Shipping from UK to USA...customs?

[Pierre]

Hi,
I'm looking at buying a few bike travel bags (EVOC) and having them shipped from Evans Cycle or Wiggle. Has anyone had any experience with either outfit as far as duties incurred at the receiving end in the US? I'd prefer not to get any nasty surprises when I pick them up. Also, how quickly did you receive your merchandise...I'm leaving for my trip on the 15th...tight!!!

[majorpat]

Got some tires and components - no duty shipped right to the house. Took about a week but it was a smaller package than you are looking at.

Pat

[nrs5000]

I've bought from UK 4-5 times and never paid duty. Delivered to my door. Small packages however so maybe not much interest from Mr. Customs Man.

[jmoore]

no duty or customs on the groupset I bought from Ribble last month.

[Pierre]

Thanks to all for the replies. I've pulled the trigger on the order and will report back on outcome - this will be a larger package, no doubt!

[Pierre]

Wow...I placed the order on Monday @ 2pm EST and it is expected to arrive at destination (Lewiston, NY) for pickup at eod. Amazing. I'm pretty impressed with DHL shipping. Plus - I wasn't even charged for the shipping service by Evans Cycle - three bike boxes and two double-wheel bags. I'll let you know if I incur any duty or other fees but it seemed to go through customs without issue based on the tracking tool.

[rice rocket]

Don't have it shipped UPS/FedEx/DHL/etc., use the postal service.

Other companies use their own customs clearing houses and will tack on whatever they want as a fee.

[Pierre]

Interesting thing happened on the day the packages were expected for shipment (3 days after they left the UK store warehouse). I got a delivery confirmation from DHL advising that G Rafferty at the UPS Store had signed for the packages. I did not get a notification from the UPS store (where I was to pick the packages up) which I thought was strange...when I followed up with them I was advised that no DHL delivery had taken place that day - likely due to weather (it was pretty bad). I followed up with DHL, they were confused too. A couple of hours later though (10pm on Friday night) I got an updated notification from DHL advising that package was not shipped due to weather...it ended up being delivered on Monday. Still pretty good for UK to NY with free shipping.

No customs bill when I went to pick up. No notice from DHL that any are due either. I have heard through various sources though that DHL sometimes bills out the duty/surcharges months later so if that's the case it will be interesting to see if they end up finding me seeing that I had them ship to the UPS store in the US and I'm up in Toronto...not a great set up for ensuring a good collections rate. I'll provide another update if ever they do.

[Louis]

The handful of times I've ordered from PBK or Wiggle have all been hassle and duty - free.

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

Recent order from PBK (tires, bar tape) came in 5 days, without a hitch. My son gets a lot of railroading stuff from the UK (apparently the Bici Italia of railroading), many shipments have arrived with zero issues (anyone think we're nutjobs about cycling should meet some of these model railroading folks, they put us to shame.).

[sc53]

Pierre, one time I received a big package from Canada and about 2 months later FedEx sent me a bill for their version of a customs duty. It wasn't from the US or Canadian govt, but FedEx. It was for $100 or so. I looked at the bill, turned it over, thought about it, and . . . didn't ever pay it. Nothing more happened.

[spdcyclist]

The UK is our number one Allie in the world and as such receives preferential treatment with commercial and government transactions. Unless you are a business, and importing large quantities of products, you will not likely get charged any duty. This is similar to bringing in purchases or gifts with you from a trip to the UK. Unless you are bringing in something really expensive, you won't get charged duty tax. Travel to the UK regularly and never had an issue.

[cfox]

It's hit or miss. I've been hit with hefty duties, some COD, some billed months later. Always budget in the duty when you decide to buy from overseas. You can usually tell by looking at the tracking data: if it is accepted and released by customs within 10 min., you're good.

note: When Rapha used to ship from the UK, I never once got hit with a duty charge. They must of had some sort of pre-paid duty thing going on. Part of the bargain price, I'm sure.