Shipping destinations

American Duchess ships to most countries with an externally accessible, functional postal service, and that are not internet fraud hotspots.

To confirm that we ship to your country, simply add an item you'd like to purchase to your cart, navigate to the shopping cart and view the drop-down list of countries in the Get Shipping Estimates section. If your country is included then we can ship to you, if your country is missing then we are unable to ship directly to you.

If you're in Europe, you may want to purchase from our new European webshop for quicker, cheaper shipping, and less hassle with customs and taxes. Please note that orders placed on the US website cannot be transferred or returned to the European location, and vice versa.  

Customs: Import duty, sales tax and fees

All of our products are sold without including sales tax to international customers. You are responsible for any and all tariffs, taxes, fees and customs duties that may be imposed by your government upon entry of the shipment into your country.

Our DHL pre-paid duty and tax shipping option (DDP) includes sales tax, duty and all customs brokerage costs. This is charged as a separate line item during checkout and no further customs fees will be due before delivery.

All other delivery options will have a requirement to pay sales tax, duty and a customs brokerage fee (on any order that exceeds your local customs de minimis value) before taking delivery.

 
An excellent resource to estimating your likely customs fees is Simply Duty. The customs fees calculator may not include a customs brokerage fee, as this may vary between shipping carriers and/or services.

We are legally required to state the correct value and nature of the goods inside your shipment on the customs forms, as well as attach a copy of the sales invoice to the package. Misrepresenting the value of the contents of a shipment is considered fraud by many governments (including ours, see the Tariff Act, 1930), may result in both the sender being fined and recipient having their shipment confiscated and liability to prosecution (and fines). We are unable to risk prosecution for fraud in order to reduce your local tax liabilities, please factor this into your budget when placing an order.

Marking a package as a "Gift" does not affect the customs duty and fees liability.

You are normally contacted by the shipping carrier to resolve any duty or sales tax before delivery can occur. Please check the tracking link that we provide when your order is shipped, as this will often contain useful information in the case that the mail carrier does not contact you directly.
 

New VAT regulation impacts for customers in the EU

If you are placing an order to the EU and wish to place an order, shipping via DHL with pre-paid customs fees, duty and VAT then you are unaffected by the new VAT regulations

However, if you wish to pay customs fees, duty and VAT yourself (at delivery) or use a service other than DHL, then your order must now contain a minimum of $200 USD in products. For more information, please see our EU/UK VAT impacts page.
 

Post-Brexit VAT regulations affecting for customers in the UK

If you are placing an order to the UK and wish to place an order for more than $200.00 in products, shipping via DHL with pre-paid customs fees, duty and VAT then you are unaffected by the new VAT regulations

We are not currently accepting orders containing less than $200.00 (approx. £135.00) of product from the UK, as we are not VAT registered in the UK.

For more information, please see our EU/UK VAT impacts page.
 

Shipping services

International orders are shipped via your choice of the following options (where available for your destination):
 

Delivery duty pre-paid (DDP)

When a customs fees are due (when the de-minimis threshold has been exceeded), DDP services allow to pre-pay your sales tax and duty during the checkout process. No additional fees will be due before delivery. This service usually costs slightly less in total than the DDU services below, as the customs brokerage/clearance fee is waived.

  • DHL Worldwide Express Delivery Duty Paid (DDP)
    2-5 day transit

Delivery duty unpaid (DDU)

When a customs fees are due (when the de-minimis threshold has been exceeded), DDU services give you the flexibility to pay your sales tax, duty and customs clearance fee after your order has shipped, and either at or before delivery (depending on your local carrier)

  • DHL Worldwide Express (DDU)
    2 to 5 day transit
  • USPS 1st Class Mail International
    6 to 30 day transit
  • USPS Priority International 
    6 to 10 business day transit
  • USPS Priority Express International
    5 day transit

All shipping services include tracking and delivery confirmation.

American Duchess utilizes USPS Intelligent Mail Services to pre-notify customs of packages (where such systems are supported) in order to reduce delays and customs inspections. DHL shipments are scheduled with the necessary electronic commercial invoices. Each package contains a customer invoice inside of the shipping box, along with an accurate and complete set of customs declaration documents.
 

Customs clearance

The efficiency of your local postal service and customs officials may have a significant impact on the speed of delivery. If your package is held for inspection then this may delay delivery by anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.

We find that deliveries to France, Germany, Italy, and Spain commonly take a few days longer than most other European countries as the customs service in these countries tends to be quite slow. It is not unheard of for deliveries to Italy to take more than 45 days when sent via First-Class International. For these 4 countries, we recommend DHL Worldwide Express.
 

Product Returns

You may return your order (whole or in part) to us for any reason whatsoever so long as they are:

  • in original, unworn condition - please try shoes on a clean carpet
  • in their original product packaging
  • shipped within a suitable shipping box
  • returned within 60 days of receipt
  • not a deadstock/last chance/imperfect item

To schedule the return of a product, simply complete the returns request form via our returns portal or click the button below, and follow the instructions:

Please mark the customs form as "RETURNED GOODS". Return shipping will be at your cost. Your returned products will be inspected and your return processed, usually within 5 business days of receipt, which is currently a little slower than usual due to pandemic related precautions.

All items MUST be in their original condition, in their original shoe box, with original packing materials. Returns must be shipped in a suitable shipping box or bag (and NOT just the product packaging). Shoes must appear unworn and have unmarked soles - please try your shoes on a clean carpeted surface! We will email you confirmation of your receipt/refund.

Please note that items sold as Last Chance, Deadstock or Imperfect are final sale and cannot be returned or exchanged.

 

Product Exchanges

Due to the high cost of international shipping we are not able to provide free exchanges to international customers. We will happily refund your product costs back to original payment method, or issue a store credit to your account, and this can be used to make a replacement order.

To schedule the return of a product, simply complete the returns request form via our returns portal or click the button below, and follow the instructions:

When placing the replacement order, please leave a note in the comments box prior to checkout to let us know the order is an exchange. The comments box can be found on the "view cart" page before you go to checkout. Follow up by emailing us to let us know that it's a replacement order. Please include your original order number, along with the new order number. We will mark the customs form as "Exchanged Goods" to notify your friendly customs official that taxes have already been paid, and reduce the possibility of being charged additional customs fees. 

If you do not leave a note in the comments box, we cannot guarantee that you won't be charged customs/taxes a second time.

For shipping your replacement order, please select one of the non DDP shipping options that shows the estimated customs charges due at delivery (means the Duty and Tax won't be added to your cart) not the DHL DDP option that adds the Duty and Tax to your cart. Please note that if you're in the EU or UK, these options are not available unless you order a minimum of $200 in merchandise)
 

Refused or unclaimed international shipments

If your package is returned to us, we can only process any refund after receipt. You may be liable for any costs that are involved, and these will be deducted from your refund.

Carrier Returns may happen if:

  • You fail (or refuse) to pay customs fees when they are due
  • Do not collect the package from a local mail facility when necessary in a timely manner
  • You refuse delivery

It may take several weeks for the returned package to arrive with us, before it may be processed. If there are return fees associated with a rejected or undeliverable shipment then these will be deducted from your refund.

We are unable to refund outbound shipping costs but will refund the product costs minus any additional costs that we bear as a result of the failed delivery.

It is not typical for USPS to charge to return a shipment, but the process may take 6-8 weeks for an order that was shipped using First-Class to get back to the USA, and 2-4 weeks for a Priority Mail shipment.

DHL's return fees very closely compare with the outbound shipping costs. Please consider this before refusing a package!