How difficult is importing a kilt?

[benkilt]

Hi guys, a couple of times I've gone to buy a kilt from a US website, but I've always got put off because I've never bought a kilt from outside of the UK, how does the import duty thing work?

[cessna152towser]

When I bought a new Freedom kilt from Canada I was charged import duty of about £35, plus a Parcelforce handling charge of £15 for collecting the import duty plus VAT on their handling charge - total came to just over £50.

I also bought a second hand kilt from the USA but as the customs declaration showed it as used clothing, no additional UK import charges were incurred.

[Archangel]

My experience, which is not the UK experience, is that the duties are not the big deal. It's the shipping. Try not to have a courier type company but a national carrier. From the US, insist on USPS. Doesn't matter what version, you'll do better. Here's why: first, customs processes it randomly, you might get hit, might not, courier will; second, if you do get hit, there's nominal broker fee which is a fraction of the courier types; third, tracking works with USPS, just remember once it crosses the border/custom, it's now on your postal system, the tracking number stays the same.

I don't think there's any advantage to a consumer to use a courier unless it's a big hurry, and I've seen that screw up too.

[GlassMan]

The biggest thing is definitely insist that the item be shipped using the national postal service. If it's being shipped out of the US, then request the US Postal Service. NEVER have an item shipped overseas via FedEx, UPS, DHL or any other private courier company. All of those companies tend to over estimate the customs duties owed and then charge an additional fee to pay for their having collected the customs duties for you! It's like adding insult to injury.

I sell a lot of art items overseas and my customers are always happier with the customs duties if it is shipped out using USPS. Not only are there no extra collection fees, but the customs duties as determined by say the Royal Post are almost always less than the duties collected by a private company on the exact same item! There have even been occasions when absolutely no duty was assessed at all. I guess sometimes bureaucratic incompetence can be a good thing!

[benkilt]

many thanks for your replies gentlemen, much appreciated

[McClef]

Much depends on how the item is declared and the value that is stated and it certainly appears you are better off going through the postal services as even if they do impose a charge it will be less.

The only time I was charged was on imported DVDs to date so I have been lucky with the kilts!