De Minimis (Duty/Tax free threshold) Increase to $800 in the U.S.

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braddie

Young grasshopper
Jan 19, 2016
63
9
Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere: effective March 10th 2016, the previous duty/tax free threshold of $200 for personal mail shipments to the US has increased to $800. That means you folks no longer have to order one camera at a time and you can save a few bucks by shipping multiple items together.

Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/2016-03-11-000000/de-minimis-value-increases-800

(I'm jealous, we've got a US $15 limit and on top of it the couriers charge exorbitant fees for "brokerage" :sad2:)
 
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Interesting. That is good news for a lot of us. $800 is a much easier target to stay under when buying cameras.

braddie said:
(I'm jealous, we've got a US $15 limit and on top of it the couriers charge exorbitant fees for "brokerage" :sad2:)
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I'm guessing you are from Canada because I hear they have really annoying customs?? I always chuckle when people ask where to buy something or ask about "local laws" or import duties without even saying which country they are from.
 
bp2008 said:
Interesting. That is good news for a lot of us. $800 is a much easier target to stay under when buying cameras.

I'm guessing you are from Canada because I hear they have really annoying customs?? I always chuckle when people ask where to buy something or ask about "local laws" or import duties without even saying which country they are from.
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You guessed right! Customs are actually fine here, they're just following the rules and they are fairly lenient for packages through the regular postal system. It's the couriers that are really loving the $20 Cdn/~$15 US threshold. Examples from this past week: DHL wanted me to pay $21 for a package with a value of $49, $18 for another at $23 and $28 for $72. I told them to bugger off and cleared the packages through customs my self saving $50. There is no duty on most electronics and I don't mind paying tax on the packages, but I will not stand for the dirty games all the couriers play. They are dishonest about their fees and often lie about things to force you to accept their brokerage. I had some hope this past week because there was a proposal for the government to increase the $20 duty-free limit (which hasn't changed since 1985), but retailers lobbied against it and it didn't pass even though it costs customs $160 million to collect $40 on shipments under $80. (sorry about the rant, as you can tell I'm envious).
 
Cdn here too Eh! no matter what I buy its $15.00 lol and a gift ! my suppliers all good about it . I need 4 more cameras and will still ask for them to send individual or I might try two at a time at $20 total value. Never would I ask to go with DHL or UPS via states anyway always regular mail and wait longer but o well.
 
Jack B Nimble said:
Cdn here too Eh! no matter what I buy its $15.00 lol and a gift ! my suppliers all good about it . I need 4 more cameras and will still ask for them to send individual or I might try two at a time at $20 total value. Never would I ask to go with DHL or UPS via states anyway always regular mail and wait longer but o well.
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Just be aware that it's C$20 so barely US$15, and shipment values are in US$. So if the exchange rate changes in favour of the US$ by the time you get the package (which is very likely considering how slow regular mail is), and it goes over the C$20 even by a few cents you will get hit with tax AND an extra $10 per package that Canada post charges for customs clearance. If you have 2 sent together, it'll have to be ~US$7 per camera and there is a chance CBSA will do a reassessment and charge you whatever they want. "Gifts" from China are also a red flag for CBSA apparently.
 
braddie said:
Just be aware that it's C$20 so barely US$15, and shipment values are in US$. So if the exchange rate changes in favour of the US$ by the time you get the package (which is very likely considering how slow regular mail is), and it goes over the C$20 even by a few cents you will get hit with tax AND an extra $10 per package that Canada post charges for customs clearance. If you have 2 sent together, it'll have to be ~US$7 per camera and there is a chance CBSA will do a reassessment and charge you whatever they want. "Gifts" from China are also a red flag for CBSA apparently.
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The Chinese usually write $15.00 and I don't recall anywhere it says what currency on thier package. They should write 15 yuan lol
 
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