Tartans, companies and Auld Scotland oh my!

[RockyR]

My question is what is the reason for the price difference between the $275 8-yd Scotweb kilt and the $495 8-yd USAK kilt? Not casting aspersions and not trying to derail the original question, just something I've been curious about in the past.


EDIT:
Or maybe if I would just use my mouse and my eyes I would see with a little clicking that the Scotweb 8-yd in 16oz is $445...
So never mind.

As a point of clarification (and b/c it's been asked before), not IN ANY WAY putting down Scotweb or Nick (who is a very nice guy), I would offer a further explanation to the differences.

The other main difference is Shipping costs and US Customs (not just between USAK and Scotweb, but ALL UK Vendors).

Shipping from the UK will be roughly $30 to $60 average, depending on weight. US Customs (which will automatically get applied when shipped via DHL, UPS OR Fedex) will be $25 - $35 "processing fee" charged by the shipper + 12% duty on the declared value of the garment ($54 on a $450 kilt). If anyone is curious about the customs stuff, I'm using HTS 6211.39.0551 as my import # on kilts.

Shipping via Royal Mail or Parcel Force (which gets turned over to US Mail on this side of the pond) is a crap shoot. Roughly 2/3 of the time, our packages come through without any problem and don't get hit with customs. Of the remaining third, 1/2 the time they come with a "orange envelope" on the box asking for a check to be cut to the postmaster for the customs due (BEFORE you take posession of the package). The rest of the time, the package gets stopped by Customs and we have to "Declare Formal Entry". What this entails is hiring a Customs Broker (at the cost of $125) to fill out some paperwork and clear the shipment through customs. On top of the $125 is the actual US Customs Duties (again, typically 12% of the declared value on kilts and between 6% and 25% on accessories / material). Typically, the latter example only happens when your package is a declared value over $1000.

USA Kilts has FREE US shipping for any order over $200. Also, any US Customs duties charged on any item is absorbed by USA Kilts (no surprise bills). This alone saves the customer between $60 to $150 or so on a kilt. The price you see in your shopping cart is the price you pay.

As we get packages from Scotland daily and I just went through the entire US Customs tariff code last week (to try to see if there's a way to declare lower % tariff on certain imported goods), I believe I can speak knowledgably on the subject of shipping things from Scotland and what the hidden costs are.

As we have a "horse in this race", I will allow others to speak to quality / pleating / etc.