• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Hype1234

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2012
Messages
731
Reaction score
270

I'm ordering from Vancouver, Canada. $42.04 in customs on a $110 order.

Is that even bad at 12% HST or are you not including that? I have a $56 order coming from boylston, but I think it is still very worthwhile for a shirt that was retailing here for $180 before tax
 

fogg

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Messages
177
Reaction score
2

I'm ordering from Vancouver, Canada. $42.04 in customs on a $110 order.


Boylston is part of the ********* empire (I guess I can't say the name of the store but it's a large online streetwear retailer) and they insist on using DHL for international for whatever reason, even though it's brutal on the receiver. DHL actually makes UPS brokerage charges look ok.

I feel bad every time they offer a free shipping promo because anyone outside the US has no idea what they're in for when it shows up - I'd gladly pay extra to have them ship regular USPS and have no (or reasonable) charges on delivery.

Until they get a better international shipping police they're pretty much one of those places you buy from once, learn your lesson and never buy from again (unless a discount is so insane it makes up for the $30-$40 minimum you'll get charged to receive it).

They're bad enough that the few times I've ordered from them recently I've had it forwarded to a US mailbox and paid them to ship it to me. It still works out cheaper than what I'd pay DHL on top of Boylston's "free" shipping.
 
Last edited:

blazingazn

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
2,093
Reaction score
45

Where are you ordering from?

Crap, I ordering from Canada and my package is arriving today. It's only like $50 but I was hoping that would be low enough not to get hit by customs. 



Got hit with customs too. $21 on a $39 order.

WHAT teh ****!
 

Raindrop

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2012
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
505
..Duties/brokerage fees/taxes are expected when you buy from another country. For Canada, it's 13% HST (Ontario) + 18% duties + brokerage fees (whatever the courier company decides to charge).
 

Hype1234

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2012
Messages
731
Reaction score
270

Got hit with customs too. $21 on a $39 order.
WHAT teh ****!

DHL will charge $10 flat customs fee no matter what (I looked into it before buying socks). On top of that you need to pay provincial taxes, which should be expected (said from Porter and Gilt where they at them at purchase). If the item is made by a NAFTA country (Filson, gitman, etc.) that's all you pay. For other things you have to pay a percentage based on the trade agreement btw Canada and the country of origin. So $42 on a $110 order is probably the minimum to expect for next time with DHL. Yes, they suck.
 

fogg

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Messages
177
Reaction score
2

DHL will charge $10 flat customs fee no matter what (I looked into it before buying socks). On top of that you need to pay provincial taxes, which should be expected (said from Porter and Gilt where they at them at purchase). If the item is made by a NAFTA country (Filson, gitman, etc.) that's all you pay. For other things you have to pay a percentage based on the trade agreement btw Canada and the country of origin. So $42 on a $110 order is probably the minimum to expect for next time with DHL. Yes, they suck.


The duty is not just dependent on the country of origin but the materials as well - whatever is defined by the item's HS code. What makes it worse (for Canadians at least) is most US retailers are too lazy to fill out the customs declaration properly and just put something generic like "clothes" which results in you getting hit with the highest duty rate possible (18%).

Many won't even fill out the country of origin at all resulting in situations like me getting charged 18% duty on a pair of naked & famous jeans even though they are made in Canada of Japanese fabric (Canada has a free trade agreement with Japan).

In short, most (though not all) retailers don't care much at all about international customers and seem to view them as a nuisance more than anything else and won't do much to try and help.
 

jeannoob

Senior Member
Joined
May 22, 2008
Messages
152
Reaction score
9
I live in Vancouver and for the companies that do ship via Fedex, UPS, or DHL, I just have it shipped to Point Roberts and then I'll drive down there to pick it up. Gas is cheaper down there as well.
 

Kid Nickels

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
7,821
Reaction score
1,897

A lot of the world outside North America do. Most of the international shipped documents I receive at work usually come by DHL.


+1 ... for int'l. shipping I almost always use DHL... especially for anything "special" :smarmy:
 

dsvelte

Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
My iPhone Mr Porter app updated this morning with 'Support for the upcoming MR PORTER sale'

I wonder if that means next week for the international sale? I was expecting 17 December based on previous years. Maybe they're just well-organised...
 

Kid Nickels

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
7,821
Reaction score
1,897

any code for ssense right now? Going to order some stuff tonight and would be nice to know :)


yes it would! :nodding:

and how the hell is The Corner's "SALE" selling MMM for more than the actual MMM boutique? wtf?
 
Last edited:

snake

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2008
Messages
5,265
Reaction score
2,352
15% yoox code up for grabs
GIFT-z9C20A25
 

mcdecker1

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2011
Messages
465
Reaction score
76

I bought a sweater from Boylston, got hit with duties from DHL, which would be fine if they sent me the right sweater. I sent it back and they didn't refund me. This was in October. Lesson learned. One less SNS to add to my collection.


yea - i've actually had some bad experiences with Boylston as well (not honoring discount codes post-purchase, sending wrong item, pain ********** returns) that i'm pretty much done with them. They have a good selection but with e-commerce there's no need to settle
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 45 40.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 44 39.6%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 5 4.5%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 18 16.2%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 25 22.5%

Forum statistics

Threads
504,424
Messages
10,573,947
Members
223,691
Latest member
MidwestMase
Top