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Import Duty/Fees


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Apologies if this has been discussed here before but... does anyone know - exactly - what duty and/or fees are payable when a guitar is imported to the US from overseas?

Here's the situation:  I am considering purchasing a non-American made instrument from a reputable guitar store in Europe.  As I understand it, the store will take care of any export paperwork and fees at their end, but I would be liable for any import duty or fees at the point the guitar enters the US.  Can anyone confirm or deny?  Any pitfalls I should know about?

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Last time I did it (a European made guitar) was not recently. IIRC, the assessment was more or less the equivalent of the local sales tax rate. Might have been a coincidence...Around 8% of the value.

I cannot be confident that your state might not ALSO expect you to pay THEM (as a use tax) on top of that. CA tax rates may be more like 10% these days.

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I import gear all the time to Canada.  All I pay is local sales tax, unless FedEx or UPS decides to charge a brokerage fee, which can run into hundreds of dollars.  From Europe, I would recommend either the Post Office, or DHL.

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There's a guy on Youtube that will ship or recieve guitars from anywhere in the world. I think he calls himself Trogly, he's been around for years.

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Bought from overseas quite a few guitars, not US made. No problem.

The real question is - How much is that guitar? And very important - who is the shipper. Tell them to use EMS ( express mail via post office) and you'll have no problem ( again, depending on the price of the instrument and declared value. 
Some 3 years ago ordered 3 Gibbys from Thomann, they were running huge sale, specifically spoke to the guy about Express Mail. Never paid a dime on import. But bought one from Canada, US made, guy shipped it with Fedex , 2 weeks later got fedex bill for brokerage services $80.

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