Recently placed an order for compatible parts from China (wanted to assess quality)
Order was +/- $60. No duty was charged.
PaB order of standard parts +/- $75 again no duty was charged.
Researched with Chat GPT
This was the summarized answer from Chat GPT - NOT advice!
Important clarity: Nothing “legal or illegal” happened
Your parcels were perfectly legitimate imports:
Declared accurately
Classified correctly
Values were low
Cleared automatically
No exemption loophole was used.
Customs simply chose not to assess duty — which they are allowed to do.
The Real Rule of Thumb for LEGO parts
Here’s how it works in practice today:
Order Value / Likelihood of Duty Being Charged
$1–$150 Extremely rare (nearly always $0)
$150–$300 Possible but uncommon
$300–$600+ Moderate chance of duty assessment
$1,000+ or bulk shipments High likelihood of duty + brokerage fees
Country of origin matters less for small parcels than declared value and carrier
channel.
Recently placed an order for compatible parts from China (wanted to assess quality)
Order was +/- $60. No duty was charged.
PaB order of standard parts +/- $75 again no duty was charged.
Researched with Chat GPT
This was the summarized answer from Chat GPT - NOT advice!
Important clarity: Nothing “legal or illegal” happened
Your parcels were perfectly legitimate imports:
Declared accurately
Classified correctly
Values were low
Cleared automatically
No exemption loophole was used.
Customs simply chose not to assess duty — which they are allowed to do.
The Real Rule of Thumb for LEGO parts
Here’s how it works in practice today:
Order Value / Likelihood of Duty Being Charged
$1–$150 Extremely rare (nearly always $0)
$150–$300 Possible but uncommon
$300–$600+ Moderate chance of duty assessment
$1,000+ or bulk shipments High likelihood of duty + brokerage fees
Country of origin matters less for small parcels than declared value and carrier
channel.
Sounds like they are overwhelmed with the process, similar in Canada where officially
anything above like $20 has taxes and stuff charged on delivery, however sometimes
packages worth $300 go thru without any.
Have you received the orders? Sometimes you don’t find out until it arrives.
In Off Topic, Graham. writes:
Recently placed an order for compatible parts from China (wanted to assess quality)
Order was +/- $60. No duty was charged.
PaB order of standard parts +/- $75 again no duty was charged.
Researched with Chat GPT
This was the summarized answer from Chat GPT - NOT advice!
Important clarity: Nothing “legal or illegal” happened
Your parcels were perfectly legitimate imports:
Declared accurately
Classified correctly
Values were low
Cleared automatically
No exemption loophole was used.
Customs simply chose not to assess duty — which they are allowed to do.
The Real Rule of Thumb for LEGO parts
Here’s how it works in practice today:
Order Value / Likelihood of Duty Being Charged
$1–$150 Extremely rare (nearly always $0)
$150–$300 Possible but uncommon
$300–$600+ Moderate chance of duty assessment
$1,000+ or bulk shipments High likelihood of duty + brokerage fees
Country of origin matters less for small parcels than declared value and carrier
channel.
Recently placed an order for compatible parts from China (wanted to assess quality)
Order was +/- $60. No duty was charged.
PaB order of standard parts +/- $75 again no duty was charged.
Researched with Chat GPT
This was the summarized answer from Chat GPT - NOT advice!
Important clarity: Nothing “legal or illegal” happened
Your parcels were perfectly legitimate imports:
Declared accurately
Classified correctly
Values were low
Cleared automatically
No exemption loophole was used.
Customs simply chose not to assess duty — which they are allowed to do.
The Real Rule of Thumb for LEGO parts
Here’s how it works in practice today:
Order Value / Likelihood of Duty Being Charged
$1–$150 Extremely rare (nearly always $0)
$150–$300 Possible but uncommon
$300–$600+ Moderate chance of duty assessment
$1,000+ or bulk shipments High likelihood of duty + brokerage fees
Country of origin matters less for small parcels than declared value and carrier
channel.
PaB prices includes the Tariff handling for USA and they ship it without any
extra charges.
And for the other order if it was from a stablished shop then they probably also
handle the shipping to include the tariff handling without extra costs.
I started doing it too on my store and successfully shipped some orders to USA
delivered without any charges or delays this month.
USA, Tennessee
Canada, Ontario
Spain, Comunidad Valenciana