Importing to the USA from Scotland

[Litany of the Highlands]

I'm getting a kilt shipped to me in the US, from a kilt store in Scotland. I am sure many of you have experience of importing things/kilts from the UK to the US. What are your recent experiences?

I need to have it with me for November 28th. It is a 8yd/16 oz kilt, a jacket and waist coat, plus a hanger, so it may be quite a heavy package.

No matter the cost, I need reliable, speedy delivery, that can clear customs somewhat efficiently. What option would you go with? Royal Mail (Parcel Force) or a courier (FedEx etc)?

Any experiences/advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Pleater]

There is a limit of 2Kg (4.4lb) on items for airmail, and surface mail can take a couple of months, so the total package would be above that and it might not even be possible to send the items separately.
I only have experience with the Air Mail service, but I did notice that the value of goods sent to the US without paying duty has been increased to 600 pounds earlier this year.

Anne the Pleater

[Litany of the Highlands]

There is a limit of 2Kg (4.4lb) on items for airmail, and surface mail can take a couple of months, so the total package would be above that and it might not even be possible to send the items separately.
I only have experience with the Air Mail service, but I did notice that the value of goods sent to the US without paying duty has been increased to 600 pounds earlier this year.

Anne the Pleater

The 2Kg limit is for royal mail airmail, which I am fairly sure the package will exceec. It will either be parcelforce (the semi-affiliated Royal mail courier) or another courier. At this point the weight alone necessitates that.

[The Wizard of BC]

I always - ALWAYS - insist anything coming from one country to another be shipped via the mail services.

I never use the courier services such as FedEx, UPS, Purolator etc. The courier services have contracts with the countries they operate in. They are paid by a percentage of the amount of duty, taxes and broker fees they collect. It only makes sense that they would then charge the maximum amount to the customer.

I have seen these fees, especially the brokers fees, equal the total amount of the customer's purchase price. And quite often the courier's bill does not come until much later in the mail. You don't even know until it is too late.

I actually ended a contract with one UK based company that refused to ship via Royal Mail or Parcel Force. They felt that their US based customers preferred the duty, tax and fees to get one or two day faster service by the courier services.

[Litany of the Highlands]

I always - ALWAYS - insist anything coming from one country to another be shipped via the mail services.

I never use the courier services such as FedEx, UPS, Purolator etc. The courier services have contracts with the countries they operate in. They are paid by a percentage of the amount of duty, taxes and broker fees they collect. It only makes sense that they would then charge the maximum amount to the customer.

I have seen these fees, especially the brokers fees, equal the total amount of the customer's purchase price. And quite often the courier's bill does not come until much later in the mail. You don't even know until it is too late.

I actually ended a contract with one UK based company that refused to ship via Royal Mail or Parcel Force. They felt that their US based customers preferred the duty, tax and fees to get one or two day faster service by the courier services.

I am thinking of going with Parcel Force GlobalExpress at the moment. Hoping to get it picked up to be shipped tomorrow morning. Which given that it quotes 2-5 days for delivery to the US, seems sufficient. Any customs balls up, I think I can handle as long as it is here in in the US, I can always go to clear it myself.

Speaking of customs, what is the best way to declare it, as "clothing", and the value, or does it need to be more specific?

[The Wizard of BC]

Declarations on shipping and customs paperwork is a huge and varied topic.

In general you use what is known as the HS Code. This stands for

"The Harmonized Item Description and Coding System (HS) is an international standard maintained by the World Customs Organization (WCO) that classifies traded products. Items are identified by a 6-digit harmonized number that is recognized by countries that have adopted the harmonized system."

For example - most items are listed by the material they are made from. An item made from Wool or other animal fibers would have a different HS Code that a similar item made from 100% Cotton which has a different code for a Cotton blend.

I ship kilts made from wool under HS code 6104.19.50

You should not have to worry about this at all. It is the responsibility of the shipper.

[CameronCat]

From a recipient's point of view, over the last 10 yrs or so, I've ordered a number of items from a variety of sources in UK and Scandinavia. The products varied ranging from a couple CDs, clothing items, car parts, a framed picture of moderate size, books, and various other items. In every case, I specified shipping via the national mail service, not FedEx/ UPS/ DHL or similar.
Without fail, every order showed up timely -- usually about a week, plus or minus -- and with no hassle for customs, duty or anything else. Was I lucky? Perhaps. Was somebody in authority not paying attention? Possibly.

Regardless, my experience has always been trouble free using the national mail systems. I hope you'll be able to say the same.

[cck]

I have made perhaps 6 purchases from Scotland. All have been sent Royal Mail, the least expensive way I could choose, and all arrived in about one week. Never a customs charge or a delay.

[Motorcyclist]

Just ordered a sgian dubh from Scotland and it arrived in about a week. Nice to get home yesterday and see it in the mailbox.

[JasonMc]

Just ordered a sgian dubh from Scotland and it arrived in about a week. Nice to get home yesterday and see it in the mailbox.

Thanks for the responses, I've just purchased a kilt from Scotland and it's going out Royal Mail to here in Northern California next Monday. Getting the 15-20 working days is difficult, although inescapable at times, so I'll only get worried in a few weeks