Buying an item over $1,000 on AliExpress?

Question

Online shopping

Good afternoon. The topic may be outdated.
I plan to buy a laser engraver in China for $1400. The seller claims that the total cost of the goods is $1800, where $400 includes all customs fees (clearance service he called it).
A question for those who made expensive purchases from mid-2017 to the present moment: is there something worth knowing about in advance? any additional expenses? for example, for customs clearance? I read that 30% in case of overweight or excess cost, but I'm not sure how fresh this information is

Answer 1

I read that 30% in case of overweight or excess cost, but I'm not sure how fresh this information is

and there is.
if the product is quite a home use, then you just pay by mail.
if something is non-trivial, then you will have to go to customs.
but what is the duty-free threshold...
before it was 1000 euros, not dollars.
now it should be lower.