Import Duties....... What the Hell?

nabottle · Nov 16, 2015

I have never had to pay any kind of import duties for any purchase I've ever made from over seas. I live in Florida and the purchase I'm referring to came from the UK. I recently bought a pair of Loake Bedale and a Valet Box from Herring. The items came in a timely manner and they were just what I wanted, if not even better than I had expected. Two months go by and I receive a bill from DHL 12.5% of my purchase price and the bill is broken down into 2 parts: 1. Import/Export Duties and 2. Payment Deferment. Has anyone in the US has this happen before?
I might add that I've ordered items from many countries that were more expensive than these boots and I was never charged an Import Duty. Maybe it's a new thing? Maybe it's just DHL? I have no clue.

ButteMT61 · Nov 16, 2015

This was covered and became (unfairly) an Aero "scandal" some time back. It seems to be totally random, so you got unlucky.
Maybe I can fund that thread...it was a doozie...

Carlos840 · Nov 16, 2015

Welcome to our world! In the UK i pay Import duties on everything i buy in the US... And we have the privilege of paying handling fees too, usually an extra £12.50!

I have already had to pay £12.50 handling fees on something worth so little the Import Duties were only £3, but handling fees were still £12.50

Sloan1874 · Nov 16, 2015

With Gustin it tends to be a bit of a roulette shot as to whether or not I'll customs, but Japanese stuff really hurts when it lands.

Monitor · Nov 16, 2015

Yeah, try 40% on every single clothing item from abroad, which is how much this whole Import duty + tax nonsense costs here. And if I don't pick up my parcel in three days that I've been notified of it's arrival, I get hit by handling fees. So that's another $20. It effectively makes anything from the US pretty much unattainable for me.

Bunyip · Nov 17, 2015

I got stitched by DHL in Oz too. Never happened to me before. Over 20% and I was devestated.

Joao Encarnado · Nov 17, 2015

The worst I have had was 100% on fedex.
Do I need to say I never used fedex again or will I use it ever again?

Monitor · Nov 17, 2015

Joao Encarnado said:
The worst I have had was 100% on fedex.

Wh... How's that possible!? If I'm not mistaken, import duty is levied by a state or a country; courier service shouldn't affect the cost of the import tax?

Superfluous · Nov 17, 2015

I once ordered an LVC shirt from England that had Mother of Pearl buttons -- the importation required approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Department and doubled the price of the shirt.

On a separate ocassion, I returned the products but still had to pay the import taxes.

nabottle · Nov 17, 2015

OK.......So it's a totally random thing here in the US. I suppose that would explain why it's never happened to me before. Man, after hearing some of the duties you guys are paying in Europe, I guess I should be thankful....and I am. Mostly, thank you guys for chiming in and opening my eyes to this whole thing. I really appreciate it.

belfastboy · Nov 17, 2015

I have been caught once when an Ebay shipment came UPS instead of via US Postal Service. It doubled the cost of the purchase. Ever since if it states UPS or FedEx shipping I do not buy unless the seller will commit to shipping USPS. I have never had a problem having to pay duties or handling here in Canada when I have used USPS or the Royal Mail.....over 400 purchases.
Never thought I would say this....but I am a big fan of the Post Office....it works.

GraceNote13 · Nov 17, 2015

Totally agree with Belfastboy, go USPS. On the guitars I've shipped the duties and customs charges are always less to nothing compared to UPS or FED EX. The info I found came down to the shipping company use 3rd party companies to handles the duties and customs and can charge absorbanant fees for handling the transaction. They even came after me once as the shipper to pay the customs charges because the recipient failed to pay them.

Superfluous · Nov 17, 2015

In my experience, the primary factor is the shipper. I have never paid any import duties when receiving products from Japan via EMS. Conversely, shipments from England via FedEx are sure to result in taxes if the amount exceeds $200. I have stopped buying from The End for this precise reason.

Joao Encarnado · Nov 17, 2015

Monitor said:
Wh... How's that possible!? If I'm not mistaken, import duty is levied by a state or a country; courier service shouldn't affect the cost of the import tax?

I don't know what I had payed on import taxes, I only know I bought a hat (+shipping using fedex) that costed me $120 that I payed with paypal. 3 weeks later the fedex guy appeared at my door with papers to pay $120 in import duties + handling! It should had taken less time... but it took more time if the seller had used USPS normal international service... and it would be cheaper!!
Anyway I like to use ebay's GSP since import taxes in the UK are lower than the ones in Portugal since my country makes me pay the tax for the item+shipping cost and not the item itself.

wanz · Nov 17, 2015

nabottle said:
I have never had to pay any kind of import duties for any purchase I've ever made from over seas. I live in Florida and the purchase I'm referring to came from the UK. I recently bought a pair of Loake Bedale and a Valet Box from Herring. The items came in a timely manner and they were just what I wanted, if not even better than I had expected. Two months go by and I receive a bill from DHL 12.5% of my purchase price and the bill is broken down into 2 parts: 1. Import/Export Duties and 2. Payment Deferment. Has anyone in the US has this happen before?
I might add that I've ordered items from many countries that were more expensive than these boots and I was never charged an Import Duty. Maybe it's a new thing? Maybe it's just DHL? I have no clue.

