U.S. customs

[RockyR]

Fedex and UPS and DHL charge roughly $25 to $35 to act as their own broker. IF YOU HIRE a broker independently, the rate is closer to $125. At least that's what I pay to our NYC broker when I get USPS shipments that come through JFK Airport and need to be processed as a "formal entry" which requires the assistance of a broker.

FedEx and DHL and UPS aren't being dishonest with putting the highest value they can on an item. They're actually applying the law as they see it to the goods as described by the SHIPPER. If the person shipping the goods calls the material 100% wool suiting material (or material for making clothing), then the person entering the tariff codes for customs will charge a 25% tax on it... kilt fabric falls under this tariff code. If the supplier classifies it as upholstery fabric, then the person entering the tariff codes for customs will enter the code which charges 7% on it.

I don't believe that FedEx or DHL or UPS is out to 'get you'. They're just being as honest as they can be with the tariff codes and/or item descriptions that they are given from the manufacturer / shipper. THEY don't want to get in trouble with US Customs by falsely declaring a product something it's not b/c then they can lose their ability to act as their own import broker and then they'd be subject to normal US Customs delay times (which would cripple their overnight shipping).

Peter, we arent picking on the honest agents - I think.
It, is the dishonesty that "protective" tarriffs create.
A NAFTA type global trade system would end all the under the table games.
It would allow us all to purchase the best product at the best price without having to worry about hidden fees tacked on by dishonest go betweens.
The current system makes the price of a goods an unknown.

[O'Searcaigh]

The problem at the consumer's end is that without knowing how much (at least to a fair approximation) additional fees there will be, it is not possible to "comparison" shop and if buyers do not have the discretion of saying how the item will be shipped and by whom, then they are effectively "buying a pig in a poke" as far as final costs are concerned whereas if one buys "in country," one can know exactly what the final cost will be in making their decision.

[saxandpipes]

The "one thing" and the "something else" both equal "theft" in my book. It matters not at all whether the person holding my rightful property hostage is wearing a government uniform or a private company uniform. In either case, they claim the authority to keep something which doesn't belong to them until a ransom is paid to get it back. In any other facet of life, this would be outrageously criminal.

I agree with you Tobus (Although taxes have to be paid on anything- and thus when importing something which has (theoretically) not had tax paid in the country of origin, one will have to pay that tax when the thing arrives to the destination country).

I had a situation where I was forced to pay 50 euro for a christmas package from my mother (basically the value of the contents all over again!) just to recieve it. What quite frankly @#$%ed me off was the fact that taxes had been paid on everything already when my mum purchased them in New Zealand. So of course they held my parcel until I paid the tax and the "commission" to the @#$%holes to release it.

I didn't dare to tell my mother- she would have felt guilty.

Plain and simple: it's a crime.

Michael

[unixken]

As I was looking at the status of my orders with Scotweb - I have two orders, totaling approx $4K - I realized that considerable portions of each order (essentially anything not being made-to-order) were listed as "in stock", while just a relatively few items such as the kilt, are "in progress."

To ease the pain with customs duty, I just called and asked them to ship the in-stock items now, and let the remaining items come later. They'll still use a courier such as FEDEX to ship everything, due to the weight of all the items, but it splits my import costs between this month's budget when the in-stock items arrive, and next month's budget, when the rest of the items are expected to ship. Just another tactic to think about.

[billsides]

You live in the wrong country. I have imported many things from Scotland in particular, 5 tailor made kilts and two coats from several makers in Scotland, sashes, sporrans, socks, belts DVDs, car parts from others and sent by various delivery means including postal and courier. I have done likewise from Hong Kong for tailor made clothing. Not a cent was paid here in duty on anything, provided invoice value was under $1,000 so were sent separetely to keep individual parcels under $1,000. Being exports VAT in Scotland was avoided too and that saving usually is enough for premium delivery. Parcels are often opened and checked on arrival here. Go over $1,000 and it gets expensive. eg. car imports get hit for import duty, a luxury car tax then sales tax on the final amount including these imposts for a unrestored 80 year old old car with interior in tatters and another with a seized engine, both bought in USA. Neither as bought could be called luxurious nor usable. I live in Australia.

