My first and last order

[MacSimoin]

I received my order from Kiltstore.net yesterday.

Overall, I had no problems ordering from the site; I'm pleased with the items I ordered (Balmoral kilt, tartan skirt for my wife, belt, some other items). FedEx International Priority, on the other hand, is a nightmare. I'm still waiting to get hit with import duties on my order, which will probably be ridiculously high.

[Kiltedmusiclover]

Unfortunately that is part of what Fed Ex does to make $.
I think the fee alone just for handling the customs charges was $75.00
If I had it to do over I would have asked them to send my sporran by
regular mail. It is more of a gamble but at least you have more
of a chance of avoiding the customs charges.

[Galician]

I ordered an Argyle jacket, and it was held up by Fex Ex for over a week before they informed me that it was due to the customs duties. When I finally got a statement, I noticed that they even charged me a tiny handling charge on items on which no duty was due!

[mbhandy]

When ordering from the UK I have always asked for Royal Mail and had no problems with the shipping. The reason I have done this is because of situations like this that have been posted time and time again on Xmark.

MrBill

[James MacMillan]

Well at least we all now have the option of ordering pretty high quality stuff from our own countries!

That avoids all the hastle!

[MacSimoin]

Unfortunately that is part of what Fed Ex does to make $.
I think the fee alone just for handling the customs charges was $75.00
If I had it to do over I would have asked them to send my sporran by
regular mail. It is more of a gamble but at least you have more
of a chance of avoiding the customs charges.

I won't go into the myriad reasons for why I dislike FedEx, but until now I'd never used them for shipping anything "priority" mail. And considering the value of the items I ordered ($2021.93 US), the US CBP's tariffs on importing woven wool (as it applies to my order) will be through the roof; this is the reason behind my titling this thread "My first and last order".

I placed another order today (for 2 kilts) with a different UK vendor (who will remain nameless here) but I did so because I've never encountered exorbitant shipping or duty issues when ordering from them. They use a competitor of FedEx (who will also remain nameless) and so far, so good.

I get the feeling Nick's an all 'round great guy, his web site is easy to use and as I said, I'm very pleased with the items I ordered. But if I were to have a change of heart and order from Kiltstore.net again I certainly will request that he send my order "regular mail" rather than FedEx...I know now the goods are worth the wait.

[irishrob]

DHL is in the same league as Fed Ex. I purchased a bunch of stuff from another source and they assured me that Parcel2Go (DHL) did not do the customs/handling fee kind of stuff. Silly me, I believed them to the tune of about $150. Now anything coming from the UK goes through the Royal mail which is high enough.

Rob

[pipesndrumsnun]

Yikes! It sounds like shipping could cost more than you have to pay for an actual product? Scary!

[KiltedPilot]

Using the various national post services, instead of international couriers, does seem to result in a lower customs processing fees, and often no duties at all.

With regard to FedEx, phone them up and complain about any excessive processing fees ... it works! See

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...d.php?p=386709

KP

[ccga3359]

For me it's UPS that I've had issues with. Will Kiltstore ship by Royal Mail?