Overseas Shopping Customs Fee
 

The last time I shopped for clothing from a company in Canada while I was in Korea I got a warning note from the Korean customs agency that said they should charge me tax, so be careful next time :confused: I didn't pay anything then, but I was wondering, does anyone know when customs charges tax (on orders costing how much) on clothing and what percentage of tax they charge?

Thanks.

It seems to me that these days customs has tightened up its procedures or something. In the past I have ordered things (clothing, shoes, etc) from the U.S., and received it without any customs charges. This year I've ordered from the same company 2-3 times and got hit with a 40 000 won customs charge each time. I imagine there is a cutoff below which you won't get charged (maybe under $50 or something like that?). Maybe your order was just over the limit so they didn't charge you even though they could have?

Was the 40,000won you paid a flat rate, or a percentage of your order?

(I'm just doing some budget calculations to see if it's worth it to order stuff online vs. shopping here).

That I don't know, but my guess is that it would be by price "chunks", if that makes sense, like items between $50 and $100 are charged a certain amt, and items between $100-150 are charged another amount. I'm sure it's possible to contact Korean customs and get a price list, although I don't have a link for you....:(

i am pretty sure (not 100% though) that there is a tax on clothes if you are shipping in more than 100USD worth of clothes. the tax is steep, too. 25% i think.

they really like it when the package comes straight from the place you ordered it from. that way all the price information is easily accessible. i'd say if your shipping a lot of clothes to korea and want to skirt around the tax, get someone to mail it to you and have them keep the value on the box below 100 USD.

again, things might have changed so trust my answer at your own risk ;)

Re: Overseas Shopping Customs Fee
 

I avoided this issue by purchasing everything and having it sent to my home address and my brother later shipped it to me. After customs contacted me, I faxed in my receipt saying that it is my property because I purchased it in the US and outright became my property when it was shipped to my home. It was no longer an overseas purchase, but categorized as personal property. They accepted this and I had no fees to pay, especially handy because my laptop was expensive.

Re: Overseas Shopping Customs Fee
 

Hi Again Eric The only problem with having people mail your clothes is that you can't obtain insurance on your clothing in event it is not received and you wish to replace it. I think it is better to pay the tax. I don't want to loose my good suits or suede slacks. Then again, if you are a size 12 or under the fashions in Korea are great.