What is the UPS disbursement fee?

When duty is owed, Customs is paid at the point of entry. UPS advances that money so the shipment keeps moving, then recovers it from you along with a charge for the advance. That charge is the disbursement fee.

Because it is calculated as a percentage with a floor, the floor dominates on small shipments. A duty of a few dollars produces the same disbursement fee as a duty of twenty. This is the single most common source of the reaction that a fee is 'more than the item cost' — the structure is doing exactly what it says, but nothing about a small parcel makes it obvious in advance.

It is worth distinguishing this from the brokerage fee because they appear together and are sometimes described interchangeably by customer service. Brokerage is for the filing. Disbursement is for the money. Both are published, both are checkable, and both are UPS's rather than the government's.

What to check

• 01Locate the duty amount — the disbursement fee should be a percentage of that, or the minimum.
• 02Confirm brokerage and disbursement appear as separate lines rather than one merged charge.
• 03Compare both against the UPS published rates for your shipment date.