We love that we have many customers outside the USA! And we very much wish that the various government bodies did not add to the cost of WeatherWool. BUT ... Import duties are a fact of life. And they can be not only expensive, but also complex and difficult to figure out, even if you spend time on the government websites. For example, the duty payable on a given WeatherWool article may depend not only upon the price of the garment, but the type of garment ... jackets, shirts, hats, hooded jackets, etc., may all be assessed duty at different rates. 

Countries may also impose various other taxes such as VAT, General Services, Provincial Sales Taxes, etc., etc. As far as I know, these have nothing to do with importing WeatherWool. In the case of VAT, people are accustomed to the VAT built into the base price. But the price of WeatherWool does not include VAT, and so paying the VAT separately feels like an import tax.

I am pretty sure that items purchased ON SPECIAL (used, prototypes, test items, etc.) would incur duty at the actual sale price and not the price of the brand-new production item. Please keep this in mind if you order a SPECIAL because the import officials will frequently check our website for prices and may not reference the appropriate price on a SPECIAL item.

One other thing ... getting the import duties paid and picking up the package has been a real chore for some of our customers.  DHL offers a tax-prepaid home delivery service. A customer in Spain told us DHL made it very convenient, and  DHL is usually our choice for international shipping, but we decide on a case-by-case basis, and of course we will always follow the customer's request. DHL is usually more expensive than other carriers but the service is worth it. United States Post Office to the National Postal Service of the customer's residence is usually the cheapest and the slowest.

This page should be regarded as "best-efforts" on my part ... please do not consider it definitive!! Thanks Everyone and sorry I can't do better in this regard.

DUTY-FREE!
Hopefully, there are plenty of countries that do not assess an import duty on WeatherWool ... but at this point we know of only one ...

• Canada: There is ZERO duty payable on American-made woolen clothing entering Canada. Provincial Sales Tax and GST may still be applicable and lately it seems Canadian Customs adds a service fee of about CAD-17. 

DUTIES OUR CUSTOMERS HAVE PAID:
Usually, our customers don't tell us about their duties, but we appreciate when they help us add information to this page. Again, please keep in mind that the % duty charged may vary according to the TYPE of item. Lastly, when people receive our shipments and pay the duties and taxes, they usually report to us the TOTAL ... so the amount includes both the duty and any VAT and sales taxes and customs-service handling fees.

• Australia: MOSTLY ZERO ... Hooray ... Any goods worth AUD $1000 or more are taxed at 10%.  So most WeatherWool items would not be taxed.
• Canada: ZERO!! --- Yay! (We also ship for free to Canada.)
• Denmark: Duty on an Anorak was about USD $100 in April 2018. I don't think this included sales tax.
• Germany: In January of 2019, we sent a custom-tailored Anorak to Germany. The total cost of the Anorak was $700, plus $25 for shipping. So German customs (the ZOLL) considered the value of the Anorak at $725. Here is how our customer carefully explained the additional charges:

1. Invoice price = 725 USD = 635,69 Euro
2. Import duty = 635,69 Euro * 12% = 76,28 Euro
3. In the next step, they added this to the price (635,69 + 76,28 = 711,97). And this is the basis for the VAT.
4. Import VAT = 711,97 Euro * 19% =135,27 Euro
5. Altogether: 76,28 Euro + 135,27 Euro = 211,55 Euro
6. Also, a fixed price of 28,50 Euro to the Deutsche Post for the process above (customs clearance, repacking etc.).
7. We are very grateful to our customer for so carefully and precisely detailing the extra fees (in perfect English!)

• Netherlands: In October of 2018, the import duty on an All-Around Jacket was 12%. In February of 2023, the import duty on an Anorak was 217 Euros ($US 233). Anorak price was $625, so duty was 37%. Surprising there would be such a difference between the All-Around Jacket and the Anorak. Maybe things changed between 2018 and 2023.
• Spain: In January 2019, a customer had to pay import tax/duty of € 50.72 on an Anorak ($595).
• Sweden: In July 2018, a customer wrote us that the total tax on his Anorak (price of $585 USD) was 2000 SEK (about $226 USD), including 25% VAT. So the import tax alone was about 13.5%.
• Switzerland:  In December 2019, shipping to Switzerland via the US Post Office to Swiss Post Office was very quick (under a week) and convenient. The Swiss postal carrier delivered the package as part of regular rounds, and the customer needed to pay a duty of about 8 or 9% on a $600 item.
• United Kingdom: Here is an example of the complexity of some of the tariffs. I managed, I thought, to find the tariff code for Anoraks on the government website, but could not find the actual % tariff. So I wrote to the good folks at HM Revenue and Customs, who replied that our Anorak is not, according to their rules, an Anorak. But that the duty on our Anorak would be 12%, which is coincidentally also the import duty on woolen Anoraks. (This was in April 2018.) And indeed, 12% was the import duty paid by our customer.
• United Kingdom, October 2024:  A Chore Coat (about 400 pounds) incurred VAT of 48 pounds, Customs Duty of about 5 pounds and Handling Fee of 8 Pounds.  The total of all import fees was 60.55 pounds.  Less than expected.  Thanks to Liam for this info!!  But in November, 2024, the same item (USD $495 price) incurred import charges of GBP 83.19.   And for the same customer, a Basic Vest (USD 395) attracted customs charges of GBP 131.76.  The tariffs are long and complex and I would be willing to bet are subject to interpretation at the level of the individual customs officer.  And that is a polite way to put it.

2 December 2024 --- Ralph