A couple additional notes. First, everything was very well faced. Maybe due to that I ordered it as a built bike and that was an advantage, or maybe they just do a nice job. I did pull the bb to replace with a ceramic, and the finish level interior is at least as nice as the photos posted.
The crankset they sent I scoffed at, but its actually ok, 780g w rings, direct mount 3 bolt sram style, 24 mm. I'm not going to use it as I have a carbon sram here with a quarq.
I did have a very minor issue with the seatpost, I had ordered all matching gold anno bolts for everything. The kit for the seatpost came with a gold barrel, and it was set for the oem post and about a half mm larger than tantan's. Fixed it by reaming the post, but the tantan barrel was visually smaller, so not a tolerance thing but an actual difference.

The real sl8 is 160 only as Specialized used a spacing on the fork mounts that's unique to it and the Aetheos, supposedly for mass reduction. It won't take a 140 mount.  Its only a problem for Campy users as the stock Campy road front caliper is native 160 (the mount is cast into the caliper) and doesn't work on an Sl8. The solution is to use a rear caliper and the stock Specialized mount w/ the 160 rotor. Ekar calipers are cheapish and identical to the road 140 other than matte finish and logo.

Normal flat mount spacing on the fork is 70mm, this fork and the actual sl8 measure 60mm

I thought they said another 7-10 days yesterday? anyway regardless good news!
Hopefully the post will not take 3 weeks! Watching the slow ass tracking daily is killer!

LOL. Mine landed in the USA 6 days ago, no tracking updates, called usps today and its out for delivery to me today, finally, on day 93 since payment. Will assemble and ride over the weekend.

If you give her the go ahead she'll send you an invoice along with payment options-paypal, wise etc.

They'll build any frame up complete, just email them and ask for a quote. Some limitations-ie they don't do powermeter cranksets, but they can do Shimano builds, or Wheeltop.

My understanding is that for China and a few other countries, the De Minimis is being replaced by an enhanced "type 11" process.   This process lets one import items with values up to $2500 USD in a streamlined process.   Exporter/seller has to follow the "enhanced" custom's steps where the seller has to pre-register with Customs the item/s being imported.   Seller's name/business,  Purchaser's name and address, the full 10 digit commodity code,  Item/s value, and then pay up front associated tariffs and processing fees.  This way it makes it look like the seller is paying all the tariffs, but in reality, the seller has to collect the tariffs from the buyer and then pay this to Customs.  If the Tariffs aren't paid, then the buyer must pay the bill before the item clears customs.

My understanding is that it is a similar process to how sellers in other state's like E-bay, online shops, and Amazon have to collect sales taxes for the states they ship their items to.

I presume that this burden will fall on Aliexpress, Temu, and other foreign online sellers. 

Through this process, if tariff rates and policies change, Customs will charge and collect the Tariff-de-jour.   For all of us who used the De Minimis process, those days are gone forever.

I think that's mostly correct. Current rule 11 items come in with an invoice from the transporter-ie FedEx or DHL. For commercial accounts they bill after delivery, but for consumer accounts going forward I suspect they'll bill prior to. It wouldn't surprise me if the Chinese shippers do what they already do for Europe, which is offer DPD (duty paid delivery) where the tariff is rolled into the shipping cost up front. This streamlines the timeline. But first you have to have a stable and known tariff....

I wouldn't buy at the moment unless you assume that you're going to pay 1.5x on top of the listed price.
Even with a declared value below $800 you're now looking at ridiculous tariffs, and again while we know stuff gets shipped with low declared values, I suspect that will become more risky as the stakes go up.

If all you're concerned about is delivery, I don't see that as a problem. If anything the sellers are likely going to be hungry for sales. They don't pay the tariff, you do.

They don't eat the cost. What's dangerous to the consumer buying with all this uncertainty is that you pay, say 2k for a complete x68. They ship. When it arrives in USA, the shipper either holds it and sends you a bill for the tariff (currently 140% or roughly 1400) plus brokerage fee and cpb fees, or  delivers it then sends you a bill for that amount. YOU, the importer, pay the tariff, not the shipper.

Shippers are using low declared values to qualify for de minimis for now or low buyer expense later, but that's a risky proposition.