Fechtsport-Lankgenkamp order - hit with Tariff

I thought I would pass this on to everyone. I just received an order from
Fechtsport-Lankgenkamp and customs hit me with a tariff on part of it. I
don't know if it is because I have been ordering about once a month or what
I ordered. They of course didn't say what the tariff applied to or why but
it was a category 4 tariff. $54 tariff on an order of $532 (give or take a
buck or two) Still not a bad deal but I just thought I would pass it on.

Cheers



--
Richard Exnicios
Attorney At Law, L.L.C.
New Orleans, LA
exnicios@usa.net
or
exnicios@bellsouth.net

Maybe it was because you were over $400 -- I think that that is the amount you
are exempt from, and above that you pay.

You should have asked customs for your VAT reimbursement form -- that would
offset the cost.

Richard Exnicios wrote:

> I thought I would pass this on to everyone. I just received an order from
> Fechtsport-Lankgenkamp and customs hit me with a tariff on part of it. I
> don't know if it is because I have been ordering about once a month or what
> I ordered. They of course didn't say what the tariff applied to or why but
> it was a category 4 tariff. $54 tariff on an order of $532 (give or take a
> buck or two) Still not a bad deal but I just thought I would pass it on.
>
> Cheers
>
> --
> Richard Exnicios
> Attorney At Law, L.L.C.
> New Orleans, LA
> exnicios@usa.net
> or
> exnicios@bellsouth.net

"Carol" <ca.donohue@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:3D98ECE4.6CD507E7@verizon.net...
> Maybe it was because you were over $400 -- I think that that is the amount
you
> are exempt from, and above that you pay.
>
> You should have asked customs for your VAT reimbursement form -- that
would
> offset the cost.

US$400?!!!

You guys don't know how lucky you are. I placed a ~800 Euro order with Herr
Langekamp and the tariff here starts after AUD$250. At the current value of
the South Pacific Peso that's USD140! The rate here is 25% for "clothing" I
tried arguing with the customs officers but as they charge for rugby,
soccer, cricket gear they weren't able to do anything for me. Apparently
even firefighters have to pay duty on imported protective wear. I got a
tariff exemption for my underplastron, got my lame treated as equipment (5%)
but jacket & pants went in as clothing. THEN I have to pay GST on top off
the tariff (i.e. purchase price * 1.05 or whatever duty *1.10). Scary thing
is, it's still cheaper than going through a lot of the local dealers...

kini mini

If there were any uniform items in the order, that would very likely be what
the tariff was applied to-- clothing is on of the most stringently
tariff-protected industries in the U.S. Even if the customs official who
assessed the order understood the difference between a fencing uniform and
ordinary clothing, the fact that there are U.S. manufacturers of fencing
uniforms would still trigger the tariff.

I suspect there's a certain amount of random-selection in terms of which of all
the incoming packages to the U.S. get chosen for a tariff assessment. The fact
that you're ordering regularly would increase the odds that eventually one of
your orders would be inspected.


-Dave

Richard Exnicios wrote:

> I thought I would pass this on to everyone. I just received an order from
> Fechtsport-Lankgenkamp and customs hit me with a tariff on part of it. I
> don't know if it is because I have been ordering about once a month or what
> I ordered. They of course didn't say what the tariff applied to or why but
> it was a category 4 tariff. $54 tariff on an order of $532 (give or take a
> buck or two) Still not a bad deal but I just thought I would pass it on.
>
> Cheers
>
> --
> Richard Exnicios
> Attorney At Law, L.L.C.
> New Orleans, LA
> exnicios@usa.net
> or
> exnicios@bellsouth.net

I just purchased a Soudet uniform from Preiur Sports in France. After
shipping the cost was about $500 Cdn. However, I had to pay Customs another
$150 for GST, PST and duty. That's 30% of the initial cost.

