To the mers out there with silicone tails, how much did shipping/custom fees cost to get your tail from the states? I'm trying to figure out a budget for a realistic tail, and I don't want to get myself in a position where I get surprised with having to pay an extra whack of cash that I didn't plan on.
I paid 280 usd for shipping from florida for my hybrid (30lbs) and 120 CAD for import. The value of mine was 530 usd.
im sure its more for a heavier full silicone one. One you know the item value you should be able to contact the company transporting it and check about import fees.
If you can't stand upon the water I will meet you on the ocean floor
My merbellas tail was 500$ to ship in a week and customs on an item that is 3000$ is about 400$ the actual border control website tells you with a calculator how expensive it is to import to each country.
We got an import #for our company so now it only costs me 100$ for a 3300$ tail
Wow. I'm glad I asked! I had thought maybe 500 for shipping AND customs.
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Also, you could look into this: I recently found out under some contract work that under NAFTA all clothing can move duty-free between The United States, Canada and Mexico, as long as it was manufactured in one of those countries.
When your tailmaker ships, they could help you by specifying prominently on the customs form that the item is "clothing" and that it was manufactured 100% in the USA.
We have used this to help people in the USA when sending some latex costume items made in Canada via the post office to customers in the USA. So far the US Post Office has been delivering them to the US customers duty-free.
IME the post office and FedEx are very good about honouring the tax-free status of items they deliver, and they only collect taxes from you when they are clearly warranted.
UPS, on the other hand, has always collected taxes, even when they are clearly not applicable, and they refuse to release the item to you until you pay up. They then force you to fill out tons of forms and bug them endlessly to get the money back. I know they don't give the money to the gov't right away, they seem to hold it in escrow, they claim to cover their butts if it turns out tax is somehow owed. I'm kind of suspecting it's a scam where they know a lot of people will give up trying to get the money back and they get to fold unclaimed funds back into their revenues.
Hmm really? I always pay duties on clothing from the USA. Got a swimsuit from LA through FedEx and was actually charged twice. Once when I got it, once when I swapped it for a bigger size and I had to dispute it. Refunded one fee but not the first.
The item has to have been manufactured in North America. For example, American Apparel swimsuits can come into Canada duty free because they're manufactured in Los Angeles. If you imported swimsuits from someone in the USA who had them made in China and imported them to the USA to resell, though, duty would be charged bringing them into Canada. The company has to be able to honestly mark "Made in the USA" on the items.
For the Americans, some of the things my client sends to the USA are made in England, and imported into Canada by her, so when she sells them to an American she has to mark the item as manufactured in the UK, and if the cost of the item is over about $40 the Post Office will charge duty to the recipient (they don't seem to bother charging duty on smaller amounts.)
The things that are made here in Toronto, though, she marks "Manufactured in Canada" prominently on the package and so far it seems like the US Post Office is delivering the items without charging duty.
I never knew you were Canadian lol makes ya more awesome. That is really pricy though...is it seriously that high? I would never have guessed that.Originally Posted by AniaR
Good to know! Thank you for the info. The shipping and customs always makes it such a pain to get things from elsewhere. At least it seems there are starting to be some tailmakers in Canada. Hopefully by the time I'm ready to invest in a silicone, they'll really have their feet underneath them and an amazing product!
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