I tried to google that but couldn't find anything. I just mailed them a check right away b/c I don't want to risk being stopped at the border for unpaid duties. lol.
US Customs discussion - airports, importing
- Thread starter esyee
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
To clarify, when you declare your goods to the Customs officer at the airport, they assess the total amount of duties that you owe. If there is a cashier available at that time, once the duties are assessed, the Customs officer will hand you off to the cashier so you can pay those duties. Once you pay those duties, they cannot go back and charge you more on the same goods. However, if there is no cashier working at the time, Customs will get your address and mail the invoice to your house instead. In the past, although Customs said they were going to mail the invoice to me, they often didn't or forgot to do it. I think this has changed now. I fully expect to be receiving invoices in the mail for my other trips. Checking the mail lately is so annoying! lol.so this means that if you declared in the past, they can always go back and charge you? :| this is news to me
Very recently I got charged the full 13% on a LV item that was canvas. The tone of the customs was very different than many previous trips. Just declare things and be ready.
If it’s leather, it is usually 9%. However, CBP may be adding the extra 10% tariff on top of that. From what I read online, it seems like this may be happening. BUT this may be moot because I also read that DHL is suspending business to consumer shipments to the U.S. due to the confusion/extra processing time due to the tariffs, and Hermes uses DHL unless it is a high value item. So not sure it’s worth the hassle/uncertainty right now. I haven’t had anything shipped to me since the tariffs kicked in for this reason, and I’m going in person to pick up some items rather than deal with shipping.
So Hermes will ship "normal" items from Paris to the US? 😲
I was told they don't ship items from Paris, unless it's within the same country/continent OR it's physically/logistically impossible for you to travel with (i.e. you purchase a piece of furniture or large lamp, etc.)...
Last edited:
If you have an on-going relationship with an SA there, they will ship anything but bags to you anywhere in the world.
A lot of carriers charge a processing fee to import, so if you count duty including that fee, it can be considerably higher than the nominal percentage.
I’ve literally paid a $75 processing fee on 0% duty before.
I've paid 20% on leather items shipped from Hermès in Paris - twice - both times well before the current tariff situation. One was an SLG with retail under 1000€. DHL just told me that was the charge for leather, and since I really wanted the items and I'd gotten them VAT-free, I accepted it. (Stopped having things shipped though
.)UGH. One time I was getting a silk RTW item shipped to me (just a pair of silk pants, nothing too crazy), and I know 100% silk is 3% duty. CBP was trying to charge me 20%! It took several phone calls, speaking to multiple people at DHL before I reached the right person who knew how to appeal it. She was great, appealed it with CBP, and the duty was reduced to the correct 3%. But it was a lot of effort and time for just a pair of pants!I've paid 20% on leather items shipped from Hermès in Paris - twice - both times well before the current tariff situation. One was an SLG with retail under 1000€. DHL just told me that was the charge for leather, and since I really wanted the items and I'd gotten them VAT-free, I accepted it. (Stopped having things shipped though
I agree that shipping is not optimal. 12 years ago we shipped a pair of Crockette Jones shoes to the US and we paid maybe 10% or slightly more duty/import processing fees and it was under 1000usd.
So now my SA offered to ship my plate set and I declined… although i dont know how they will pack it for me to carry back to the US 😅
So now my SA offered to ship my plate set and I declined… although i dont know how they will pack it for me to carry back to the US 😅
Wondering if anyone has come through airport customs lately and if the extra 10% tariff has been added to the regular duty on declared items by CBP?
When I traveled about a month ago, the agent told me they had not heard anything about adding the tariff to the normal duty but I'm wondering if that has changed.
When I traveled about a month ago, the agent told me they had not heard anything about adding the tariff to the normal duty but I'm wondering if that has changed.
Just came through airport customs…no extra 10% tariff ! I was too afraid to ask the customs officer about if/when that’ll be implemented hahah.
Just came back recently through SFO and declared ~$6k value of items and did not have to pay! Got lucky with a kind CBP officer that day