Any US residents ordered from TW Europe?

R

ricardo

Hall of Fame
TW Europe has some good deals.

Questions:

  1. Shipping
    Do they offer free shipping if you order more than the minimum? For example, TW US offers free shipping to local residents if you order $75 or more.
  2. Do you get charged duties/custom duties? For example, I will only buy max of $200 per order.
  3. Can you use Paypal?
  4. Other relevant info?
Thank you in advance...
 
Rabbit

Rabbit

G.O.A.T.
I've ordered from TWE. The easiest thing to do is build a cart and start the checkout process. You'll see for yourself what is added. But......here's a little hand holding:

1 - Free shipping appears to only apply to the EU. If you ship to the U.S. you will incur additional shipping charges for orders over 100 Euros.
2 - No, you will not be charged duties/custom duties.
3 - Yes
4 - Nope
 
Irvin

Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
Ft.S said:
All forms.would.be completed.buy seller and really done by shipping company, DHL is really good in this regard.

You won't have customs fees for goods up to $800 to my best knowlege; I never had to pay, my largest orders from UK were just under that amount.
Click to expand...
 
Herb

Herb

Semi-Pro
I have had to pay import tax on orders over $500, but never for orders under that. They will use FedEx for shipping. Make sure and provide a phone number. FedEx has called me several times to get a more detailed item description. No free shipping outside of Europe.
 
Tennisist

Tennisist

Professional
I had to pay shipping.
About 1 month after the package arrived, I got a bill from Fedex to pay Customs Duties. It was substantial.

I ordered from other places in Europe, and encountered none of these issues: the "free" shipping was free (or built into the price of the items), and no customs duties.
 
R

ricardo

Hall of Fame
Tennisist said:
I had to pay shipping.
About 1 month after the package arrived, I got a bill from Fedex to pay Customs Duties. It was substantial.

I ordered from other places in Europe, and encountered none of these issues: the "free" shipping was free (or built into the price of the items), and no customs duties.
Click to expand...

Did you order over US$500?
 
Tennisist

Tennisist

Professional
My total order was about $200. The shipping ended up about $40. The bill that came a month later was $50, which I did not anticipate.
It totally made the whole purchase way more expensive than if I had ordered it from the US -- if they had those items. For some reason, TW Europe gets items that the US subsidiary never gets, like, for example, pallets, strings, proper buttcaps, shoes, shirts, or even some racquets.
 
Chotobaka

Chotobaka

Hall of Fame
I order car parts from Europe out of necessity. The usual shipping method is DHL or Fedex (everything is shipped via air), and they arrive quickly with no duty. I have ordered items not available in the USA from TWE and had a similar experience. Same deal with reels of string directly from manufacturers. Again, these are items that were not available here in the USA -- I have my doubts as to whether the math ever works as a money saving endeavor, though.
 
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Herb

Herb

Semi-Pro
You really have to shop around and compare prices and watch the exchange rates. There are only 2 items that I get from TWE, RPM Team and Blast by the reel. I order everything else from another site.
 
S

scotus

G.O.A.T.
Tennisist said:
I had to pay shipping.
About 1 month after the package arrived, I got a bill from Fedex to pay Customs Duties. It was substantial.

I ordered from other places in Europe, and encountered none of these issues: the "free" shipping was free (or built into the price of the items), and no customs duties.
Click to expand...

This was my case as well.

My order, if memory serves, was around $250. I paid for shipping, which was predisclosed, but then later Fedex or DHL (I can't remember which shipping company) sent me a bill for taxes repeatedly, and they had the entire TWE receipt on file.

Needless to say, I would think twice about ordering from TWE.
 
Herb

Herb

Semi-Pro
It is not TWE charging the import tax. The reason FedEx had a copy of the receipt is that the box was opened for inspection for customs. Customs charged an import fee based on the value and charged it to FedEx before they released the package. FedEx then pays the fee on your behalf and charges you later. This can happen no matter where you buy from overseas.
 
