Has anyone purchased from Saks or other US sites? Duty costs question

[MrsBertMacklin]

I've just found a bag that costs £250 over here for £165 on the Saks site. Saks site offers free shipping and says that duty costs are included.

Does this mean that I'm guaranteed to only pay the costs payable to the website, or are there other customs charges I need to factor in?

Seems too good to be true..!

When buying from the US, usually shipping and customs cost are only added when you go through the checkout process (=add your address and choose shipping method and choose the customs-cleared payment). The customs and shipping costs are considerable, often adding $50-100 to the price of the item (it has to cover your local VAT and fees for processing it), but it might still be cheaper than ordering the same item from the EU. If these costs are added at the checkout, there is nothing further to pay, and shipping is usually quick.

Agree with frugal - go through the checkout process and it will show you the actual total just before you pay.

Borderfree are good as the actual cost is shown upfront. Shopbop add the duty at the end but they do refund you at a later date if they've charged too much.

before you get your hopes up with Saks I would go through checkout (without paying obviously). I was all ready to buy some jeans last night much cheaper than here in the UK and they said I wasn't allowed! (£50 something there, and £200 and something here)

Yes, they're managed by Borderfree. However, went on again this morning, used the 'duty free' code they're promoting and it failed to take off the duty fees, meaning I'd only be saving £10. Never mind.

There is this common misconception that we are paying customs duties for overseas orders. Usually the limit for those is quite high, more relevant for people who buy wholesale (and thus having them waived won't make a difference), although it varies by country, but what you nearly always have to pay is the VAT (current UK VAT free limit for outside the EU orders is £15 iirc). But yeah, I usually save very little by ordering from the US, so usually I don't bother.

Yes, the duty will be included if they have said this is the case. However, the duty will only be added at checkout stage so would not be included in the initial price so it will be 165 pounds plus duty and delivery. Saks has great sales though and once a year does a 25% off day which is really worthwhile. Sales on us websites usually correspond with holiday weekends over there.

I paid the cost on the invoice only, a dress from landend was sold out in my size on the uk, cost me £20 more than buying from the UK site, and then lo and behold the day after I had worn mine my size came back into stock!