One problem is the US Customs code being extremely confusing and confounding to begin with. When I got ready to order my original kilt and kit a friend in the legal area with some customs experience sent me a PDF of the customs duties for imported goods--literally hundreds of pages of definitions with each item having its own percentage of value duty attached to a long line of exceptions and exemptions and specifications and referrals to other pages and listings. Confusing and befudling would be understatements.

From my friend I learned that each US citizen is allowed to bring into the country duty free (someone more knowledgeable correct me if I am misspeaking) about $200US in any given day and the excess, depending on its classification, is subject to duty at various rates depending on whether it is raw material, finished goods of fabric or leather or fur, ets.... Fedex just is more compulsive about doing the classifications and identifications and charging what they THINK the duty is supposed to be (their best guess) then adding their handling fees on top. The low cost of small items and thier particular material of manufacture can make the difference between getting through without duty and getting stuck with a larger fee on something like a kilt and kilt jacket at a higher overall cost, more likely to raise an eyebrow on somebody's customs radar. Hence the reason to try to order in smaller total value batches and to try to send the orders via a shipper who has less investment in both getting into your wallet and in maintaining their own international viability in the shipping business.

So, from my limited experience and knowledge, keeping your shipment values around $2-300 US or less by breaking up larger orders into several smaller ones, and having them sent Royal Mail or Parcel Force (from the UK at least) seems to allow them to get through without getting nailed with duties or the added handling charges. I don't think as consumers we are doing anything illegal in trying to minimize our costs due to import duties, as it is the governments responsibility to enforce the rules and impose those duties where appropriate. But we can make the smartest use of the system within those rules to get the best overall value out of any overseas ordering experience.