‘It’s like getting Taylor Swift tickets’: Brands rush to request tariff refunds, with some snags

This week, companies could officially start requesting tariff refunds from the U.S. government. The digital refund system is called the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE. Its launch comes two months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump’s administration illegally collected tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The U.S. government could owe businesses and brokers up to $175 billion in refunds, including interest.

CBP says it plans to roll out the refund system “in phases.” The first phase of the refund process was open to “certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation.” As of April 9, more than 56,000 importers had completed the necessary steps to receive refunds, for an amount totaling roughly $127 billion, per CBP. However, more than 330,000 importers paid relevant tariffs on 53 million shipments of imported goods, according to court filings.

After submitting their information through CAPE, importers will ​get one electronic payment (with interest, when applicable) via a different portal with their bank information, called Automated Commercial Environment, or ACE. Importers or authorized brokers must sign up for access to both CAPE and ACE. CBP says it could take 60-90 days to process refunds in ACE, “unless a compliance concern requires further CBP review.”

The refund process has been smoother for some folks than others, according to conversations Modern Retail had with half a dozen brands and entrepreneurs. While some business owners expressed satisfaction with the CAPE portal — especially considering the timeline CBP had to get the system up and running — others are still having trouble getting access to the ACE portal. And others weren’t aware that liquidation day counted as one of the “80 days of liquidation.”

LobsterBoys, which ships live lobsters around the world, was able to successfully submit a request for a refund of around $15,000, co-founders Travis and Justin Maderia said. Similarly, Made In, a cookware brand, found it “pretty simple” to submit a request for a refund of $5 million, co-founder and CEO Chip Malt said. “You’d expect from a government agency that the website wouldn’t work and it would be a nightmare,” Malt said. “But the actual functionality of it surprised our team.”

Woldenberg, one of the key plaintiffs in the court case that led to the tariffs’ undoing, submitted 5,000 lines to the CAPE portal; 10 were rejected. “I believe that it’s probably a data handshake kind of thing,” he said, of the error message he got back. “It’s a high rate of acceptance.” But, as Woldenberg pointed out, “Acceptance of our submission is different from putting a stamp of approval on it and sending us a wire.”

To that end, the Maderias, Malt and Woldenberg are now waiting for an update in the ACE portal on when their refund payments will go through. But not everyone has been able to get access to the ACE portal — or get access to it in time for April 20.

That includes Cassie Abel, the founder and CEO of outdoors apparel brand Wild Rye. Abel submitted 14 lines in the CAPE portal on April 20 and is trying to recoup $250,000 in tariff payments. Her submission went through. But Abel hasn’t been able to get into the ACE portal, despite trying to do so weeks ago. That means she can’t track the progress of her refund payment.

Abel attempted to apply for access to the ACE portal in March. But “the portal was having technical difficulties for about three weeks,” she said, “so we kept running into error messages trying to get our application.” Wild Rye finally submitted its ACE application on March 24. “But, because of the backlog, they anticipated it would be about seven weeks until we get approved,” she said. April 20 marked nearly four weeks.

David Suk, CEO of portable bottle warmer company Baby’s Brew, also had trouble applying for the ACE portal. “I did that probably a month ago and still haven’t fully gotten access,” he told Modern Retail on April 20. “I just emailed my broker this morning and said, ‘Hey, I’ve been working on this for weeks and haven’t made a tremendous amount of progress.'” Suk said it now makes more sense financially to pay a broker hundreds of dollars to oversee the process, rather than to risk making a mistake.

Baby’s Brew plans to apply for more than $50,000 in tariff refunds. Suk said the process has been “overly complicated,” considering the government already has his information. “They know, based on your importer-of-record number, who paid what already,” he said. “There’s this light at the end of the tunnel [through the refunds], but then they make you jump through all these hoops to try to get your money back.”

Woldenberg agreed, saying, “They didn’t have to do it this way.” “You do not have to reach out to the government and say, ‘Please give me my money back,’ when they take too much of it in taxes,” he said. “It just comes to you. [Here] they created almost an opt-in system.” Still, Woldenberg said, “This has never been done before, and it’s on a grand scale. So, all things considered, I think that CBP put a real, genuine effort into this.”

Dame, a sexual wellness company, hopes to get “a strong percentage back” of the nearly $100,000 it paid in tariffs since April 2025, CEO and co-founder Alexandra Fine said. Fine is also waiting for access to the ACE portal. “It’s feeling a little cumbersome, but still, I’m sure it could have been so much worse,” she said.

Earlier this year, after the Supreme Court ruling, Dame moved to prematurely refund customers who paid its “Trump Tariff Surcharge” of $5 last year. “We got the whole thing done in two days,” Fine said. “I think we provided a smoother experience than the government’s providing for us right now.” But, she also acknowledged, “That was hundreds of orders, not thousands. It is a very different scale.”

Some brand executives told Modern Retail they plan to use their refunds in various ways, from navigating prices back to pre-tariff levels to resuming hiring processes that were previously paused. But getting the money back isn’t the same as getting free money, sources stressed. “We’re just filling back up a reserve that got drained,” Justin Maderia said.

Nor are tariffs going away completely. In February, Trump imposed a new 10% global tariff on all imports entering the U.S., under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. The government is also conducting new Section 301 investigations into market practices in countries like China and Brazil, which could trigger more tariffs. “I’m certainly not earmarking this [refund] money for anything,” Abel said.

Made In, for its part, is now actually dealing with even more tariffs than it was a month ago, Malt said. Made In makes its products from stainless steel, and Trump changed the terms of Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum in early April to be a flat 25%. “Before, if your product was 20% metal, it was 20% times 50%, so a 10% tariff,” Malt said. “We’re in a worse position than we were six months ago. … [The refund] is a time-buying mechanism, more than anything else.”