Ribble Custom Duty on Clothes

[nmrt]

Hey, Guys,
I have been lurking on many forums to find out whether there are custom charges to U.S. customers when they have bought CLOTHING from Europe (Ribble, Wiggle, PBK etc). I thought it depended on what carrier these companies used to ship the clothes to us. But even that seems to be untrue. So, have any of you bought clothes from Ribble and were charged custom? I'm looking to buy some Castelli and Assos bibs and am wondering if the custom duties will be charged or not.

Thanks!

[spdcyclist]

I bought a jersey and bib-shorts for Wiggle. No US Customs charges.

- Dan

[jmoore]

I think customs are waived on anything less than $800 USD.

[nmrt]

if that is the case, then I am ordering right away. :-)
thanks!

[mtechnica]

I just bought santini bibs from PBK and I didn't get charged. I've ordered wheels and all kinds of parts from them and ribble and not gotten any extra charges, YMMV

[DRZRM]

I've bought lots of stuff from them (just received a 5 pack of Record chains) including lots of clothes, and never had a problem. That said, I don't think there is really a $800 exclusion, I think it could happen any time, it just that the government doesn't really track this stuff.

[jmoore]

Last time I traveled overseas $800 was the limit for declarations, so maybe that was on items I was carrying in. That being said, I have never had to pay duty on purchases shipped to me from overseas, so I assumed the $800 applied there as well.

At any rate, here is the customs page talking about duty fees. I don't see $800 on here, but there is a lot of info.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/basic_trade/internet_purchases.xml

[SoCalSteve]

I purchased stuff recently from Assos outlet in the UK...about $200.00 worth. Came FedEx...got a bill in the mail a few days later for a bit over $60.00 for duty...

So, it's not a no brainer!!!

[DRZRM]

Interesting, I wonder if that is because of their using Fedex as a shipper. Ribble usually uses Royal Mail and it generally comes fast. That said, I always assume that one of these days a bill will come.

I purchased stuff recently from Assos outlet in the UK...about $200.00 worth. Came FedEx...got a bill in the mail a few days later for a bit over $60.00 for duty...

So, it's not a no brainer!!!

[nmrt]

This is exactly why i am confused. I've bought clothes from Assos outlet two times within the past two months. Both times the prices never exceeded $200. They shipped by FedEx. But I never paid a dime. I do hope now that I do not get a bill mailed to me.

But then I heard that people buying clothes from ribble and wiggle were paying duties while people buying bike components from those very same stores were not paying anything.

This all seems to be a very mysterious issue indeed.

[beeatnik]

I think customs are waived on anything less than $800 USD.

not true. i've placed 4 orders and they got me once on the smallest purchase. declared value was under $500. had to cough up $46 in customs duties. that purchase included a pair of bibs. luck of the draw, y'all.

[ultraman6970]

Probably it depends on the guy that is procesing your stuff at customs :)

In some countries nobody is safe and even for small scraps they will charge you with something if sent from a store.

Here in the states never had issues with customs but i never ordered more than 100 bucks. Some people had ordered groups and never heard anything about customs. Wonder if there's a treaty or something with the UK and there is a limit involved??

[fuzzalow]

For the 2 major players, UPS and FedEx, international brokerage & customs is a profit center adjunct of their core shipping business. It is extremely rare that items send from the EU and Asia, to North America will not get hit with fees - they are very scrupulous, it is virtually free profit, it is what they do and they are expert at it.

Most of the vendors know to use alternative carriers, if possible, to avoid this. I have had direct experience receiving goods shipped via Royal Mail (UK), EMS (Japan) and DeutschePost (Germany). I have yet to incur a customs fee on any purchase shipped through any of these carriers. YMMV.

P.S. Some of these purchases were large dollar amount - a C-50 from the UK, Audio equipment and a Tokai Goldtop Les Paul from Japan.

