Official Customs, Duties, and International Shipping Questions and Stories Thread

[Ritchee]

Great thread. I've ordered from The Bureau, Oi-Polloi, Oki-Ni, Tres-Bien, Our Legacy, and The End. The End is the only store I've been hit with customs from Fed-Ex. I don't recall the breakdown but it was an LVC coat for $395 with total bill from Fed-Ex of around $85.00. I just ordered a pair of Tricker's from them but the shoe is a special mark up of theirs and I had a 25% code so I may end up eating some of the discount.

 

[Ritchee]

I ordered a parka made in the USA by Batten Sportswear from Kafka. Today I received a voice mail from UPS that I needed to call their clearance agency. When I tried to call them, the voice mail told me they are closed for the day.

My question is: has anyone in the US been charged an import fee for an item made in the USA?

 

[BLAUGRANA]

Got an order from Oi Pollloi this week. Once again it was DHL and once again no fees.

I ordered a parka made in the USA by Batten Sportswear from Kafka. Today I received a voice mail from UPS that I needed to call their clearance agency. When I tried to call them, the voice mail told me they are closed for the day.
My question is: has anyone in the US been charged an import fee for an item made in the USA?

No, but let us know how it turns out please. Every time I order from Kafka though there's a fee.

 

[Urthwhyte]

Got my order from Matches today; shipped DHL to Seattle, no customs fees and their site says they ship everything to the US DDP

 

[Mesta]



ordered two stuff from ln-cc :
one purchase was 88, duty fees of 38
second one was 340, duty fees of 168...
**** dhl?

LN-CC refunded me all the extra that I had to paid. They said that in the sales mayhem, DDP was forgotten on the sheet so they will refund everything extra. Lucy was helpful!
That is cool.

 

[TintoTerra]

Lucy kicks ass. Always a pleasure dealing with ln-cc ime.

 

[BigC222]

Some members posted above that TBS has been relatively duty free. I disagree with that one as I have been hit every time I bought something there except for the first time when I bought some CP chukkas. Not sure if it's the COD or the actual duty but the cost has been around $20-25 each time (Canadian taxes + handling fee, which is actually the blunt of the cost). I find that with FedEx it was less about the cost of the items as the tax from there is minimal and you're basically paying for the transaction fee. Still, I find that the TBS discounts are good enough that it's worth paying for it.

From personal experience, my favourite right now is Mr. Porter as shipping to Canada is $21.00 (another member mentioned that it's really shipping + DHL costs) and that to me is worth it as a lot of US retailers charge that much just for shipping and it takes a day for my package to arrive which is probably the quickest I have had.

 

[Sym]

^ Same experience with TBS for the most part. **** Fedex

 

[Coopa]

Got an order from Oi Pollloi this week. Once again it was DHL and once again no fees.

No, but let us know how it turns out please. Every time I order from Kafka though there's a fee.

How much have you paid when dealing with Kafka? Did they put the retail/paid price on the item, or mark it lower to avoid customs? Some stores are willing to do that.

 

[Dingusberry]

Anyone know if Le Rayon Frais marks down the value of the package and deducts VAT?

 

[turboradmobile]

I've ordered several times from Yoox with delivery to Canada and have never paid duty. Luck or is that common?

Also: great thread.

 

[Ritchee]

Got hit with a 61.04 UPS charge for a purchase from Kafka; so far, no invoice from FedEx for a purchase from End.

 

[Coopa]

Got hit with a 61.04 UPS charge for a purchase from Kafka; so far, no invoice from FedEx for a purchase from End.

What did Kafka value the item at? What did you actually pay for it?

 

[Feji]

There's a Fedex customs/duties estimate tool for people who are interested (you will have to sign up for a basic Fedex account to access it) : https://www.fedex.com/EDT?cntry_code=bz
Of course, it wont be 100% accurate, since it really depends on how the shipper fills out the customs declaration form...but you can get a good sense of what to expect if you get hit with a customs bill.

Also, signing up for UPS MyChoice is one of the best things I've done. You can verify your home/work address(es) and the UPS network will automatically associate packages shipped to those addresses to your account. This works in conjunction with their iphone app, so I basically don't need to do any cut and pasting to track packages on my phone... I just open the UPS app and the tracking info is already there.

 

[Hype1234]

I got hit with $90 in FedEx duties on my Norse Store order for a pair of $230 boots shipped to Vancouver BC. It sucked haha. But still an ok purchase in the end.