Holy Cow!

[Colin]

I hope I am wrong too.

[Casper]

FedEx? You'll be getting a bill in the mail shortly.

UPS makes you pay up front before they'll release the goods. FedEx does you a 'favour' and releases the goods to you, but then also mails you a statement for the brokerage costs and duties.

First time that happened to me, I was pleasantly surprised that they apparently didn't charge me anything, and was absolutely pissed when I got the brokerage bill.

[orangehaggis]

If kiltstore.net would offer standard parcelforce airmail service, you could avoid those tariffs. It's a shame they won't do that ... I'm going to opt for the surface shipping on my next order!

Mark O - Ohio

[Archangel]

If kiltstore.net would offer standard parcelforce airmail service, you could avoid those tariffs. It's a shame they won't do that ... I'm going to opt for the surface shipping on my next order!

Mark O - Ohio

It looks like they do. One of the reasons companies hesitate is that buyers ask to have it shipped as gift or used in the hope that will reduce costs. It usually won't and the shipper risks fraud charges. I try to insist on regular shipping and agree to insurance and signing. The advantage is that the duties are random whereas a courier company is 100%. And they have a higher broker rate. In Canada, if you're hit, it's passed to a broker that charges a lower rate and you can pay them online. (FedEx once sent me a bill that excluded every method of payment, go figure. I told them that my time on their hide-and-seek phone machine covered it. Never heard from them again.)

There's another tricky thing to online tracking by post office shipments. It seems to disappear at the border. What actually happens is that it switches over to the your national post office tracking system. (What I mean is that a parcel I'm tracking through USPS looks like it's trapped in customs and after a few days, it's lost to USPS. If I use the same tracking number on Canada Post, it shows that it's passed on the way to my house.)

[ozone]

So far so good,

No FedEx bill...yet. I did finally read the fine print on the package, which states something on the order of: "you may be billed later if there are duties and custom charges to be paid"

Luckily, I did get a HUGE rebate check from the IRS because I forgot to write off my main mortgage interest in 2006 and 2005...only remembered the equity loan...go figure.

So, perhaps things all end up even in the end and if that bill comes in, I will pay it I suppose. Dont want the Dept. of Homeland Security breathing down my neck for duties owed on a kilt :-)