Anyone know how import duties work for stuff you buy from overseas sellers?

[Understatesman]

So this is a tricky one.

I recently ordered a tan suede Matchless jacket in their "Craig" style. It's a badass jacket and I've no regrets so far. I paid $1440 USD for it to be sent to me from Matchless in Italy. Import fees came out to $95.40 with a tariff rate of 6.00% when I saw a bill from UPS a week later. The Duty Class marked on the shipment detail was 4203.10.4095 (this is important later).




So yeah, I liked it enough, I ordered another a few days later, only this one in Nabuk Wet color.



But for whatever weird ass reason, it fit slightly different. A bit too small for my liking so I returned it, shipping it back overseas on my dime. Anyway, here I am a week later and I've just received an invoice for import fees on this order from UPS. To the tune of a whopping $407.88! Wtf? Same jacket, same value on the shipment detail. Shipped from the same location. Only this one shows a Duty Class of 6201.13.4030 and a corresponding tariff rate of 27.70%.

So am I expected to really pay $400+ just because I ordered a jacket I ended up not even keeping that doesn't even line up with the bill I got only a week prior for the exact same item in a different color? What kind of fucked up scam is this??

Anyone know anything about stuff like this?

 

[styleforumfan]

Bump. Anyone?

This is exactly the situation I'm trying to avoid. I'm looking to order a leather jacket from Stuart's London in the same price range. The price is much cheaper there compared to the US. However, I may not bother if I run the risk of getting hit with a $500 import tax bill down the road.

 

[LA Guy]

Bump. Anyone?

This is exactly the situation I'm trying to avoid. I'm looking to order a leather jacket from Stuart's London in the same price range. The price is much cheaper there compared to the US. However, I may not bother if I run the risk of getting hit with a $500 import tax bill down the road.

Get it from the US, then. Unless you have a customs broker, it's up to the judgement of a faceless bureaucrat somewhere.

 

[LA Guy]

And yes, you can look here: https://www.cbp.gov/trade/programs-administration/determining-duty-rates and try to figure things out. But it really is up to a bureaucrat, and trust me, while you can appeal a government decision, unless it is in the thousands of dollars or a clear mistake (like, they charged you for 1000 items instead of 3) which has happened to me, good luck getting your money back. Even in that case, it took me nearly a year to sort out.