Official Customs, Duties, and International Shipping Questions and Stories Thread

[deluzion]

Have some experience to share and a question to ask

I live in Indonesia. For me, to purchase something from from outside country has been real challenge (from US, Japan, UK, even Singapore which is closer). Not every online shops are willing to ship internationally, and even for some shops that would ship internationally, Indonesia is not listed for some.

Nevertheless, I have made some purchases from Japan, US, HK since 2012. Mostly books, boots, shirts, t-shirts, accessories. Shipping from US to Indonesia usually costs me around 35-50 USD via USPS and takes 3-4 weeks for me to get. Sometimes I can track that the parcel arrives in Indonesia within 10 days, but the custom clearance process takes longer.

Custom duty? Almost all the time, I got hit 50-60% from the declared value. We get free custom duty up to 50 USD, but over that, it's 50% cost hit guaranteed. Had some experiences where I contacted the seller to mark the parcel value lower than 50 USD. Sometimes they got through without custom hit, but sometimes the custom officer was smart to check the actual price online and I still got hit.

To give a better perspective, I purchased Alden Indy at full price $512 + $50 for shipping. I got hit $278 for Custom Duty.

Now a question.

Earlier this year I bought something from GentryNYC. They charged 15 USD for international shipping to Indonesia which was nice. But unfortunately, Gentry has raised the international shipping to i think 35 USD. My question is, does anyone know any shops that has that low international shipping cost? Around 15-20 is fine.

Cheers!

 

[1989thenumber]

I can't help with regard to who charges what for shipping, but I can give you some info on why a lot of websites won't ship to Indonesia.

A friend works for one of the big logistics companies in Singapore and the problem they have with Indonesia is how much payment fraud there is, and then corruption, theft, inefficiency and extortion once a package arrives in country. It's difficult for them to operate in that environment. The second worst place for this is Russia, apparently.

Though to be fair, you could probably call most state postal systems' high charges for processing and duty collection a form of extortion.

This is second hand info and I've got nothing against Indonesia - it's a shame you're inconvenienced so much due to the state of affairs in Indonesia.

Imagine if Lee Kuan Yew had run Indonesia instead of Singapore. It would probably be more powerful than China by now. But that's probably a topic for a different thread.

 

[Regg]



Is it normal that a package shipped from Canada to the USA has been held for 5 days now in Chicago? 

I had something held for like 10 days until I emailed USPS and the next day it started to move again. I'd suggest doing that or calling

 

[Melbush]

It eventually arrived a few days later but thanks

 

[Vickt]

Does an item manufactured in Canada, but bought and shipped from an EU retailer to the US avoid duties through NAFTA?

Guess I'm asking if it's the item's origin of manufacture or shipped location that matters?

 

[zzzzap]

Anybody know if Menlook has any custom or duty issues for orders to the US?

 

[circumspice]



Anybody know if Menlook has any custom or duty issues for orders to the US?

I will actually know Monday. Bought a bag, arrived in Philly today, should be here Mon.

 

[zzzzap]

Awesome.

This may all be moot as long as they mark at it the discounted price.

 

[circumspice]

Anybody know if Menlook has any custom or duty issues for orders to the US?

No issues. UPS just left it as if it were a domestic ground package.

 

[tjonesd2]

Anyone been hit by customs on wingsandhorns.com shipping to the US? Look at some made-in-italy sneakers.

 

[greene]

I have searched this thread about Norse Store and saw comments on shipping to Canada. However, has anyone in the US ordered from Norse Store? (Item is over $200).

 

[Mon Dieu]

Yes, took about a month to get...Can't remember if I was tagged with any duties or not, I do not believe so. This was 2013.

On a related note, invoice from FedEx/End. $48 USD

Good luck

 

[BLAUGRANA]

Be wary of Menlook. They use UPS and I got hit hard. I think it was free shipping though so that cancels it out a bit.

 

[ambyance]

I have searched this thread about Norse Store and saw comments on shipping to Canada. However, has anyone in the US ordered from Norse Store? (Item is over $200).

yes, you will get tagged. not sure if you can ask to mark it down

 

[justridiculous]

I just placed a $400 order with Opumo. Has anyone had experience with ordering from them? What should I expect for duties/fees?