Tax and Duty to USA New Options Offered

[Fergus Macdonald]

In all honesty if it's possible I avoid anything international that ships FedEx or UPS, both as a customer and as a vendor.

Both of these two shippers act as their own customs brokers (I believe DHL does as well). On the face of it, that is a good thing. The problem is that the end customer usually
gets assessed ~$50US/£30GBP for this "service", in addition to the actual shipping fees AND any tariffs/taxes due.

I'd much rather use Royal Mail/Canada Post/USPS. In almost every case they are as quick as FedEx, in my experience they are more reliable, and in almost EVERY case they are less expensive (and that's before the brokerage fees).

I could tell you horror stories about Canadians who purchased $15US worth of repair parts for scuba regulators only to end up with a $37 customs&brokerage bill.

ith:

Agreed!

Difficulty with Royal Mail is that the maximum package size is 2kg and the fastest service is around 3-4 days. FedEx more often than not is next day to the US so both are can be useful.

[artificer]

Agreed!

Difficulty with Royal Mail is that the maximum package size is 2kg and the fastest service is around 3-4 days. FedEx more often than not is next day to the US so both are can be useful.

I had no idea that there was such a restrictive weight limit for Royal Mail! Is that for a particular class of post? I've gotten boxes from a pewter caster that I KNOW were over 2kg and came RM Small Packet.
Is it a new limit?? I learn something new every day.

The weird thing is that limit certainly doesn't exist for incoming product to the UK- I've shipped more than a few packages (usually horsehair sporrans & full belt sets) that have been over that limit.

You're right though, if someone needs Overnight or 2 day international FedEx is probably the only game in town.

I have to admit Fedex look after us well.

They are the cheapest option for us shipping across the Atlantic for larger packages, and reach most zip codes the very next day. I find Royal Mail to take on average 5 working days and unfortunately experience some much longer delays.

That $30 broker charge for me seems a little steep. I've been charged a similar broker fee for parcels delivered by Royal Mail. By building in the taxes at this side I'd expect both customer and ourselves to avoid broker fees.

Ah, that's a different animal all-together. If all fees (taxes, shipping, brokerage) are upfront then it would be an excellent option to offer!

@Fergus- Thank you!

ith:

[Fergus Macdonald]

I had no idea that there was such a restrictive weight limit for Royal Mail! Is that for a particular class of post? I've gotten boxes from a pewter caster that I KNOW were over 2kg and came RM Small Packet.
Is it a new limit?? I learn something new every day.

The weird thing is that limit certainly doesn't exist for incoming product to the UK- I've shipped more than a few packages (usually horsehair sporrans & full belt sets) that have been over that limit.

You're right though, if someone needs Overnight or 2 day international FedEx is probably the only game in town.

ith:

Yeah unfortunately so. As far as I'm aware, it's always been 2kg for Airmail and Surface Mail (boat).
http://www.royalmail.com/personal/in...ional-standard

Over 2kg they send you to ParcelForce which used to be Government owned, but are now a private courier like FedEx/DHL etc.

The only exception is printed papers, which you can send up to 5kg. They're also restrictive on the size of box you can send, with the length, width and depth combined being no more than 90cms (35").