import taxes via fedex?

**madmacs** · 19th November 11, 04:18 PM

Anyone received stuff recently that went via fedex and got charged the duty plus handling fee courtesy of fedex? Im looking to figure out how much theyre going to rip me for on about £125

**MacMillans son** · 19th November 11, 06:20 PM

ForresterModern has had that experience on more than one occasion, if I remember correctly. Try a PM to him, he should be able to help out.

Best of luck.

**RockyR** · 22nd November 11, 06:32 AM

£125 = roughly $200.

Typical HANDLING fees are $25 - $35 through Fedex, UPS and DHL. The rest depends on what the item is. There are different US Customs codes for different items being brought into the US. Typically, a kilt is 12.5%. Kilt MATERIAL (depending on how it's classified... either upholstery cloth or garment cloth) can be either 7% or 25%.

If it's 200 worth of kilting wool which is classified as clothing / garment cloth, it will cost roughly $75 - $85 (25% of 200 = $50 + $25 / $35 = $75 - $85).

Other items vary on what their % duty is... all depends on the item.

**creagdhubh** · 22nd November 11, 07:09 AM

I did, back in 2007. I was charged a duty of $118.00 for a kilt coming from Kinloch-Anderson in Leith. I now have everything (expensive items from Kinloch-Anderson) sent to my relatives in Kingussie, Inverness-shire, and they in turn ship it to me here in the US - they write a very low value on the customs sticker and the item description is vague. I'd rather pay VAT than the shipping and customs fees. Now, this is only when I place an order for a highly bespoke garment from Kinloch-Anderson.

Cheers,

**ForresterModern** · 22nd November 11, 07:53 AM

Been there, done that, looked up the options, customs duties, and FEDEX and UPS courier polidies, and, yes, paid the duties and fees on a couple of occasions.

On a roughly $300 finished wool garment purchase (kilt or jacket for example) expect there to be a roughly 12.5-17.5% duty to be assessed by the government, then add int FEDEX/UPS's "processing fees" (those they charge to file the forms for you and expedite your delivery through customs) to be another $25 per shipment, typically. For one kilt I paid $72 total, a kilt jacket-vest combo of slightly lesser value I paid $68.

FEDEXX and UPS have negotiated dealss where they will insure the US government that they will correctly value and identify/define the incoming items according to the strictest guidelines of the US code, in exchange for expedited transit through US customs warehouses/docks upon arrival in the States. For this they charge their $25 fee (give or take) for acting as the processing agent, tacked on top of your proper duty owed, but your item gets delivered much faster and more reliably and has tracking information from sender to delivery with insurance, etc... I try to always ask the vendor to ship either Royal Mails or ParcelForce from the UK, because they do not process the duties paperwork or charge processing fees to do so, and, even though the items are properly listed and valued by the sender on the declarations statement, most (not all) of the time the items slide through without any duty assessed, although they might sit on the dock/customs warehouse floor for a few extra days sometimes making delivery a few days or weeks later than with Fedex/UPS.

Good luck. And remember the firstrrule of xmarks---NO PICTURES IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!

jeff

**ForresterModern** · 22nd November 11, 08:01 AM

Onee additional note----I did have one special weave custom handsewn kilt I ordered from a UK vendor in May shipped by ParcelForce in August supposedly" lost" in transit. Since the vendor did not notify me of its completion and shipment I did not know to be on the lookout for it, and after waiting a couple extra months (it was a custom weave afterall) I contacted the vendor who "tracked" the shipment, said it was attemtped delivery once, never attempted again, then lost in transit. This required the whole process to start over again with teh prolonged wait for the special weave, etc... so my kilt ordered in May was delivered the following March, 10 months from order time and 6 monthss after the alleged first delivery attempt. That is the possibility with untracked shipping methods of Royal Mails and ParcelForce, but personally, I think the vendor just screwed up the order initially and made excuses for why it did not arrive in the expected timely fashion. Other than that questionable experience I have had NO problems with RoyalMails or ParcelForce deliveries to the US from the UK.

j

**O'Searcaigh** · 22nd November 11, 08:11 AM

Yep, ' just wrote a check to FedEx for $47 and change for customs fees for a kilt jacket and waistcoat I purchased from Scotland recently. With shipping fees etc. it all added about $75 to the total cost of the purchase. Bummer! It has made me want to shop "local" (i.e., north America) from now on.

**seanachie** · 22nd November 11, 09:06 AM

Though not quite the same, as a kilt the lab I work in recently ordered material from China (a non hazardous raw material for cosmetics). This same material had passed through the whole process without an issue twice before. This time it was held up for awhile. I am begining to feel there are less than altruistic forces at work here as we had multiple fees hooked on, including one for power of attorney. (this was so the carrier could act in our stead with customs). That got even more expensive because we had to run it by our attorney so we weren't signing something important away. There was just no way around this process and it was very frustrating.