Posting to the US just got a little more complicated

As you may have heard, the US is changing the way it deals with imports from other countries. From 29th August, tariffs on the incoming goods will have to be paid before sending. The tariffs will be calculated on the % imposed on the country of manufacture. At the moment (although this may change) the tariff rate for goods we sell that are manufactured in the UK (e.g. wetsocks, most neoprene products) is 10%, but the tariff rate for goods manufactured in the EU (e.g. equipment from Petzl, Etche or Aventure Verticale) is 15%. We are being advised that if goods are sent without evidence of the prepaid tariff, they will not be accepted by US customs. Unfortunately there is no minimum value.

What this means (we think) is that we will need to calculate and ask the US customer to pay the tariff before we can ship the order. We don’t know exactly how this will operate in terms of paperwork, so please bear with us while we try to work it out! 

We aren’t sure whether you will still be asked to pay import tax when the parcel comes in, but since the aim is to increase revenue rather than replace one charge with another, as far as we can tell (but we aren’t US tax experts) import tax may still apply. 

We’re sorry for the complexity but we’re sending best wishes to all our US customers and hope to continue dealing with you all!