders have gone very smoothly.

TimeSync v1.3   
JLCPCB 4/14/2026   
   
qty   50
PCB   $66.32
Assy   $1,302.52
Fixturing   $0.00
shipping   $169.19
sales tax   $127.56
customs   $479.11
payment fee   $10.09
total   $2,154.79
Per-board $43.10

[mikeselectricstuff]

I'm just costing a  job for a US customer - can anyone give an indication of what US customers are paying these days in terms of customs/tariffs etc. on PCBAs from China ?

It's still pretty chaotic. I would not quote anything to a customer. I suggest you simple call that out to them and have them pay it separately when the goods are shipped.  You can get a sense of it by going through the whole process - at the end JLCPCB will have a line item on their bill. FWIW, JLCPCB gives you no way to tie their charges to specific tariff rates.  Sigh...

Yes, they will be placing the production order on JLC themselves, just wanted to give an indication of what any extra costs might be.

[phil from seattle]

you expect the shipping company to do the tax paper work and handling the payment for free?

No, I estimate that would at most add 10ct to the cost of a packet. EUR 17 is extortion though abuse of power. It's also very much off topic here. Can we leave it at that?

Could be worse. UPS in the US was assigning random tariff rates.  I got hit with 130 USD on a 44 USD order. They reached really deep and pulled that number from their large intestines. Complete abuse.  And add on top of that 15 USD transaction fee. Insulting. I disputed the fees and they turned me over to a collection agency that I told to piss off. More insults.  I will avoid UPS wherever possible.

Of course, it continues to be complete chaos because the Orange Idiot is still making incoherent tariff noise. A very stable genius...

[fourfathom]

I just placed this order, and the charges were about the same.  I added a couple of small bare PCB front and back panels to the order so the tax, tariff, and shipping went up very slightly.  That "payment fee" is for PayPal, and since I used a credit card the fee vanished.

Here is a pre-order I did on April 14 for a run of 50 assembled boards. This is for their pre-paid tariff (etc.) service and as I recall DHL shipping.  JLC will probably ask me for perhaps $5 additional to handle  the soldering of the edge-mount SMA connectors (eight per board).   I haven't pulled the trigger on this, but plan to very soon.  My previous pre-paid orders have gone very smoothly.

TimeSync v1.3   
JLCPCB 4/14/2026   
   
qty   50
PCB   $66.32
Assy   $1,302.52
Fixturing   $0.00
shipping   $169.19
sales tax   $127.56
customs   $479.11
payment fee   $10.09
total   $2,154.79
Per-board $43.10

[b177]

As far as I can tell the duty issues over the last 2 years is resolved. The current duty for most assembled PCBS from China to USA is 35%, and this is what I've paid on orders in the last 3 months from JLCPCB. One order was DDP DHL and the other was CPT DHL.

CPT DHL, dhl charges ~$20 of brokerage fees, slightly cheaper but there is a chance that DHL doesn't use the correct HTS code and rate, which would require email /phone discussion, fix the paperwork, deliver delayed a day or two.
DDP DHL, jlcpcb charges ~$40 of brokerage fees, usually stuffed inside the shipping charge, the 'duty' will be 35% of merchandise. Slightly higher (hidden) brokerage fee, but more certainty on the duty rate, since it is listed during the payment

Some HST codes will be higher than 35%, and some product descriptions could trigger higher rates (in my experience). For example JLCPCB has 'battery charger' as one option for the product description. Since JLCPCB only makes pcbas, not full modules, then this "battery charger" could only be the control board for a battery charger, which would be 35%. But "battery" text could trigger high rates, which can be corrected back to 35% but would require contacting importer/broker. This is known/common issue with UPS, they seem to use the highest plausible rate instead of contacting the customer for clarification.

using fourfathom's numbers:
pcb $66.32 + assy $1302.52 = 1368.84
customs $479.11 / $1368.84 = 34.99%

[trilerian]

Hmm, my last order for pcb alone was 43% tariff rate, about a month ago. I use their DDP option. Before the SC decision I had some PCBA orders hitting 53%.