Bill

[Pleater]

One thing to bear in mind is that there is a limit of 2Kg on Air Mail parcels sent using the Post Office, something which causes problems in one of my other lives when people want to send electronic controllers for knitting machines to be repaired, as they weigh 2.5Kg.

At least when things are sent UK to US they usually arrive - we have sent a cable off to someone in the former USSR twice already and are having to arrange to send things to someone's family here so they can take them out to Croatia as if things are posted then their customs either charge truely exorbitant fees on any engineered item or cause them to vanish without trace - presumably ending up on a market stall somewhere.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[ForresterModern]

To ease the pain with customs duty, I just called and asked them to ship the in-stock items now, and let the remaining items come later. They'll still use a courier such as FEDEX to ship everything, due to the weight of all the items, but it splits my import costs between this month's budget when the in-stock items arrive, and next month's budget, when the rest of the items are expected to ship. Just another tactic to think about.

It may ease the acute stress on your monthly budget, but splitting your order into more than one shipment but still having them come Fedex means that you will likely still pay the same amount in actual total customs duties, but then pay the $25-35 in Fedex customs brokers fees separately added to each individual shipment regardless of the cost of that particular shipment, so if it is two parts you will pay the brokers fees twice instead of once, three parts = three broker's fees, etc...... I will let you decide if the extra cost of the multiple brokers fees for the split shipments is worth it or not.

[billsides]

Re my comment on Australian customs, free import applies only to single or non-commercial qualities if valued under $1,000. A large roll of tartan even if worth much less could be expected to be taxed being a commercial quantity but not a single kilt or small bundle of socks. Weight is not a big issue, but size and postage cost is. Australia Post slap a heavy lift sticker on heavy things but DHL and the like are cheaper for heavy items and bulky items. USA postage to Australia is slow, two weeks is usual but, while writing this, a 3 lb parcel of rubber car parts arrived by post from Denver USA in 8 days at a cost of US 40.14 which is the quickest from there in ages and it attracted no duty. UK to Australia is incredibly fast, I have several times had items come from Scotland to my home in Melbourne 2 days and never over 4. When 22 hours of that must be air travel it is truly amazing.

Bill

[Dangerdean]

This is one subject I have never even concidered in cost allowances...
but here's a hypothesis: let's assume I have a commercial kilt business located in Canada & source my materials from those little islands with sheep who just happenly helped colonized Canada who probably has a current free trade agreement with the motherland & then uses USPS to ship a completed kilt over the border to the USA because of the North America Trade Treaty; then in theory there will be no excise taxes to collect?
Did I assume correctly?

Nah. No such free trade agreement with the UK since the mid-1800s. My fiancee (here in Vancouver) ordered a sporran for me from Scotweb and she had to go down to the customs broker and pay the fees.

[unixken]

::snip:: ...but splitting your order into more than one shipment but still having them come Fedex means that you will likely still pay the same amount in actual total customs duties, but then pay the $25-35 in Fedex customs brokers fees separately added to each individual shipment... ::snip::

In this particular case, I'm talking about a four thousand dollar order. To ease the calculations, I budgeted a max 25% duty across the board. My extra 3 meters each of tartan fabric, for 2 different tartans, are likely to be the only items taxed at that rate. Everything else (the kilt, the Prince Charlie, all the accessories), will be charged at various lower actual rates. However, it also means I'm prepared for a worst-case duty cost of $1000. I'm not sweating an extra $25 brokerage fee if I can split the $1000 worst-case duty in to two $500 worst-case installments from the checking account. The point is well taken for smaller orders. But in this particular case, I'm not worried about it.