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Wiggle MAMILs

Thanks for posting.

I'm wondering what the experience is of other Wiggle shoppers. I am almost always hit with import charges. Today was the steepest - costing me 10% of the value of my purchase. Is this because clothing has a particularly high tariff? Are they becoming stricter because the strong Yen is driving shoppers abroad and this is affecting tax revenue?
 
Sports goods are not supposed to have any import taxes... I'd complain to the post office... they may be right of course but make them prove it...
 
Thanks for posting.

I'm wondering what the experience is of other Wiggle shoppers. I am almost always hit with import charges. Today was the steepest - costing me 10% of the value of my purchase. Is this because clothing has a particularly high tariff? Are they becoming stricter because the strong Yen is driving shoppers abroad and this is affecting tax revenue?

no i get hit as well, with rugby gear as well as cycling. i think maybe i have been flagged as a frequent importer now? clothing is classed as apparel hence the tax on it.
 
This is not based on a lot of orders, so it might not be right, but my tentative experience has been that when wiggle ships via postal, I get hit for fees/duties, but when they ship non-postal it come thru free. For a while I thought the shipping mode might be hit-or-miss, or might be dependent on the value or physical size of the order. And tho it might be, I'm not sure about that. My impression is that standard orders are more likely to be shipped via postal, tho value and/or size may make a difference.

So the last order or two I've chosen their expedited shipping, which for only a few hundred yen seems to shift the items into the non-postal shipping mode. I haven't talked to wiggle via email or any other channel about this--whether postal vs non-postal could be requested, but choosing the expedited mode seems to shift them away from using the postal service, and the stuff arrives here via kuro-neko, or something comparable, certainly not via postal service (and no fees at all).

Puzzling, tho I save on fees/duties, the non-postal shippers also seem to leave packages outside my door without any signature, etc., I come home and there's a box there--odd, and not perfectly safe, but no problems yet. Of course if it comes via postal there's a slip, and I have to go claim it and pay the fees... The screamer about the post office is that their basic processing fee(s), apart from whatever duty they might claim is due, is exorbitant.

Most recent shipment was a brooks saddle and a pair of running shoes (maybe 17,000 yen value), which (I think), due to expedited shipping (non-postal), came thru free.
 
Now that you mention it, I think this is also my experience with Wiggle - the postal stuff gets taxed, the courier stuff doesn't. Though I have had larger orders from a German retailer taxed even though they came by freight forwarder.
 
The only fees you should have are consumption tax 5% (same as if you bought it from a shop in Japan) I`ve had to pay it a couple of times but usually not.
BTW I always un-check the priority post box to save £3.25! Stuff arrives just as fast!
I`ve noticed that the the bigger the box, the more likely the tax request.
 
Some items have additional taxes, not just consumption tax. And in Tokyo at least the local government imposes extra taxes (though relatively small).
 
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