[scooter]

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. 2009 - Rev. 1. Chapter 87.12 - 14 lists the duty rates for bicycles and componentry (clothing is listed under textiles. http://hts.usitc.gov/

I think $ 800 sounds like the cap for duty free. I was erroneously assessed duty on a groupset ($1400 USD) that should have been duty free as drivetrain components are duty free under the tarifff schedule. However, Ribble describes everything they ship as "bicycle accessories" instead of the proper HS tariff numbers. I was forced to pay $66 USD to get the parts and then submitted a protest to Customs for compensation, which I received 8 months later. So, I think Customs looks at the dollar figure(> $800) and the HS tariff number, but it's likely most stuff just goes through untaxed.

[Grant McLean]

FWIW, Ribble tends to label their shipments as "bicycle parts and accessories"
and i've never had a customs charge when there is clothing in the order,
even when the order is entirely clothing, the customs declaration says
parts and accessories. I've ordered at least 30 times from Ribble,
almost always have the standard Canadian tax assessed on the order,
but not extra duty.

My orders from Assos factory store have all been charged duty and taxes,
labelled as clothing on the customs forms, i figure that into my decision when ordering.

-g

[sfscott]

I purchased stuff recently from Assos outlet in the UK...about $200.00 worth. Came FedEx...got a bill in the mail a few days later for a bit over $60.00 for duty...

So, it's not a no brainer!!!

Me too. Not happy

[FlashUNC]

I've ordered twice from PBK and never received any duties or additonal taxes assessed.

I stopped ordering from them given their debit/credit card number issues, and the fact when I did order one Campy FD, it just came loose in an otherwise unprotected flimsy plastic envelope.

I'd rather buy stuff locally now or through U.S. online vendors than through the grey market.

[oldpotatoe]

I've ordered twice from PBK and never received any duties or additonal taxes assessed.

I stopped ordering from them given their debit/credit card number issues, and the fact when I did order one Campy FD, it just came loose in an otherwise unprotected flimsy plastic envelope.

I'd rather buy stuff locally now or through U.S. online vendors than through the grey market.

Bing, bing, bing, we have a winner!!!

[DAG]

But I'd rather not pay half again as much for campy parts.

[dbh]

Depends on how the package is labeled. I buy pretty regularly from Ribble. Don't ever buy clothes because you could have to pay duty charges. 9 times out of 10, you won't, but sometimes you get hit. I bought a bunch of random Campy components and got hit with $90 in duty. Ribble incorrectly labeled the shipment as bicycles accessories instead of bicycle parts, as they usually are when I order from them. I complained to them about it, but they weren't of any help.

[beeatnik]

If you're erroneously assessed a duty and you write a check to UPS Brokerage, then stop payment on the check, who attempts to collect? UPS or the US Guvment?

[67-59]

If you're erroneously assessed a duty and you write a check to UPS Brokerage, then stop payment on the check, who attempts to collect? UPS or the US Guvment?

And better yet, do they come after you if you don't pay at all? Someone mentioned above that the bill came later - so what happens if you just don't pay? Doesn't seem like it'd be worth their money to pursue a $50 or $60 fee....

[shovelhd]

I just received my latest order from Ribble, all Lusso winter clothing, no duty. I've ordered a bunch of stuff from them, no duty, ever. Of course, now I've jinxed myself.

[UberBike]

Customs duty into the US are a lot less then other countries.
The charges are often on items of specific materials like leather and origins.
It really depends on how accurately the customs forms were filled out and when forms either get randomly spot checked or flagged.
A lot of packages tend to get passed due to the volume they have to check, but as soon as they start seeing higher volumes from the same origins they start doing more frequent spot checks.
Whether or not your item gets checked for full value is the luck of the draw unless some flags are thrown up just like an IRS audit.
When I used to do a lot of importing for commercial resale, some high volume suppliers would have a network of shipping points to ship out from and split our orders in hopes to keep them from getting checked for full value.
Since customs on a lot of items into the US is pretty low on many items, some importers already have that figured into the cost and opt to just pay it themselves in order to increase their volume since their cost of the product may be a lot less then a US company may have paid.

[UberBike]

When I ship shoes for example
When the customs forms ask for materials and we fill out synthetics like lorica the recipient will pay less then leather if the packages is assessed for full value.