From the desk of a customs broker

[Marie13]

Thought this could be interesting.

Ask away with your customs/import related questions.

I’m a licensed customs broker. Don’t work for US Customs, but I’m licensed by them. Exam process is very tough. Took a year of studying. I clear imported goods through customs for companies and individuals. Been in the industry in various aspects since 1992 and a licensed broker since 2013. I handle air and ocean freight, too, plus truck shipments to and from Canada.

I’m in the Chicago area - the biggest US “inland port” from O’Hare and six railroads meeting here.

I have a customer that was peeved we wouldn’t change their long time used classification so they could avoid 15% additional China duties. That’s fraud and we told them customs would be on the lookout for such changes. So they took their business elsewhere. They got away with it for about six months. Then they were caught. They are under investigation by Customs. They had to get a trade attorney. They are looking at a bill for all the back duties as well as fines for fraud. Seems like it’s going to be huge. It may put them out of business.

 

[JBFG]

Following

 

[phoque]

First, hello and thank you very much for offering up your expertise.
This is my first post on the board. I intend to do an introduction post but this thread is very timely as I actually had specific import related questions over the past few days/weeks.
I have imported a number of items from several different European countries over the past few months, and have yet to be billed anything duty-wise, but was a little nervous on a couple of items. I did browse the tariffs code briefly in order to try to evaluate myself what the classification of the different goods should be, and my (perhaps mistaken) understanding was that most of the diving related stuff coming from the countries where I ordered should have been free of duty (and so far this has been the case, including a couple of orders that exceeded the $800 limit under which it seems all personal imports might be exempt).
However, perhaps I've just been lucky.
I realize the classification is complex and there are chapters for rubber products, garments (including some swim -wear), etc, so knowing how a scuba-related product should be classified seems ambiguous in some cases, at least to someone like me.
So I guess my questions would be the following:
-could you confirm that a majority of scuba items would be free of duty (assuming they are not coming from Cuba or North Korea, but say Europe ?
-if not, what would be the expected rate on some of the major subcategories one might want to import (regulators, dive computers, BCDs, wet or drysuits)?
I understand the issue of drysuits might be complex and I have read on some threads here that there are different outcomes based on how it's described by the seller and perhaps the customs officer assessing the package, ranging from 0 to 25+% as on some types of garments. Also, are drysuit undergarments considered regular clothes, swimwear, a scuba specialty item? This seems confusing and it feels like importing those things is akin to rolling the dice duty-wise.

Sorry about the convoluted questions, and thank you very much!

 

[Marie13]

That $800 personal exemption is for travelers only.

If your order was shipping via the postal service, it seems people don’t get hit with duties on those, from what other people report here. I wouldn’t know personally since I don’t order stuff from overseas.

If it’s been several months, you probably won’t get a bill for duties. Most bills seem to come within a month or so.

Don’t try to determine duty just from looking at the tariff if you have no experience with it. Those indents can lead you down the merry path of destruction.

More later.

 

[phoque]

Thanks for your reply. I understand that looking at the classification is complex, but after googling, I didn't have many other sources as to try to estimate the duties I would potentially incur.
My orders were shipped only through Fedex and DHL, not the postal service. I was aware that there seemed to be less chance of receiving a bill if shipped through regular post, but the places where I ordered equipment from (in Europe) only used those carriers.
My concern regarding drysuits is the most significant since I just received the one I ordered, plus undergarments, from Poland yesterday (from a well known manufacturer over there ). It was shipped Fedex, and that was why I was curious as to how you would classify those items tariffs-wise. I understand people here have had different experiences, but what do you think the rate should be if classified correctly?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Marie13]

Santi?

If it’s Santi, why in the world did you order direct from overseas when there are dealers in the US?

 

[rvojr]

If you order something from a site like divestock.us, what would the process be for paying duties on it? Are you supposed to declare it? Do you get something like the TSA puts in your luggage such as we will be sending you a bill ASAP or does it just show up as a separate bill ? It was very opaque so I never risked it.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I bought my Santi drysuit and undergarment while traveling in Europe because, all totaled, it was half the price of buying it here in the US! The exchange rate was good, and the base price was lower even apart from the exchange rate. Add to that the VAT refund I received when I left Europe, and the price was half what it would have cost me from a US dealer.

When I returned to the US, I duly declared my purchase at Customs. The Customs agent seemed surprised at my honesty. I got the impression that many people buy stuff abroad and don't bother to declare it. The agent asked me what the thing was that I had bought, searched on her computer for a few minutes, factored in the $800 exemption, and then told me what I owed. It wasn't that much--under 100 USD--so I had clearly come out ahead. But now, for the coup de grace, when I tried to pay, their payment system wouldn't take my credit card due to some malfunction on their end, and the agent said, "Never mind. Thanks for your honesty. Have a nice day."

 

[phoque]

Yes, it is Santi. Why would I buy from Poland? Simply because the price (before duties) came out to about half what a US dealer would charge for the same items. I purchase as much as I can from local vendors, including my LDS which I like a lot, but for some expensive items where there is almost a 50% price difference, I sometimes order directly from the place of manufacture if possible (as I have done a couple of times for German tools as well). If Santi didn't have US distribution and buying overseas had been my only potential source for the product, I would have actually chosen something else, as at least the suit would not need to be returned overseas for service I might need performed in the future. Also, in the case of Santi, this does not seem to violate their policy regarding warranty and such, contrary to a lot of scuba manufacturers that directly prohibit their dealers from sending equipment overseas (or at least to a different continent), and even if you obtain the product, your warranty will be void.

 

[Marie13]

If you order something from a site like divestock.us, what would the process be for paying duties on it? Are you supposed to declare it? Do you get something like the TSA puts in your luggage such as we will be sending you a bill ASAP or does it just show up as a separate bill ? It was very opaque so I never risked it.

There is no method for self reporting to Customs. The express courier (Fedex, etc.) would send you an invoice for clearance fees and duties.

A lot of people confuse shipments coming direct to them from overseas with bringing stuff back as a traveler. Totally different.

NOTE: I am NOT an expert on stuff ordered from overseas direct to a consumer. I only know what I have been told by others here and read in posts.

I don’t care what the cost difference is. I deal with enough bureaucratic BS on the job that I do NOT order from overseas and actively encourage people to not do so. If you do so, the hassles in many cases are not worth it.