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

[elwood49]

Just ordered 2 pairs of shoes from Carmina to the US. Anyone get hit from them?

The cost is so much lower ordering directly from them that it should be lower even with duty.

 

[Mesta]

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

 

[ennui]

I'm in the US.

Ordered ~$200 item from End on Black Friday - no customs bill yet from Fedex (knock on wood)
Ordered ~$350 item from Roden Gray last year - no fees
Ordered ~$300 item from Nomad last year - no fees
Ordered ~$130 item from Our Legacy last year - no fees
Ordered ~$800 worth of shoes from Wrong Weather 2 years ago - got hit with around $200 of duties. Folks doubted me at the time, but sounds like my experience is common.

 

[zippyh]

You guys need to distinguish between fees charged by the carriers versus the amount of duty assessed.
Also there are a mind boggling number of different categories with different charges for items based on country of origin, content, construction etc.

Barbour jacket from Oi Polloi a few weeks ago. Shipping form stated country of origin for it was made in the UK but it was made in Romania or somewhere like that.
Got hit with 8.9% duty (HTS 6202.92.2061) on the cost of $373 for $33.20.
DHL charged me $6.50 in fees.

I've ordered Tricker's many times from Bureau Belfast and have never been hit with a Fedex bill.

I've actually been hit with duty assessment on an Express mail/USPS package from Malaysia.
It was for a swiss watch. Total was around $80. If the shipper games the system and declares some large
percentage of the value of the watch being for the movement, there's a very small flat fee for it. Memory is somewhat hazy since this was
about 10 years ago, but the majority of the $80 was due to duty on the strap. Shipment was also delayed because it had to stop in Alaska
somewhere for Fish and Wildlife Inpsection due to the croc strap. If the shipper hasn't filled out the proper form for croc, you're fkded.

Oh, and USPS is COD for the bill. Same with UPS and you have to badger them if you want a bill with a breakdown of charges.
Fedex and DHL will send you a detailed bill after delivery.
Fedex fees are going to be something like $25 plus an advancement fee which is some percentage of duty or a minimum of $5.

Fedex might also call you and make you fill out an Importer of Record form before they'll deliver.
If the shipper spells your name wrong, you might have to do this a few times. Don't ask me how I know.
Also depending upon the country of origin of the goods Fedex might ask you what factory the items was made in.
No idea why they would expect you to know. This bizarre question was when I bought a bag from Paul Smith made in China.

 

[EvanM]

My experiences with various couriers buying stuff shipped to Canada from other countries:

• UPS/Fedex - if shipped via ground, hit with a fairly hefty brokerage fee (~$35?) on top of taxes (12%) upon delivery. If shipped via air, the brokerage fee is incorporated into the shipping cost so it's up to the individual retailer whether or not taxes are paid up front or upon delivery.
• DHL - by far the quickest delivery option, but they always seem to collect the maximum amount for duties, regardless of whether or not your item should be hit with them or not. Expect to be hit with 18% duties + taxes (12% for BC) + whatever brokerage fee they charge. Mr Porter breaks down the split between duties and taxes with their DHL shipping, and I'm even being charged duties on items made in the USA by Brooks Brothers - and we have a free trade agreement with the US!
• USPS - it's generally up to CBSA when it crosses the border, but if you're charged at all, it's typically a reasonable $8 brokerage fee + taxes. I don't know how they make the calculations though - I placed an order from Epaulet for over $800 with a friend and our fees came out to less than $50 for the entire package. Probably the safest option for buying goods from the US.
• Royal Mail - UK equivalent of USPS and my experience has been the same as USPS.

Also, some online retailers allow you to pay the duties/taxes up front and avoid all the hassle upon delivery (DDP - Delivery Duties Paid). Amazon, Bodybuilding.com and mrporter.com all do this, for example.

 

[YOLO EMSHI]

LN-CC, antonioli, and Tres Bien are reliably duty free.
End, Wrong Weather, Norse store are guaranteed to get hit with duties.
anyone know about Oki-Ni?

