Ordering to US from divervision.com & foreign stores

[sft109]

Hi Guys,

I just ordered an underwater housing from divervision.com - I see that they are recommended and based in Taiwan. I used to live in the US but now am in Turkey for the summer and then will be moving to Canada. Anyways I ordered to my US address since Turkey can be a hassle with imports, etc. and friends will be bringing over the housing to Turkey when they come visit next month. The housing cost $250 and they ship by EMS. I expect it will arrive in a week's time - will there be customs, import fees, etc for this item in the US? I don't want my friends to get hit with a fee and since they're so nice they probably won't even tell me if they do get a charge so I would like to know beforehand so I can give them the cost if there is one. Since I never ordered from abroad while I was in the US I really don't know about the formalities and customs, etc. Any input would be great and if anyone can maybe give an estimate for fees for a housing that costs $250 or maybe describe their ordering/customs process and how much they paid for a certain housing, etc. I would greatly appreciate it.

Also I'm about to buy a set of Magic Filters, the camera is a Panasonic Lumix TZ5 with a 28mm WA lens and manual WB but no other manual controls - I see the filters are quite recommended for natural light shots and video use so I am looking forward to it.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

 

[Choyster]

Don't know about divervision but I ordered some stuff from uwdigitalcamera.com and had it shipped to the US. I was surprised by how cheap the shipping charges were until about a week later, I got another bill from FedEx for the customs duties. Can't recall the specifics but the shipping was $30 or so and the customs duties were another $50. Not bad considering I saved at least a couple of hundred dollars on the stuff I bought.

 

[sft109]

Don't know about divervision but I ordered some stuff from uwdigitalcamera.com and had it shipped to the US. I was surprised by how cheap the shipping charges were until about a week later, I got another bill from FedEx for the customs duties. Can't recall the specifics but the shipping was $30 or so and the customs duties were another $50. Not bad considering I saved at least a couple of hundred dollars on the stuff I bought.

Thanks for the info. Yes, I have heard of things like this before with FedEx and UPS. Divervision uses EMS (Express Mail) post and this is carried out by USPS in the US and they charge a flat rate I think - something less than $10 if I remember correctly but that is just the fee - I do wonder if there are actual tariffs and duties based on the value of the item too though? I guess I can just ask the people receiving my item to let me know if another bill arrives and I can probably pay for it with my credit card anyways?

Cheers,