-- Jay


Richard Exnicios <exnicios@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:RO4m9.32322$IO5.4278860@e3500-atl1.usenetserver.com...
> I thought I would pass this on to everyone. I just received an order from
> Fechtsport-Lankgenkamp and customs hit me with a tariff on part of it. I
> don't know if it is because I have been ordering about once a month or
what
> I ordered. They of course didn't say what the tariff applied to or why but
> it was a category 4 tariff. $54 tariff on an order of $532 (give or take
a
> buck or two) Still not a bad deal but I just thought I would pass it on.
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> --
> Richard Exnicios
> Attorney At Law, L.L.C.
> New Orleans, LA
> exnicios@usa.net
> or
> exnicios@bellsouth.net
>
>

I'm from the US and I have only ordered a few times from Langekamp.
My first order was about $450 and the second was $300-something. No
tariffs. Also, my coach ordered about $800 worth of parts and cords
and, as far as I know, he didn't get hit with a tariff either. And,
believe me, he was skeptical about the benefits of ordering from
Langkamp. If he got hit with a tariff, he would have said "Ahaaa!!!
You see!! It's not as good as you thought!!"

While ordering from Langenkamp is still ridiculously cheaper than most
domestic suppliers, it's not as cheap anymore. The value of the US
dollar has fallen somewhat (That or the Euro has risen) and the two
are almost exactly the same in value (1 Euro, last time I checked, was
..9something US dollars). When I ordered from Langenkamp about a year
ago it was .8 something.

fencer18@hotmail.com (Matt) wrote in message news:<4f0e81f.0210021526.4195805@posting.google.co m>...
> I'm from the US and I have only ordered a few times from Langekamp.
> My first order was about $450 and the second was $300-something. No
> tariffs. Also, my coach ordered about $800 worth of parts and cords
> and, as far as I know, he didn't get hit with a tariff either. And,
> believe me, he was skeptical about the benefits of ordering from
> Langkamp. If he got hit with a tariff, he would have said "Ahaaa!!!
> You see!! It's not as good as you thought!!"


I think the threshhold for tariffs---and the requirement to follow
strict formal Customs procedures, BTW---is $2000. If you need more
stuff than that, put in two orders. Avoid the formal process at all
costs, I am given to understand that it is no fun whatsoever.

Textiles, as noted above, are treated differently than everything
else. Protectionist laws...

"William Marshal" <trebuchet30303@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:dc7987e.0210031745.25612884@posting.google.co m...
>
>
> I think the threshhold for tariffs---and the requirement to follow
> strict formal Customs procedures, BTW---is $2000. If you need more
> stuff than that, put in two orders. Avoid the formal process at all
> costs, I am given to understand that it is no fun whatsoever.
>
> Textiles, as noted above, are treated differently than everything
> else. Protectionist laws...

Yikes...US$2000...roughly four times the level here...

kini mini

You can still have to pay a tariff for orders under $2000. The $2000 is the limit for being able to do a
"casual" entry (i.e., the packed just gets shipped to you through parcel-post, and customs agents may do
a quick check of the contents/value declaration from the shipper and, if appropriate, assign a duty
you'll need to pay upon receipt). You're right that a formal entry process is far, far more involved,
and should be avoided by anyone just ordering for their own use. The business of doing a formal entry
pretty much requires hiring an import/export broker to handle the process for you.

-Dave

William Marshal wrote:

> fencer18@hotmail.com (Matt) wrote in message news:<4f0e81f.0210021526.4195805@posting.google.co m>...
> > I'm from the US and I have only ordered a few times from Langekamp.
> > My first order was about $450 and the second was $300-something. No
> > tariffs. Also, my coach ordered about $800 worth of parts and cords
> > and, as far as I know, he didn't get hit with a tariff either. And,
> > believe me, he was skeptical about the benefits of ordering from
> > Langkamp. If he got hit with a tariff, he would have said "Ahaaa!!!
> > You see!! It's not as good as you thought!!"
>
> I think the threshhold for tariffs---and the requirement to follow
> strict formal Customs procedures, BTW---is $2000. If you need more
> stuff than that, put in two orders. Avoid the formal process at all
> costs, I am given to understand that it is no fun whatsoever.
>
> Textiles, as noted above, are treated differently than everything
> else. Protectionist laws...