anyone buy skis on-line from Europe and shipped to USA ????

[K2 Rat]

I found a pair of skis on-line from a shop in Germany. The fine print says that any customs fee and/or VAT charged to enter US would be payable by me upon delivery.

Anyone had experience with this ? The value listed will be about $500

@Philpug , and of course these are K2's ! and it is based on @ScotsSkier review. Thinking it could be a nice coaching ski for me.

And BTW, I finally mounted the pinnacle 88's I won in the photo contest. Like @Doug Briggs said a while back, that is a pretty nice ski. I generally only ski on race skis, but I was pleasantly surprised. It will be my ski trip ski as it is a lot more versatile than a pair of race skis.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I bought a pair of skis from an Austrian ski shop but it was through ebay who I'm assuming used the global shipping program because it was seamless to me.

I've never bought from an individual or shop internationally outside of ebay.

 

[K2 Rat]

I bought a pair of skis came from an Austrian ski shop but it was through ebay and I'm assuming used the global shipping program because it was seamless to me.

I've never bought from an individual or shop outside of ebay.

Thanks . It is through a shop via ebay, so maybe it would also be seamless to me and without any fees

 

[James]

Skis going into Canada also face tax. Well customs duty. I believe that US Postal/Canada Post used to be the best way. That's what I recall from shipping skis I sold on epic. As I remember it, if I shipped them UPS or Fedex, he'd have to pay customs. Doesn't make sense, but that's what I remember.

Likely you'll have no VAT, shouldn't! Maybe to UK. There may be US tax. I just bought bindings from France, shop direct not ebay, and no prob. Dhl was quick too. Euro shops usually include VAT in the price. When you ship to US, that gets taken off. You'll see it before paying.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Thanks . It is through a shop via ebay, so maybe it would also be seamless to me and without any fees

Just checked my ebay transaction for the skis and all I paid was the ebay price of skis plus $40 shipping. No other fees.

 

[AltaFan]

I bought a pair from the Netherlands from this company worth about 600 EUR and did not owe any customs duties.

 

[Doug Briggs]

...

And BTW, I finally mounted the pinnacle 88's I won in the photo contest. Like @Doug Briggs said a while back, that is a pretty nice ski. I generally only ski on race skis, but I was pleasantly surprised. It will be my ski trip ski as it is a lot more versatile than a pair of race skis.

I'm still enjoying mine a lot. They are a great performing ski and quite a good fit for someone coming from race skis.

Cheers!

 

[Brad J]

I got a pair out of France 6 weeks ago and paid $31.00 on a $840 purchase , not sure what the rate is , I though things were duty free under so many euro"s ?????

 

[James]

I believe it's $800. But I guess you don't pay on the difference, it's the whole thing?

 

[AltaFan]

I got a pair out of France 6 weeks ago and paid $31.00 on a $840 purchase , not sure what the rate is , I though things were duty free under so many euro"s ?????

Duties are under a crazy system where every product is taxed differently based on the class of product and country of origin.

 

[Robert Lutczyk]

According to this shop in Europe you should be fine as long as value is under $800.
https://www.outdoorxl.com/import-duties

 

[ARL67]

FYI: Any skis coming into Canada will be charged our usual 13% HST tax.
If they arrive via postal services, there is no brokerage fee.
If the sender shipped via a cheap UPS,Fed-Ex, etc offering, the shipping company will charge the recipient an additional brokerage fee, probably $50+ , along with the 13% HST. I buy lots of stuff out of the USA, and only have them shipped by the Post Office.

OP: Why are you buying K2's out of Europe ?
The Toronto area has a large long-standing shop called Corbetts, who also run a large eBAY liquidation store called ASOGEAR, where everything has free shipping to the USA. If your K2's are not available at ASOGEAR, call up Corbetts as the have K2 on the floor ( Mindbender's and 'Chargers ). What are you after ? I might visit them later today and can report back. A Canadian retail store shipping to a USA destination will NOT charge you the 13% tax.

 

[K2 Rat]

FYI: Any skis coming into Canada will be charged our usual 13% HST tax.
If they arrive via postal services, there is no brokerage fee.
If the sender shipped via a cheap UPS,Fed-Ex, etc offering, the shipping company will charge the recipient an additional brokerage fee, probably $50+ , along with the 13% HST. I buy lots of stuff out of the USA, and only have them shipped by the Post Office.

OP: Why are you buying K2's out of Europe ?
The Toronto area has a large long-standing shop called Corbetts, who also run a large eBAY liquidation store called ASOGEAR, where everything has free shipping to the USA. If your K2's are not available at ASOGEAR, call up Corbetts as the have K2 on the floor ( Mindbender's and 'Chargers ). What are you after ? I might visit them later today and can report back. A Canadian retail store shipping to a USA destination will NOT charge you the 13% tax.

I am looking for 175mm Super Charger ( they come with markers) . I already saw ASOGEAR is listing them @ $599.99 and free shipping to states. The German shop on Ebay has them for $536.55 including shipping, which is the best price I can find on the internet.

 

[QueueCT]

Bought Austrian skis earlier this year. Had to get them to remove the VAT as they were inexperienced shipping skis outside of the EU. Shipping charge was 80 Euro with a stipulation that I would be responsible for any customs duties ... there weren't any. Cost of skis (flat) was 464 Euro.

 

[Sbum02030]

Never had any issues buying ski gear from Europe.

Purchased some Legend Pro Riders for $500 a few years back and was OK. Buying a pair of Salomon S/RACE 140WCs next week and hoping for the same thing.

If anything, prices on websites are better in Europe because most stores subtract the VAT if you're ex-EU.

 

[ScotsSkier]

Check on Corbetts.com. They list in CAN $ there, i.e 25% discount to US$

 

[GregK]

As others have said, Corbetts.com is in Canadian dollars so it’s 30% off the shown price in US $. Asogear doesn’t have the 175cm in the 2018 version but Corbetts has the 2019 version in the 175cm still for $699.99 Canadian/$521 US.

 

[K2 Rat]

thanks for all the input. I ended up buying the 2019 version thru ebay from Europe for $487 including shipping. Never heard of Corbetts before, but they have a lot of good stuff at great prices and will be checking them out before any future purchases.

 

[ARL67]

FYI I was at Corbetts today and all 2018/2019 skis are 40% off. The website might only show 30% off so call them to confirm.
And I believe if over $100, they will do free shipping to the USA
Also, the newest 2019/2010 Mindbenders are 10% off the website price.
They also had the new Mantra 102 at 10% off , which is not even listed on their website.
All helmets are 40% off too. I will probably grab a Smith Quantum MIPS on my next visit.
And of course the US exchange rate is 1.3 these days.