Importing to US - Duty, etc

[JMac]

When buying a horn from Europe - what would the duty run for a $1,500 to $2,000 piece, and who is responsible for filling out the customs forms, etc? What SNAFUs should be expected? Thanks!

[pknight]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I do know that the duties vary depending upon the country of origin. An item that has no duty if it is shipped from country A may have a hefty duty if shipped from country B. I am sure that there is a US Customs web site that has the duty schedules for all countries.

[geo@loyola.edu]

I've received horns from Australia (from Bootman) and Japan (from Randall). In both cases, I didn't bother with insurance at all. (This practice is due to actual experience with UPS; they denied a claim on the grounds that packaging was inadequate.) So both horns came uninsured as "used saxophones," declared to have a nominal few hundred dollars' value (I wish!!).

In both cases I never had anything to do with a customs form, nor did anybody ever ask me to pay any duty.

[JMac]

thank you pknight and geo@loyola.

here is the site listing regs, etc. for anyone else who is curious - or has a lot of time to burn! http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/import/duty_rates/

here is a link to actual rates http://dataweb.usitc.gov/scripts/tariff2004.asp

Appears to be 4.9%

I got to see that bootman piece at the MD get-together. Loved it and the Buescher Bass with Jason's magnificant work on it. I was the newbie who didn't play anything - next time I plan on making up for it, even at the risk of embarrassing myself! I may even buy a bari mpc to bring along so I can try out some of those big beasts.

It's good to know that about UPS too. I just received a beautiful 10M from sarge. The way he packages things there is no way on earth they could claim it was inadequately packaged [at least with a straight face].

[geo@loyola.edu]

The way he packages things there is no way on earth they could claim it was inadequately packaged [at least with a straight face].

Sure they could. Take another look. Was all the packaging new and used for the first time? Did the box have a manufacturer's imprint listing bursting strength? Those were the grounds UPS used to deny my claim.

[JMac]

Thanks for that info! Now I know not to waste my money on any UPS insurance scams. Sounds like the car dealership charging extra for the undercoating that was already put on a car at the factory.

I'm certain UPS wouldn't even read the bursting strength if it were printed on the package and couldn't prove that the packing material wasn't new.

FedEx is no better. They wouldn't leave a package for me as no one was there to sign for it (I was in Hagerstown). So my wife filled out their little form authorizing it to be left without a signature. They make a big deal about naming a 'secure' place where it should be left. I came home from the boonies the next day to find that the jack%$# driver did a burnout in my driveway (in a dualie!) and left the package where he &*$% well pleased :Rant: . Inside a broken screen door which had blown wide open because he didn't close it all the way. The delivery confirmation only says 'waiver signed'. Boy do they like to see that. Now they don't even bother to see if anyone is home, they just drop it (still in the wrong place) and run. That has happened twice this past week- once the driver actually knocked before running. Sorry about the rant, and even more sorry you got that treatment by the big brown turd. Thanks again for the warning.

[Jimmy Scimonetti]

From my experience with UPS insurance claims is it's their policy to always deny the claim at first. I guess they do it to weed out anyone who isn't willing to try harder. Every claim I've ever dealt with was denied on the grounds of "improper packaging" (most of which were in the manufacturer's shipping box by the way).

The trick is you have to appeal the denied claim. So far, I've won the appeal on all of these "improperly packaged" items. If you can describe exactly how you packaged it in a convicing way it's not too hard to get UPS to pay up.

So if you have to make a claim they WILL deny it, just don't give up!