Kuiu Gear and prohibitive customs duties and charges....

[IslandmanDan]

Hi
I just wanted to share a little disheartening experience I had with Kuiu.
I love the product. But simply cant afford it.

-Last year I ordered $1134.81 USD in Kuiu gear. No customs charges and with the American/Canadian dollar exchange was expensive. But no additional charges or surprises. And shipped quickly. Excellent.

-This year I ordered Items:

	Order Total:
	Teton Stretch Woven Pant Tiburon Pant Peloton 130 Glove Peloton 200 Glove	$303.91(USD)

Which equates to roughly $390 CAD.
I go to the post office to pick up this shipment and get hit with an additional $126.82 in customs charges.
Bringing the total shipment for 2 pairs of pants and 2 pairs of gloves to $516.82+/- CAD.
If my wife only knew...wtf. OMG!!!

So I just wanted to bring this to the communities attention. Great product. Sadly wont be adding anymore gear to my collection. As it is just too expensive.
Does anyone else have any crazy customs charges associated with these products?
Good luck to everyone this upcoming hunting season. May your arrows fly true and bullets find their marks!!!

[RackStar]

Yup. I wanted to exchange my rain pant for new size. The lady would only refund me then make me purchase again, there for paying 2 dutys. She was rather rude and said that its my country's problem and nothing she can do.
For this I will never purchase kuiu again. Very bad experience and 2 years later still wearing pants to small for me.

[300rum700]

This isn't new. You got lucky on your first order and most orders get hit with 18% duty and 12% tax.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Been discussed on here a few times. Once their production went overseas due to rising demands, duty got crazy. Just be glad you didn't use UPS as well. You would have needed a second mortgage.

[Rackmastr]

Sounds about right to me.....

To be honest, a lot of people don't understand 'duty' and 'tax' and how its applied and the percentages depending on what type of items they are. When you start talking textiles, clothing, and footwear you can expect to be in the 18-21% range. Some electronics, etc are 4-9%. If its made in a country that doesn't have a free trade agreement, expect to pay it. No different than retailers in Canada who are importing clothing made overseas. Consider yourself lucky on the last large shipment you got without duty.

[BgBlkDg]

I don't get WHY anyone would ever buy this over-hyped, very costly stuff, except to be one of the "kewl" types who inhabit various forums and seem obsessed with having only the latest gear.

Look at the photos of Big Whitey's dad, the legendary "Willie442" and other real bushmen with HUGE sheep and other game.....wearing plain old clothing and often NO camo........any inklings of what is REALLY important in hunting-bush gear, based on such photos?

I disliked the stunt that Hairston pulled off here in Vancouver and how he sold Asian-made gear as "Made in Canada" and as a result, I would never buy squat from him or his company(s).

That said, there is LOTS of sound mountain gear available that is not camo, works just fine and where the makers stand behind their products. I would buy a Westcomb Neoshell or eVent parka for ANY hunting long before a Kuiu or some of the other "kewl" stuff.......I am going to buy a First Lite Vapour shell and probably just in dull old green......which works fine.

[russm]

Thats the price you pay to be a stylish hunter.

[swampthing]

When you look at your price of just over $500, that's about what you pay for a couple pairs of Sitka pants. But, Sitka is always on sale.

[Pinewood]

Kuiu stuff is pretty good quality and it is well tested. It can make a day very comfortable. The easy argument for buying Kuiu or Hunting specific clothing is that it is designed for Hunting. Therefore, a person who doesn't have the time to do a lot of research on mountain gear can simply buy Kuiu and it will do the trick in almost any/every scenario. Also, it is priced very reasonably, for the American consumer or the Canadians who can dodge duty/taxes either through luck or by living close to the border and lying to the border agent. As far as looking at photos of old hunters who killed animals, that is really irrelevant. Just because you can kill game in regular clothing doesn't mean it is always the best option. I bet there are a lot of old hunters who would love to have been wearing quick drying or wicking clothing, but it simply didn't exist. I have a couple pieces of Kuiu gear and I like it. But I'm not a Camo fan. I prefer solid colours.

[Weatherby Fan]

It's pretty simple to avoid all the extra charges, open up a box at Sumas Package Express or one of the many places just across the line and go down and pick it up yourself, bring your receipts or have a copy on your phone, claim what you have and more often then not they wave you through.