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beck3906

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2005
Messages
2,142
Location
Belton, TX 76513
I want to order a few things from a Chinese company I cannot find in the US companies. I want to make the order large enough to justify shipping and such.

Does anyone know the dollar value of an order where I won't have to pay customs on the order?
 
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If you are under $800 there is no duty if your shipment applies to the rule. It's called Section 321 if you want to look up the details.
 
I BELIEVE anything coming out of China is subject to the 25% penalty initiated by Trump and allowed to continue when Biden came in. Everything we have received has been "hit". The amount of the tax is based on the total invoice, including shipping costs.
 
It has been a few years since I was in the business, but before Trump initiated his tariff to make China pay..(he knew nothing about tariffs evidently), China rated a "Most favored nation" so that duties were nil, at that time 20 years ago, any import valued under $250 was considered duty free and Chinese imports were also... don't know about today as government rules change constantly.

Best bet, if you have a customs brokerage house in your area would be to contact them and get an official reading/answer to your question .
Since you are in Belton, which if I remember my geography, you're near Dallas and they will have several customs brokerage house at DFW.

My error, you're about halfway between Waco and Auston... either should have at least one customs brokerage house.
 
Last edited:
TellicoTurning said:
It has been a few years since I was in the business, but before Trump initiated his tariff to make China pay..(he knew nothing about tariffs evidently), China rated a "Most favored nation" so that duties were nil, at that time 20 years ago, any import valued under $250 was considered duty free and Chinese imports were also... don't know about today as government rules change constantly.

Best bet, if you have a customs brokerage house in your area would be to contact them and get an official reading/answer to your question .
Since you are in Belton, which if I remember my geography, you're near Dallas and they will have several customs brokerage house at DFW.

My error, you're about halfway between Waco and Auston... either should have at least one customs brokerage house.
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I just received a shipment from China about a week ago. It was over 260.00 but was not charged any duty or tax.
 
beck3906 said:
Ed,
Any estimate on a percentage of the value?
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25% of the invoice that is required for all imports. So, if your import invoice says $1000 including shipping, you will pay $250 for customs plus the charge for the shipping company "customs fee" (usually DHL for us--runs about another $100) Remember you also pay the shipping charge-usually about $9 per kilo for air freight.
 
ed4copies said:
25% of the invoice that is required for all imports. So, if your import invoice says $1000 including shipping, you will pay $250 for customs plus the charge for the shipping company "customs fee" (usually DHL for us--runs about another $100) Remember you also pay the shipping charge-usually about $9 per kilo for air freight.
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Ed, do you know if the tariffs apply to Taiwan? Thx.
 
TonyL said:
Ed, do you know if the tariffs apply to Taiwan? Thx.
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No, the 25% punitive tariff does NOT apply. However, when you import or export anything, you need to enter its "Harmonized Tarriff Code".
That determines the rate of tax on each item. Want to look up an HTC? No problem!!!!

This is the webpage, the actual document is several hundred pages long, but this gives you a search function!!

Of course, if you USE this search, realize the disclaimer follows!
Utilizing this forum does not constitute Reasonable Care under Informed Compliance guidelines.

In short, importing is easy---doing the paperwork---NOT SO MUCH!!
 
ed4copies said:
Utilizing this forum does not constitute Reasonable Care under Informed Compliance guidelines.

In short, importing is easy---doing the paperwork---NOT SO MUCH!!
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As I said earlier, it's been 20 years since I did export work... during the last 20 years I did work in the industry I took the custom's broker exam 2 or 3 times.... I got withing 5 points of passing each time, but ultimately did not pass the exam... it is specifically designed to fail 95+% of the applicants... know of one fellow in Houston who was considered an expert in customs work, he knew the TUSA (us tariff classifications) very well, but he had taken the test every year for about 10 years and never passed the exam.
I was an export agent and pretty good at it, but retired in 2005 and haven't looked back.
 
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