My friend is bringing some stuff in (non-car related) for sale. however, she is not making ANY profit off it. The amount of the items is worth well over $2000. I guess they tax her if its over that amount? She is trying to avoid any taxes and customs broker fee's, in order to keep the cost of the items to the people purchasing them lower. we are unsure how customs applies the taxes/fee's. is there any way to avoid those fee's/taxes?

again, she does not make ANY profit from it. she is merely the middleman. the people here purchasing the items are paying what the company located outside the country is charging.

thanks for any help

 

Slip the agent a c-note. While it's never worked for me, it may work for you Seriously, I have no idea.

 

Her profit doesn't matter - the good are being prucahsed from another company, and unless she perjurs herself on the value, she'll have to pay the duties.

 

She is getting scammed, the price here should reflect the foreign price plus import duties.

Otherwise, she is being what they call in the drug trade a "mule"- some sucker who takes the fall for the actual smuggler.

I'd say she should just declare the stuff at a lowball value, pay the duties and pass the cost on to whoever ordered the stuff.

Selling stuff at cost in the first place is seriously bad business, who put her up to this?

 

What he said. They don't really care if she makes a profit or not. They will even tax you for products for personal use purchased outside of the US. Where is she coming in from? Depending on how long she was away from the States the amount that she can bring in without duty may vary. Depending on what she brings in, try to rip out the tags and don't carry the receipt with her and just say that they were used and wasn't purchased on this trip. Customs are not dumb thou.. they know what is new and what is used.

I travel btw Canada and US all the time so that's how I understand it.

 

she is from the US. what's going on is.. the korean company is importing a certain amount of Parkas (yes, jackets) for fans who are demanding them. my friend is merely the link between the fans and the company as she helps run the US fansite for this company. she is just bringing fan merchandise into the US for the fans. its not a job or a business to her, so i dont see how she is being scammed. she just wants a way to bring the items into the US without passing the cost to the 13 year old girls buying it (since they most likely dont have the extra $20-30 it would increase the cost by).

so it looks like theres no way around it. thanks for all the information.

 

The US Customs web site looks like it has a load on info on this... If you are importing products on a regular basis it looks like it gets complicated very quickly.

http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/home.xml

 

US Customs does not care whether it is for personal use or any other reasons. If the merchandise has a high value attached to it. You are to declare it's value to Customs and subjected to duty charges. Since these are Jackets, woven with man-made fibers, the duty rate should be around a staggering 27.7%.

I work in exports/imports.

spidey