N

nilknarf

New User
I know this is an old post, but thought I would update with my experience. I've placed a couple of orders (shipped to US) with TWE over the past few years that were between $200 and $400 and never paid any customs. Last month I placed a ~$900 order and a few weeks later was billed $120 in customs fees by Fedex.
They later mailed an itemization and some of the items were charged a 25% customs fee. That sux and I would have never placed the order knowing that. I also paid for shipping. Ugh, I won't make that mistake again.
 
Herb

Herb

Semi-Pro
Have to keep orders under $500. Shipper (TWE) has to declare the value. Anything over $500 and its getting taxed.
 
AndI

AndI

Rookie
Herb said:
Have to keep orders under $500. Shipper (TWE) has to declare the value. Anything over $500 and its getting taxed.
Click to expand...

Where did the $500 number come from?

According to Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 which went into effect on March 10, 2016, the value of a shipment of merchandise imported by one person on one day that generally may be imported free of duties and taxes had increased from $200 to $800. Everything above this $800 limit is subject to duty calculated using Harmonized Tariff Schedule which lists rates of duty for different product categories. For example, duty on tennis shoes will be different from duty on tennis racquets and that will be different to duty on downhill skis or cross-country skis (which are duty-free, by the way).
 
Herb

Herb

Semi-Pro
It comes from my personal experience, and discussions with some CBP guys. I have not ordered from them in a few years, but when I did any order over $500 was always taxed. Nothing under was ever taxed. Guys I spoke with had told me that items valued under $500 cost more to process than they received in tax, so typically wouldn't touch them. As you point out above, values have changed since I have ordered from them, so I would assume $500 is no longer a valid value, but was offered in good faith based on my previous experience.
 
J

JoelL

New User
If my order is $150-160ish, will the custom fee be implemented?
Now a bit skeptical ordering from tw eur but really want something the U.S. store doesn't have...
 
Irvin

Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
JoelL said:
If my order is $150-160ish, will the custom fee be implemented?
Now a bit skeptical ordering from tw eur but really want something the U.S. store doesn't have...
Click to expand...
I haven’t ordered from TWE but I have ordered from other European suppliers and no customs were charged even orders over $500.
 
Herb

Herb

Semi-Pro
JoelL said:
If my order is $150-160ish, will the custom fee be implemented?
Now a bit skeptical ordering from tw eur but really want something the U.S. store doesn't have...
Click to expand...
You should be fine. I have never had a customs issue with small orders. Once you start getting $500 and up they may look at it. I had about a $240 order about 5 or 6 months ago from TWE and had no fees.
 
Raul_SJ

Raul_SJ

G.O.A.T.
snoflewis said:
i think my largest order was $700 and there was no customs. YMMV
Click to expand...

What did you buy from TWE that is not available from TW USA?

In any case, other posters report just the opposite of your experience; high customs taxes. So I'll have to assume there is customs. And delivery charges.

It's just not worth the hassle unless they have some item that is absolutely not available in the USA.
 
S

snoflewis

Legend
7 rackets (actually 12, but the largest order had 7). i wouldn't have resorted to international shipping if it were available here in the states, and shipping is definitely not free.
 
fullwesternforehand

fullwesternforehand

Rookie
Anyone else have any insight on how covid may have impacted things? I‘m looking into buying about 380 worth of stuff, and wondering about the fees that i’ll get later on. I don’t mind paying it, but I would like to know what it is before I get a magical bill one day months later
 
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McLovin

McLovin

Legend
fullwesternforehand said:
Anyone else have any insight on how covid may have impacted things? Im looking into buying about 380 worth of stuff, and wondering about the fees that i’ll get kater on. I don’t kind paying it, but I would like to know what it is before I get a magical bill one day months later
Click to expand...
I've bought multiple items in the last few weeks, but nothing over $200 total. No customs fees so far.
 
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