DHL will always collect. Billing two months later seems to be something that they added in the last year or so. They used to do COD. I've probably done 10+ orders through Rakuten this year all delivered via USPS no fees collected. Fed ex and UPS seem to be hit or miss.

Joao Encarnado · Nov 17, 2015

belfastboy said:
I have been caught once when an Ebay shipment came UPS instead of via US Postal Service. It doubled the cost of the purchase. Ever since if it states UPS or FedEx shipping I do not buy unless the seller will commit to shipping USPS. I have never had a problem having to pay duties or handling here in Canada when I have used USPS or the Royal Mail.....over 400 purchases.
Never thought I would say this....but I am a big fan of the Post Office....it works.

+1 on that. And it is cheaper and takes the same time.
I also say no to UPS/FEDEX.
I love ebay's GSP. 15 days once the item is picked up from seller house/office. (seller -> Erlanger -> London -> Madrid -> Lisbon)
The 20x Brown Gold Resistol only took 10 days!! Now that was fast!
I'm always punished with Portugal's customs house... sometimes takes 1 month to clear out because they became overflown.

navetsea · Nov 17, 2015

ems is the best for me, fedex did that extra cost, plus my stuff being held hostage till I pay handling fee to third party company I never heard of
I hate those courier services FEDEX, DHL, etc.

Justhandguns · Nov 17, 2015

Carlos840 said:
Welcome to our world! In the UK i pay Import duties on everything i buy in the US... And we have the privilege of paying handling fees too, usually an extra £12.50! I have already had to pay £12.50 handling fees on something worth so little the Import Duties were only £3, but handling fees were still £12.50

Same here. I've got one worst then you, the seller suddenly 'got smart' and wrote USD50 while the good itself was only $20 (probably because he/she thought that in case of a missing parcel, we would get a better compensation)...... I am not against paying for the VAT, but they should consider raising the limit.

Edward · Nov 17, 2015

Monitor said:
Wh... How's that possible!? If I'm not mistaken, import duty is levied by a state or a country; courier service shouldn't affect the cost of the import tax?

As best asx I can make out, at least here in the UK, the importing party (whether courier or Royal Mail) must pay the cost of the import upfront, and they then recoup that from the recipient of the parcel. Customs won't release the parcel for import until it's paid, so that's why it works that way. The deliverer will typically charge soem sort of fee for provising this service (on top of actual cost), and that, I think, is where these things often vary.

Joao Encarnado said:
Anyway I like to use ebay's GSP since import taxes in the UK are lower than the ones in Portugal since my country makes me pay the tax for the item+shipping cost and not the item itself.

I believe that everything I've paid import tax on when it arrives in the UK has been calculated based on purchase price plus shipping as well - the differnece may be that shipping isn't included if you pay upfront rather than on receipt. I rather like the eBay facility to pay upfront myself - it makes it significantly easier to gauge full pric and decide whether it's wirth it - also a lot easier than dealing with it on the doorstep, or making a special trip to the post office.

Justhandguns said:
I am not against paying for the VAT, but they should consider raising the limit.

VAT does grate a bit on me when I'm only buying from abroad forf lack of availability in the UK, but yeah, they definitely need to review the level at which it is set (currently about GBP16.00, from memory). There was a lot of discussion of this at the EU level, and at one point they were discussing raising the personal limit to something like Euro 1,000 right across the EU. Not heard any more about it, though. My guess is that some places got protectionist about imports and scuppered that. Here in the UK, there was a big push a few years ago with heavy duty tax office presences at Heathrow. This was around the time a lot of people were doing cheap Christmas shopping trips to the US east coast, especially New York, and obviously not declaring anything coming through customs. The personal import value when you actually fly in with the stuff yourself is something around GBP150. A grand would be much nicer!

Doctor Damage · Nov 17, 2015

nabottle said:
I have never had to pay any kind of import duties for any purchase I've ever made from over seas.

You don't want to hear this, but you should have been paying duties all along.

I suggest exploring your country's customs service website and digging around for the duty schedules which will list the % for each types of goods. You can use this to calculate your exposure, depending on what you're importing. With this info you'll also be in a better position to choose a shipper since each will have different brokerage fees, etc, and different methods of calculating costs. As others have said, good old fashioned snail mail generally remains the most reasonable in terms of costs.

Import Duties....... What the Hell?

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