Question about customs in the USA

[tulagirl]

I have a question:  Does customs pay attention to how many packages you are getting from out of the country here in the USA?  Do they add it all up and when you reach a certain value they start charging you a fee?  I have bought so much out of the country lately and I wanted to know if I might see this eventually...a fee.

[moving to TS - kaoskat]

[simplysteffie]

I don't think it really matters unless the value of a package is marked high. I had this issue last year with a swap- one of the girls mailed her pony to her partner, international- marking the package worth over 100 bucks- the girl receiving the package was asked to pay like, 30 bucks to get it. So I don't really think it matters how many packages you get or their value unless one is worth some ridiculous price.

[tulagirl]

Okay, I see...lets hope.

[HawaiianRain]

USA folks are not charged customs fees

[tulagirl]

Why are other countries so picky? I don't get it.

[stopxmotion]

USA folks are not charged customs fees

This is what I thought too..? I've never heard of anyone in the US paying a customs fee.

[teresat]

I have not heard of someone in the US getting charged customs duties but I don't count it out based on what I found at another site I use and they are based in India. To put this on their website, they must have gotten complaints.

Customs Duty:
USA
Personal purchases over $200 in a single day are likely to attract US customs duty at the time of delivery. Such duty charges will be reimbursed to you in the form of a gift certificate ONLY.
For any clarifications, please contact us.

CANADA
All shipments to Canada are likely to attract customs duty. Any such duties and taxes are charged once the shipment has reached you and these charges must be paid by the recipient of the shipment. Unfortunately, we have no control over these charges. If you have any questions related to customs charges, you are advised to contact your local customs office.

[LadyMoondancer]

Why are other countries so picky? I don't get it.

I think the idea is to encourage people to buy domestically, instead of sending money out of the country.

[goddessofpeep]

I have had multiple packages come from overseas, sometimes several on the same day from the same seller, and I have never had customs try to add up the total.  That being said, it is possible for a US buyer to be charged a fee by customs if the declared value is over a certain amount.  I'm not sure exactly where the threshold is, but even if you hit that, you won't always get caught.  I have heard they're cracking down on that though.

So, yes buyers in the USA can get charged a customs fee just like anywhere else, but they don't keep track of how many packages you get.  They just go by the value of each individual package, and whether or not it's marked as a gift. 

[RockinPrettyBeats]

Why are other countries so picky? I don't get it.

I think the idea is to encourage people to buy domestically, instead of sending money out of the country.

Right, but they never ever accounted for the rise of internet and private party sales. So now you have an old granny paying a $20 fee on an item that she got from another old granny for $50 that was made in the USSR 50 years ago. Kind of stupid.

They should really only apply the fee for people that are buying items that are newly manufactured and items that are NOT one of a kind.

In the case of the USA, we don't give a crap cause we give all our jobs to China anyways. We love importing.

[Izrabeth]

Why are other countries so picky? I don't get it.

I think the idea is to encourage people to buy domestically, instead of sending money out of the country.

Right, but they never ever accounted for the rise of internet and private party sales. So now you have an old granny paying a $20 fee on an item that she got from another old granny for $50 that was made in the USSR 50 years ago. Kind of stupid.

Here in Italy it's just a way to suck more money from us with the excuse of "buy domestically" as said, so it's kinda out of the norm, we have to pay fees on everything, I am waiting a new fee on also the oxygen you breath one of these days 

I completely agree with Rocking, it's so stupid, they should apply only on new items so it's really import and not on items ooak that you can only find outside your country 
USA customs are really better for what I understand, lucky you!

[Enolaalone]

Why are other countries so picky? I don't get it.

I think the idea is to encourage people to buy domestically, instead of sending money out of the country.

Right, but they never ever accounted for the rise of internet and private party sales. So now you have an old granny paying a $20 fee on an item that she got from another old granny for $50 that was made in the USSR 50 years ago. Kind of stupid.

They should really only apply the fee for people that are buying items that are newly manufactured and items that are NOT one of a kind.

In the case of the USA, we don't give a crap cause we give all our jobs to China anyways. We love importing.

The problem I have with it is that the fee I have to pay is normally only around £2/3, but then Royal Mail whacks on an additional £10 fee for 'handing'. But you have to handle all my post all the time and you don't charge me for that! Argh.

[ponylady]

Yes, you are most certainly subjected to customs fee's when purchasing outside of the US. It all depends on what the value of the package is marked just like with other countries.  In general, packages with a value of less than US$200 will not require any duty charges.  I am not saying that they will not charge on something lower but as a general rule it's that $200 mark that triggers it.   

I have also heard others say that the risk for paying customs into US is higher w/ Fed-Ex & UPS, I have no clue if that is really true or even matters but I have heard it mentioned more than once.

Does customs pay attention to how many packages you are getting from out of the country here in the USA?

Personal shipments worth up to US$200, and gift packages worth up to US$100, will pass duty-free as long as the recipient does not receive multiple packages in a single day whose cumulative value is more than these amounts. And I am not sure this actually holds true unless they want to try and determine your a dealer/reseller.  And with it being vintage toys I doubt it will raise any red flags.

[tulagirl]

@ Ponylady, yea see I have had issues when leaving the country and shopping out of the country...then bringing it back into the USA.  Custom agents wanted papers and receipts of everything I bought.  I knew my limit back then and didn't go over it, but this makes a lot more since with what I have experienced leaving this country and coming back.  I don't think I am even close to the 200.00 mark...maybe not even 100 either.  So I guess I am okay for now.

[HawaiianRain]

@ Ponylady, yea see I have had issues when leaving the country and shopping out of the country...then bringing it back into the USA.  Custom agents wanted papers and receipts of everything I bought.  I knew my limit back then and didn't go over it, but this makes a lot more since with what I have experienced leaving this country and coming back.  I don't think I am even close to the 200.00 mark...maybe not even 100 either.  So I guess I am okay for now.

oh in person, they absolutely do give a rats two rears on what you declare coming back into this country. My sister and I found this out when walking to and from Canada via the bridge.