Most surprising duty bills are correct and simply higher than expected. A minority are genuinely wrong, almost always because of a misclassification or a wrong declared value. Telling the two apart before you spend hours disputing is the useful skill.
Understanding what you were charged
An import bill usually contains three separate things: duty, calculated as a percentage of the declared value based on the product classification, any applicable taxes or fees, and a brokerage or disbursement charge from the carrier for processing the entry. That last item is a carrier service fee, not a government charge, and it is frequently the part people did not expect.
The errors that actually happen
Misclassification of the goods, which changes the duty rate, sometimes substantially. A declared value that includes shipping when it should not, or that reflects a pre-discount price. Duplicate assessment when a shipment is processed twice. And currency conversion applied at the wrong rate. Each of these is checkable against your own paperwork in a few minutes.
How to raise it
Contact the carrier or broker who issued the bill, in writing, with the entry or tracking number, the specific line you dispute, and the documentation supporting your position, usually the order confirmation and the product description. Corrections at this level are handled routinely. Do not simply refuse to pay, since that leads to the shipment being returned or abandoned while the dispute is open.
Formal refund routes
Where duty was genuinely overpaid, there is a formal process for seeking a refund after the fact, with its own deadlines and paperwork. It is worth pursuing for larger amounts and rarely worth the effort below roughly 50 USD. Keep every document from the entry, because a claim made months later depends entirely on what you retained.
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Start a buy-for-me order →Frequently asked
Can I refuse delivery to avoid the charge?
You can, but the shipment then goes to return or abandonment and you lose the goods and the freight. Paying and disputing afterward is almost always the better sequence.
Is the brokerage fee negotiable?
It is a carrier service charge set by their tariff and is rarely waived. Choosing a service where clearance is included in the shipping price avoids it entirely on future shipments.
What if the sender declared the wrong value?
That is correctable with proof of what was actually paid. Order confirmations from the original store are the evidence that resolves it.