I have been waiting for this to come out so i can buy it. I like the form factor a lot more than the others. Please notify me when released!
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Anyone buy anything from MASSO lately? Just ordered a pendant and was hit with a $175 customs fee, added on after it shipped. Thereās no reason why this should be since it falls well below the $800 de minimis threshold for personal imports. Was it miscategorized? MASSO shrugging their shoulders. So Iām not taking delivery. Almost $400 for a pendant isnāt worth it, regardless of compatibility.
And frankly, given the ānot our problemā MASSO has (so far) adopted, Iām not ordering anything else from them. Ever. Why would I? No way to know if Iāll get hit with another random charge just so I can pay shipping for nothing. Thanks MASSO!
BTW, if they choose to at least look into the situation I will report that back here.
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That is nasty. But since I must type 20 characters ā¦
I canāt speak for Masso, but I believe there are stocking dealers in the US. CNC4PC and Automation Technologies Inc (formerly Keiling inc) come to mind. Might be worth an email of a call to make sure they are stocking dealers and not just drop shippers.
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I have since found that there is at least one US distributor. That certainly would have saved time and money.
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Now that there is timing.
Cross posted! Yes, hoping they donāt drop ship.
We elected a president that has imposed tariffs on many nations. Is it Masso responsibility to cover those costs??? I can see the rest of the world not being cool with it. That being said, I can also see your shock at that fee. I wouldnāt pay it either.
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Of course it isnāt MASSOā responsibility to cover tariff costs. But I donāt know that it is a tariff. Maybe it is, maybe itās something else. If it is a tariff then a warning would be helpful as 1F does.
Anyway itās not any of that. I would have liked it if they investigated just what the cost was related to. Otherwise I have no confidence that I wonāt get dunned for a similar amount if I order something else. And btw, I have to eat the shipping cost. Why would I risk doing that again? Thatās whatās alarming about a shoulder shrug.
An update: MASSO has offered to meet me halfway on the charge, a more than fair offer. So that is appreciated. But to be clear, Iām not asking MASSO to make me whole; to Tedās point, that isnāt their fault or responsibility. I want to know the nature of the charge, and if it is a tariff, then people should know that before ponying up, not after. And as good as the offer is, it really doesnāt make financial sense if I can get the same product from a U.S.-based distributor.
Of course, as BobLaLonde points out, I may get hit with the same charge from a stateside seller! Probably not enough time to find out before DHL makes up my mind for me and sends it back to Australia.
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You are right that it is the sellerās responsibility to know the cost to your door and tell you before you commit, although in the crazy times we are living in, itās hard to know one day to the next.
I just ordered one from PwnCNC: $200 + $7.36 shipping. More than the Masso site, including their ~$50 shipping costs but thanks you Quentin, forewarned is forearmed. Who knows if I would have had the $175 fee.
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The $800 de minimus exemption has been the subject of numerous executive orders as well as congressional action. The House and Senate have passed separate bills revoking it effective next year so itās ending no matter what the president does. But, heās eliminated it, paused the elimination and eliminated it again, multiple times since April and for different countries of origin. Itās difficult or impossible to get a definitive answer from CBP as to whether thereās still an exemption or not. It depends on who you ask, what day you ask and the port of entry. Itās the new reality. You need to look for domestic suppliers who have already factored whatever the tariff tax is into their price for anything you buy or be prepared for a nasty surprise. I believe the latest is supposed to be a minimum $100 tariff on anything from China so that $25 part now arriving from Ali or Temu costs $125 with an effective 400% tariff.
Itāll be interesting to see how companies and credit card issuers will handle a new flood of charge backs by people refusing delivery of an unexpectedly tariffed product because the shipper tells them customs costs are on the buyer so they provided the product but the buyer says they never got it. Historically, the charge was removed and the shipper ate the loss if they never got it back from wherever it went. But with the volume likely to increase and caused by the buyer refusing delivery, either the card companies are going to have to change their policies or shippers are going to start restricting sales so they donāt keep having to absorb the costs of refused items.
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How can the seller know all charges when they are levied by a third party after the sale and they can fluctuate by law or even they attitude of the agent and sometimes by the delivery carrier? I sell all over the world, and import laws taxes fees and duties vary greatly from country to country.
I just try to get a good shipping cost for my customers, and let them know they are responsible for any duties, vat, or fees at their end. I have customers across Europe, the Americas, and Australia & New Zealand as well as several of the Pacific Islands. They grouse about duties the same way I grouse about income taxes, but its just part of international business. They donāt blame me for what their government charges them to buy from me.
UPS is a special case. They add their own bullshit clearance fees (allegedly) in many countries on top of the government fees and the shipping charges they already charged the shipper. (See Runkle of the Bailey on YouTube.)
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FOR WHAT ITāS WORTH: I have been working with a small manufacturer in Australia who sent me a prototype pendant for one of my other machines to evaluate and provide feedback. I paid for his shipping costs, but he sent me the pendant for free. I wasnāt charged any import duty, tax, or fee here in the US.
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Jim, thatās useful context. Iām mostly getting the headline version, probably like most people. Until and unless things settle down I think itās going to be ābuyer bewareā on purchasing offshore directly.
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I did a quick check, and it seems like the big budget bill completely deletes the de minimus rule by mid 2027.
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The pendant arrived from PwnCNC today. $208 delivered. A solid piece of gear; donāt drop it on your toes. BTW, the pendant is dramatically different from the Xbox controller. You canāt whosh around with it but itās far better at precise positioning.
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