I hear ya bro
The first time I got hit with the "unexpected stupidly high brokerage and customs charges" was about 5 years ago I was living in a university dorm, and I literally had to ask everyone on my floor for money while the delivery guy waited. The delivery company didn’t list any customs fees on their tracking page they don’t call ahead saying we got a package for you and there’s customs fee of $X that you’ll have to pay when we deliver it tomorrow. They just show up and demand money, so now I always ask how much brokerage/customs/ransom should I be prepared to pay.