Check Out Our Shop
Results 1 to 17 of 17

Thread: Shopping for bindings in France via Boise

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Boise
    Posts
    423

    Shopping for bindings in France via Boise

    Call me a hick from Idaho, but can a guy purchase some bindings from a French web store priced in Euros and pay for them with his Visa that uses good old fashioned American dollars and have the bindings shipped to good old Boise? Would the Post Office hold the bindings until I paid duty on the said bindings? What do you think duty would be on said bindings? Would I be put on some double secret watch list and be pronounced an enemy of the state? Does anyone have any experience with situations of this nature? Inquiring minds want to know!
    More cowbell!!!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Missoula, MT
    Posts
    22,976
    In most instances, it's pretty expensive. And your Visa would pay the price in Euros so the exchange rate would hammer you too.
    No longer stuck.

    Quote Originally Posted by stuckathuntermtn View Post
    Just an uneducated guess.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    西 雅 圖
    Posts
    5,511
    I've bought boots and bindings from France many times using a credit card and they are happy to do the conversion from € for you. Even better, goods shipped to the US don't have VAT added. None of the EU companies I've dealt with ships USPS, and depending on which carrier and how the goods are described ("cross country" is usually good for no duty) I've had to pay duty sometimes for skis and boots, never for bindings. US customs will send you a bill a week or two after you get the goods via the carrier.

    PS I live one state to your west, but I think you should be OK in Idaho . . .

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Missoula, MT
    Posts
    22,976
    No longer stuck.

    Quote Originally Posted by stuckathuntermtn View Post
    Just an uneducated guess.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    西 雅 圖
    Posts
    5,511
    Quote Originally Posted by stuckathuntermtn View Post
    In most instances, it's pretty expensive. And your Visa would pay the price in Euros so the exchange rate would hammer you too.
    Go here: http://hts.usitc.gov/
    Search for item #9506.12

    If you bought a pair of Dynafits and they said "cross country ski bindings" on the package they should be duty free. If they are "other" bindings, they COULD charge you 2.8% but it is at the discretion of US customs. At the moment the euro/dollar rate is 1:1.311, pretty decent so long as your card company doesn't charge you a 3% "foreign transaction fee" . . .

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Boise
    Posts
    423
    Arild posted a link in the Salomon 997/916/900 thread for Salomon 920s at ekosport.fr. One can aquire a pair for 160 euros shipped to the U.S. Thats only around $230! And they're red!!
    More cowbell!!!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    northern BC
    Posts
    33,778
    Up here 3 of us got together & placed an order with TP.com to share the cost of shipping & brokerage ect

    on Verts /110 brakes/ 110 crampons I figure I save about 230$ compared to paying list

  8. #8
    Hugh Conway Guest
    this was a cutting edge idea in the year 2000

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Eburg
    Posts
    13,239
    Boise learns about it 12 years later, ahead of schedule for Idaho.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    33,928
    Quote Originally Posted by gregL View Post
    None of the EU companies I've dealt with ships USPS
    That's odd. I always send stuff to France by just popping into La Poste in downtown Seattle sticking a few euros in stamps on the package and saying "merci bien" to le facteur behind the counter.

    Quote Originally Posted by Downbound Train View Post
    And there will come a day when our ancestors look back...........

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    2,834
    I'm going to make fun of your red bindings next winter. Just warning you.

    I buy stuff from Europe on occasion and have run into no problems at all. Which doesn't mean that I am NOT on a double secret watch list, just that if I am I don't know about it, which is pretty much what "double secret" would mean, right?

    Shipping tends to take about twice as long as stuff shipped within the U.S. Even the credit card fee doesn't end up amounting to anything, at least on the relatively small purchases I make.

    DO NOT attempt to buy wine, beer or liquor this way. An acquaintance of mine tried to do this (ordered several cases of wine from local vintners in the part of France where he grew up) and ended up with lots of questions from a lot of folks who identified themselves mainly with acronynms.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Boise
    Posts
    423
    Quote Originally Posted by Jamespio View Post
    I'm going to make fun of your red bindings next winter. Just warning you.
    Jamespio, you have a date! You know, we didn't even make one run together this abbreviated season! Come to think of it, I didn't even make one run with T. Botos either. Ever since Eric took up with the BYRDS, their priorities seemed to changed from sliding to cycling. Let us BBQ soon!
    More cowbell!!!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    northern BC
    Posts
    33,778
    Quote Originally Posted by Hugh Conway View Post
    this was a cutting edge idea in the year 2000
    Yeah I originally did this in 2001, the good news is that 12 yrs later ... it still works

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    西 雅 圖
    Posts
    5,511
    Quote Originally Posted by Jamespio View Post
    Shipping tends to take about twice as long as stuff shipped within the U.S.
    Not always. I ordered skis once from Telemark-Pyrenees on Friday night around midnight and they showed up before noon the next Tuesday. It took REI longer to ship a pair from their warehouse in Kent, which is about 20 miles from me . . .

  15. #15
    Hugh Conway Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by gregL View Post
    Not always. I ordered skis once from Telemark-Pyrenees on Friday night around midnight and they showed up before noon the next Tuesday. It took REI longer to ship a pair from their warehouse in Kent, which is about 20 miles from me . . .
    I've had similar experiences. Currency fees depend on your credit card

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    2,834
    Quote Originally Posted by spudbumkin View Post
    Jamespio, you have a date! You know, we didn't even make one run together this abbreviated season! Come to think of it, I didn't even make one run with T. Botos either. Ever since Eric took up with the BYRDS, their priorities seemed to changed from sliding to cycling. Let us BBQ soon!
    I tried to call you a few times on weekends, but you're a smarter man than I and apparently don't carry your phone on the slopes.

    Do you ride? If so, let's get together with Botos and do it. He'll leave us in the dust (unless we make him carry the beer).

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    northern BC
    Posts
    33,778
    Quote Originally Posted by gregL View Post
    Not always. I ordered skis once from Telemark-Pyrenees on Friday night around midnight and they showed up before noon the next Tuesday. It took REI longer to ship a pair from their warehouse in Kent, which is about 20 miles from me . . .
    I ordered boots on a friday, TP said they would go out monday and I got the boots in northern BC by wednesday which is faster than MEC, from the Pyrennes packages go to Toulouse which is close and a major hub for the air carriers

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •