US duty on importing used Tektronix scope from Great Britain? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: wd5jfr
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 05:24:33 pm
content: Is there any US duty on used Tektronix scope from an idividual in England?I've bought used electronics from Canada, South America with no duty but the was through eBay.ThanksHank

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 05:34:20 pm
content: Duty is on import, typically, and while ebay's global shipping program prepays the duty as part of the initial shipping cost, other shipping methods do not, and the duty can be assessed upon arrival to the country.The important thing is that the rule is for the country importing the equipment, so the rules generally don't have to do with the shipper and should be consistent across anything you import.Somehow got the origin confused.... yeah I think the US limit is something like $800 officially, but I have yet to be assessed import duty on like half a dozen shipments declared over that threshold. I think it's rare for an individual to be assessed, but possible.

author: WattsThat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2020, 05:44:37 pm
content: US customs generally doesn’t bother with collecting duty on things sent through the mail unless it’s over some threshold, maybe $1200, not sure about the exact number. I’ve bought countless items on eBay from all over and never paid anything in the way of duty or taxes via mail. Fairly sure anything under $300 is not subject to duty, same as if you brought it into the country on your person via air travel.Once you use Fedex, UPS or a similar freight company, you are authorizing them to be your customs agent and you will be usually be charged customs clearance fees. The exception to this has been with buying things from the EEVBlog store and it has been shipped DHL, never paid anything for customs with those shipments. Not sure how that works, maybe Dave can weigh in on international shipping issues.

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 18, 2020, 07:03:53 pm
content: If the scope has a B serial number, it can be declared as "American Goods Returned", and probably won't be subject to duty regardless of value.

author: andy3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2020, 07:21:02 pm
content: If it used and has a very low declared value, it should not attract any attention. Have the shipper declare it US made and used old equipment clearly in the documentation with a low but reasonable value-not just $5!Customs officers are more interested in prohibited stuff like contraband I think.

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2020, 07:47:37 pm
content: Interesting. May I ask if by "duty" you mean VAT+customs fee?I find it pretty interesting, that in the US the threshold for that is $800 or more. As in our EU shithole until now we had a limit of 22€ for VAT and 150€ for customs fees. And beginning from 2021, these limits will be dismissed, VAT and customs fees applicable on everything on import whatever the price is.I would be fine with paying the VAT, unfortunately, there is no way around paying nonsense fees to the transport company. Be it DHL, UPS, or even the state owned post. So you wil pay $2 of VAT on $10 worth of components, plus loose up to few tens of $ on stupid fees to the transport company.

author: andy3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2020, 08:12:58 pm
content: US does not have VAT like in the UK. In that case, if the buyer is a non UK resident, he/she can get the VAT refunded when leaving the UK. Nothing like that here. I think US is far better in that respect. If you have to pay a tariff, you pay it and that is it-end of the story.