Custom charge

[Boluda]

I've ordered a couple of things of the internet over the past few years, but the last item i ordered (from the UK) - i thought i had everything in order -then when the postman came he made me pay a customs charge at the door. Now im looking at things on urbanoutfitters.com and it says blahblah USP standard shipping plus 30$ customs charge (i live outside the US). this is insane!!

has anyone had the same problem??

 

[drexl]

Yeah, us in Canada usually have to pay about 32-33% extra (15% tax +17/18% importation tariff) + UPS/Fedex brokerage fees. What you can do to avoid customs fees is get the sender to declare them as gifts with a value less than 50$, but most online stores won't do it (sellers on Ebay will).

 

[Boluda]

gah...so defiets the purpose..
does urbanoutfitters do this? (i doubt it) so i reckon nobody from canada ever orders their stuff...

 

[Caffeine]

Does anybody know how much the tariff is for boots purchased from the UK (shipped to the US)?

Thank you!

 

[fashion_boi_01]

I don't think there is a flat rate, rather it's based as a percentage of the value.

For Canada, they have a breakdown on their website with specifications of tariffs based on material used in the good and other criteria, it's quite intensive. There is a different rate applied to knitted and crocheted items versus non-knitted and crocheted items.
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2008/01-99/tblmod-1-eng.html

 

[lollicandy]

You get charged very high brokerage fees with UPS, FedEx and DHL. If you're buying something off of eBay or anywhere else always have it shipped to you by USPS. They have special agreements with other postal services like Canada Post for example so that you wont get charged for brokerage. You'll be charged with a tariff or fee by customs depending on the value of the item but not brokerage.

 

[Caffeine]

that's good to know. Thank you!

 

[Guessgirl96]

Sorry for being dumb - whats brokerage?

I havent noticed a lower fee when shipped w/ USPS, it seems to pretty consistently be about 18-20% or so for the kind of stuff I get. Although, USPS never collected the duties either time even though it said "postmaster collect xx amount" right on the package

 

[lollicandy]

Brokerage is a fee that is charged by couriers when an item is being shipped between different countries. They are "importing" your item and they charge you for preparing customs papers and whatever mysterious things they need to do to import and clear that item through customs. Fedex and UPS charge brokerage which is separate from shipping. I believe both UPS and Fedex have in house brokers that do this, so this is another way for them to make $$.

Customs then levies a tariff/tax on your item depending on the value of the item you are importing. That is on top of shipping and brokerage.

The US Postal Service does not charge for brokerage, (they have agreements with other Postal Services as I mentioned) and apparently I was wrong, DHL does not either. But seeing as how DHL will no longer be here in the USA it doesn't matter too much if you are ordering to a US destination.

I have not had any duties collected by my PO on my international packages, but if the Postmaster never charged you, then you have a very nice Postmaster.