Is this tried and true? I remember buying a Cabourn made it Scotland sweater vest from LN-cc ages ago to ship to Australia and I didn't get hit by duties, I think they marked it as $10?

This time i'm looking to get about three things that'll be $200 over the limit before i'll (possibly) get hit by duties in Australia.

Is it a safer bet just to make two separate purchases and sigh pay for shipping twice?

The last time I got hit by fees from FEDEX for a junya piece and i had to pay $200 to get it released


Then again, I've had DHL packages before for under AUD1000 and have never had duties

 

[cl smooth]



Is this tried and true? I remember buying a Cabourn made it Scotland sweater vest from LN-cc ages ago to ship to Australia and I didn't get hit by duties, I think they marked it as $10?

This time i'm looking to get about three things that'll be $200 over the limit before i'll (possibly) get hit by duties in Australia.

Is it a safer bet just to make two separate purchases and sigh pay for shipping twice?

The last time I got hit by fees from FEDEX for a junya piece and i had to pay $200 to get it released


Then again, I've had DHL packages before for under AUD1000 and have never had duties

I'm actually second guessing myself about this now as well. I bought a $300 made in Italy item about 7 months ago in May and they marked it down for me so I didn't have to pay duties. But it seems like over the summer they started marking it at full value. Now I'm hearing that they are still marking full value, but might be swallowing the duties on their end so the customer doesn't have to pay. Does anyone know?

 

[Feji]



I'm actually second guessing myself about this now as well. I bought a $300 made in Italy item about 7 months ago in May and they marked it down for me so I didn't have to pay duties. But it seems like over the summer they started marking it at full value. Now I'm hearing that they are still marking full value, but might be swallowing the duties on their end so the customer doesn't have to pay. Does anyone know?

Although it's not anywhere on LN-CC's website, according to their Cyber Monday (Nov 26) email they state :
"Along with free shipping to all international destinations, we are also pleased to announce that prices are now completely inclusive of all duty charges."

I ordered about $900 total, they shipped DHL and did not mark down. I've yet to get any word from DHL about duties/taxes owed.

Edit : note the free shipping was in regards to the promo they were running for Cyber Monday only.

 

[YOLO EMSHI]

Maybe that was just part of the promo?

I emailed them yesterday and they just quoted their terms and conditions on this and said:


"Afraid as per our terms and conditions we do currently ship on a delivery duty unpaid basis, therefore we cannot guarantee you will not face additional duty charges.
Our warehouse can try and do their best but afraid you may still receive duty charges."

No idea what that means though

 

[NaTionS]

My package from lncc arrived earlier this week and was shipped ddp.

 

[gnippiks]

I think this has also been confirmed by others, but based on my correspondence with LN-CC, my understanding is that LN-CC currently only ships DDP to North America.

Their website currently has at least two versions: a "northamerica" version and a "restofworld" version.

For example, when I access a product from this page:
http://www.ln-cc.com/en/northamerica/mens-brands/ann-demeulemeester/icat/anndemeulemeestermen/
the price is in USD and when I click on "Shipping", the page says "Please note that all prices are inclusive of any duty or customs charges".

If I access the same product from this page:
http://www.ln-cc.com/en/restofworld/mens-brands/ann-demeulemeester/icat/anndemeulemeestermen/
the price is in GBP and the "Shipping" page does not say anything about prices being inclusive of duties.

(I'm guessing they do some fancy stuff with cookies to determine whether you get to see the northamerica or restofworld version of a product page, because the product page URLs are invariant.)

 

[YOLO EMSHI]

what do they have against the citizens of the rest of the world? srsly?!


"Our warehouse can try and do their best but afraid you may still receive duty charges"

Does that sound like a hint that they'll do it? there needs to be an email function for *taps on nose*

 

[Sym]

Any Canadians experience any added charges from Aloha or Start London?

 

[brndnb]

Anyone in Canada have experience shopping at Acrimony? Any extra duties/charges?

thx.

 

[wumbo17412]

Got some W+H from acrimony black friday sales, shipped to Ontario by USPS and I didn't have to pay any duties.