Duties, Tax, Customs, Other Fees

[ziggy]

Frankly, even items I've brought in from the US with the postal service, if it's of significant value, I always end up paying tax on it. I fully expect to pay it on my kilt from scotland too.

If the quality is there, I am sure it'll be worth it, I am getting such a comparatively good deal on the kilt anyways.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

No. They have to comply with the law, same as everybody else. Their fees cover not only the cost of doing the paperwork, but also the cost of the duty WHICH THEY PAY ON YOUR BEHALF, and for which they expect to be reimbursed when they deliver the package to your door. In exchange for this service you get your goods faster than by any other method of delivery. Expect to pay more for better/faster service.

If you don't like paying duty on imported goods you can either lobby congress to exempt kilts, or you can buy in the USA.

[Dan R Porter]

this puts my double-box kilt on hold even longer

[Rob Wright]

No. They have to comply with the law, same as everybody else. Their fees cover not only the cost of doing the paperwork, but also the cost of the duty WHICH THEY PAY ON YOUR BEHALF, and for which they expect to be reimbursed when they deliver the package to your door. In exchange for this service you get your goods faster than by any other method of delivery. Expect to pay more for better/faster service.

If you don't like paying duty on imported goods you can either lobby congress to exempt kilts, or you can buy in the USA.

I agree, only problem is if you go back and search old threads you will see that FedEx has a history of applying the wrong duty charges to items, often at a higher rate, and their brokerage fee's are all over the board, no consistency. If they published their fee's AND were consistent in the application of the fee's then you would see a lot less grumbling from those who do order from over sea's suppliers.

Rob

[raibeart_dubh]

If they published their fee's AND were consistent in the application of the fee's then you would see a lot less grumbling from those who do order from over sea's suppliers.
Rob

I agree and they would be held accountable and would be less likely to overcharge.

[Wompet]

... FEDEX is extremely thorough in its customs regulation conformity ...

As someone who deals with FedEX Trade Networks (their customs brokerage) on an almost daily basis, I'm trying to compose a serious, well-thought, and non-sarcastic reply to that sentence ...

I agree, only problem is if you go back and search old threads you will see that FedEx has a history of applying the wrong duty charges to items, often at a higher rate, and their brokerage fee's are all over the board, no consistency. If they published their fee's AND were consistent in the application of the fee's then you would see a lot less grumbling from those who do order from over sea's suppliers.

Rob

Thank you, Rob, for posting that. As a Customs inspector, are are certain things I can and can't say on a public forum. But Rob's post covers everything I would be allowed to say about FedEx.

[fluter]

No. They have to comply with the law, same as everybody else. Their fees cover not only the cost of doing the paperwork, but also the cost of the duty WHICH THEY PAY ON YOUR BEHALF, and for which they expect to be reimbursed when they deliver the package to your door.

Including, as in the OP, dunning you for duty (and their fee) on an order that should be exempt! Are we having fun yet?

I agree that we should pay what's proper. However, having read through some of those customs documents, I see that it's not necessarily easy to determine what's proper.

So far, all my UK orders have been well under $200, and the post has been amazingly quick to get them here. Besides tartans, my weakness is books (Reg Frary, anyone?), so amazon.ca is also my friend (un-bowdlerized Harry Potter, yes!).

If I were ordering a tank from Scotweb or Geoffrey, I'd probably be willing to pony up for the reassurance of package tracking.

[raibeart_dubh]

What I don't understand is that if you order something from another country you pay customs fees no matter what. But if you travel to another country you are allowed to bring back a pretty hefty dollar amount of goods duty free. When my wife and I were flying back from Scotland we were instructed by the flight attendants that we could bring back something like $800 worth of stuff duty free. And that was $800 a piece so we had a joint exemption of $1600.


Can someone fill me in on the legalese of this disparity?

[Bugbear]

* Sigh *

These discussions of FedEx always leave me feeling that they just randomly pick a number for the Fees they tack on to a bill.

I have to think that there is some way of getting at least a close estemation of what the Fee will be from FedEx before you buy something. If so, then that is just fine because I can calculate that in to what I would expect to pay for something and part of the service.

However, if it is true that some guy at a FedEx desk is just picking numbers out of a hat to charge on each package, then maybe it is an issue...

[irishrob]

The search function is your friend!! You will find a couple of threads on this issue. After what I considered a hosing from Fedex I made the same error with DHL. Royal Mail is the only way to go!!

Rob