No sooner do a write that I haven’t received the Customs bill from our trip in September that we get it in the mail this weekend. At least it’s no longer hanging over my head.
US Customs discussion - airports, importing
- Thread starter esyee
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Posting my review of Frankfurt airport in case this is helpful for others.
Duty free shopping here is quite different than the rest of Europe. In other countries (ex U.K. since they got rid of vat tax shipping) if you buy at airport the price is without any VAT tax so you get the full (18-21% discount) whereas if you you buy in the city you only get ~8-14% back since the company and global blue takes a large cut.
However at Frankfurt airport they opperate the SAME way! I purchased a maxmara coat and only got 11% back instead of 19% back and still hd to go to customs and globale blue despite being ast customs ans security as well. There is NO advantage of buying at the airport compared to in the city. Quite disappointing. Also frankfurt is poorly laid out and despit my flight and the store being in terminal 1 I stil had to take a shuttle.
Duty free shopping here is quite different than the rest of Europe. In other countries (ex U.K. since they got rid of vat tax shipping) if you buy at airport the price is without any VAT tax so you get the full (18-21% discount) whereas if you you buy in the city you only get ~8-14% back since the company and global blue takes a large cut.
However at Frankfurt airport they opperate the SAME way! I purchased a maxmara coat and only got 11% back instead of 19% back and still hd to go to customs and globale blue despite being ast customs ans security as well. There is NO advantage of buying at the airport compared to in the city. Quite disappointing. Also frankfurt is poorly laid out and despit my flight and the store being in terminal 1 I stil had to take a shuttle.
Thank you for the reply!! I just got back from traveling and getting through customs.
Traveled from FCO to EWR. I had to declare >10K in goods (handbags, wallets, shoes, clothes). I handcarryed everything in my duffle and tote. At FCO all my items were approved by the planet pay and global blue except for my Chanel purchase. I had to go to the customs officer to show him my Chanel items (classic flap and sweater). He was more interested in the bag and requested I open the outer packaging to show him the entire outside and inside of the bag. He didn’t care so much about the sweater, I only showed the garment bag and he let me go. He did an electronic stamp and I was able to get my refund.
At EWR the customs agent didn’t go through my checked luggage because he said he believed me. I showed him my itemized list and the dust bags of my things. He only charged me 3% for everything! He was nice and chill about the entire thing, probably because of my honesty and showing the list right off the bat. They didn’t have a cashier working today so he took a photocopy of my passport and drivers license and told me I will expect a bill in the mail in the next couple weeks. Process was super easy and stress free even though I had a connecting flight happening VERY soon.
Traveled from FCO to EWR. I had to declare >10K in goods (handbags, wallets, shoes, clothes). I handcarryed everything in my duffle and tote. At FCO all my items were approved by the planet pay and global blue except for my Chanel purchase. I had to go to the customs officer to show him my Chanel items (classic flap and sweater). He was more interested in the bag and requested I open the outer packaging to show him the entire outside and inside of the bag. He didn’t care so much about the sweater, I only showed the garment bag and he let me go. He did an electronic stamp and I was able to get my refund.
At EWR the customs agent didn’t go through my checked luggage because he said he believed me. I showed him my itemized list and the dust bags of my things. He only charged me 3% for everything! He was nice and chill about the entire thing, probably because of my honesty and showing the list right off the bat. They didn’t have a cashier working today so he took a photocopy of my passport and drivers license and told me I will expect a bill in the mail in the next couple weeks. Process was super easy and stress free even though I had a connecting flight happening VERY soon.
I was not so lucky yesterday when I went through customs. I told border control that I had items to declare, then I was assigned an officer who was training another officer. So of course, as a trainer, he went through each item on my receipt and showed the trainee the booklet of all the different duties rates based on class. Went as far to ask me what my coat and scarf purchases were made of (cashmere) and charged me 27.5%. Then he lumped my Samsonite luggage into handbags and charged both 9%. I forgot what else he charged as my mind started to just become numb as he was telling me how he came up with the final number. I was able to sleep well last night knowing I declared, but as I've been told before-- "you're too honest."
Where was this? My airport is DTW and they always do each item and use the booklet but they give me the lowest rate because I declare everything.
We had a somewhat similar experience at LAX, with a senior officer training a newer officer. The senior officer went item by item, asked about materials of coats/scarves/etc., but then made a point of telling us that despite being entitled to charge higher percentages for certain items as a matter of right, they were going to charge 9% for leather goods and 7% for everything else since we were voluntarily declaring. Guess it depends on the day/mood of the officer.LAX
That’s my experience! I had a Goyard tote which we all know it’s mostly canvas and just handles and trim in leather. Well they told us canvas was taxed higher than leather and he kind of hinted to us to say leather. Also to our surprise exotics taxes are lower than regular leather.We had a somewhat similar experience at LAX, with a senior officer training a newer officer. The senior officer went item by item, asked about materials of coats/scarves/etc., but then made a point of telling us that despite being entitled to charge higher percentages for certain items as a matter of right, they were going to charge 9% for leather goods and 7% for everything else since we were voluntarily declaring. Guess it depends on the day/mood of the officer.
Yeah, reptile skin handbags are only 5.3% vs 9% for cow leather.
This makes me feel a little bit better. When I went through LAX, they assumed all of my bags were leather when in fact one of them was canvas (Hermes Herbag). The bags were taxed at 9% which I thought was high given that all bags were not leather.
But I figured it canceled out since they didn’t count my Chanel WOC as a bag.
Yes- goyard was taxed at 18.5% the last time we were in Paris - this was at DTW- so I’m not buying canvas ever again in Europe- but they told me that gold was one of the lowest rates- can’t quote exact number but they said it was low for both jewelry and watches…and just like you…I’m also very honest …can’t help it ..