Duties, Tax, Customs, Other Fees

[ForresterModern]

Davedove has it right---FEDEX is extremely thorough in its customs regulation conformity so that it does not lose its ability to bring goods into and out of the US quickly for its corporate customers, most of whom appreciate its speed and don't care about having to paythe duties, etc.., required by law. They also tack on an additional handling fee for doing it directly themselves instead of having it sit until customs gets around to it (which can be weeks sometimes).

Unfortunately, many oversees vendors send their product via FEDEX, even if you request otherwise, and they swallow the additional cost of the faster shipping with FEDEX, in order for the Vendor to have the ability to accurately track and insure the item and to verify its delivery, particularly if it is an expensive item that they do not wish to have to replace at their cost if it gets lost in the slower more routine mail system.

If you want to beat the system, and are ordering multiple items that add up to a dutiable amount, break your order up into a couple separate smaller orders, each 0placed separately, then request it be shipped via Royal Mails. Since each package is of less value it is less likely to get hit with duties than if it were all in one package, and the vendor feels less likely to lose as much material of value if one of several small packages goes astray than they would if a larger and more expensive complete single order disappeared. You do lose a little bit in extra shipping costs because of the multiple shipments, but you definitely save more than that on the FEDEX "stick it to 'em" costs as have been incurred above.

US suppliers are another option----I ordered nearly $1500 worth of custom made kilts, jackets, and other stuff from a US vendor when I was first getting started into kilts (I jumped in head first in a big way for a particular event), and am sure I would have paid several hundred dollars worth of customs for the same items ordered from Scotland in one bunched order. There are many quality US or North American vendors to choose from----Scottish Tartans Museum, JHiggins, Burnetts & Struth, Stillwater Kilts, Scottish Trading Co, USA Kilts, Freedom Kilts, to name a few, as well as independent kiltmakers and craftsmen here on the forum who could probably handle about anything you wanted with a little email or telephone call.

[JolyStNicholas]

I believe my order from ScotWeb had that option when I made it back in April.
I opted out, just for that reason. It may be slower but no where near as costly!