shipping customs question

[crashandcari 0]

Since Crash and I are having FedEx pick up the first shipment of his stuff to come here (YEA ) he wants to know this:

Has anyone who shipped stuff over prior to coming over (he's coming in 4 weeks) - what did you put on the customs forms? Specifically, did it matter that the date you shipped your stuff was before the date you entered the country?

Not sure if we are asking exactly the right question but hopefully someone will/can understand us... LOL

Thanks...

(Yes I know this is also posted in Off Topic but we try to get answers before morning...)

[crashandcari 0]

Nevermind... we got what we needed thanks anyway

[zyggy 9]

Nevermind... we got what we needed thanks anyway

If you ship your stuff beforre you enter the US.. it is subject to duty..

If you ship your stuff after you have entered the US, it is not subject to duty..

[dark faery 0]

well, my husband and I shipped our belongings to the states before we left Australia.

the moving company told us that our goods will not be subject to duty, as long as they are "used" and for personal use. so they can't be for commercial use, nor can they be gifts for others. also, you only have one copy of each. like one copy of a video game- if you have five, they'll assume it's for commercial purposes. I think the rule is that they have to be owned by you for at least a year, but as our company told us, "how will they really know if you haven't owned every single little item for exactly a year?"

not much of a problem for us, though, because everything we shipped was over a year old. but I don't think customs has the time to go through every item in every box they recieve to verify its age. it'd make them even more inefficiant.

[kahluagal 0]

glad I came across this - I'm in the process of shipping my stuff finally, but having the damnest time trying to estimate how much it's all worth - haven't seen all the stuff in months so i can't remember...

[Fuzzness 2]

i'm rather confused myself. if you are shipping your own stuff to yourself, how do you declare that on the customs form?

[Jasman0717 9]

[dark faery 0]

i'm rather confused myself. if you are shipping your own stuff to yourself, how do you declare that on the customs form?

well, we put the "from" address as our names and our address in Australia and the "to" address again as our names and the address we wanted them to deliver to in America. we could have chosen to have the company put it in storage for us and keep it there for as many months as we'd like (for a price, of course) but we wanted it to our house. pretty simple.

anyway, that is what we put on the shipping and customs forms.

then, we just checked the appropriate boxes for what category our goods fell under and gave them an itemized list.

[Simurg 0]

i'm rather confused myself. if you are shipping your own stuff to yourself, how do you declare that on the customs form?

well, we put the "from" address as our names and our address in Australia and the "to" address again as our names and the address we wanted them to deliver to in America. we could have chosen to have the company put it in storage for us and keep it there for as many months as we'd like (for a price, of course) but we wanted it to our house. pretty simple.

anyway, that is what we put on the shipping and customs forms.

then, we just checked the appropriate boxes for what category our goods fell under and gave them an itemized list.

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask you something about shipping the belongings. I will move my stuff from Turkey to the Seattle but I don't know how to do it. I have many books and other things. As far as i know, I will be able to carry 2 luggage with me which they will not be more than 32 kilos. It wont be enough for me. What am I going to do?

Thanks,

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask you something about shipping the belongings. I will move my stuff from Turkey to the Seattle but I don't know how to do it. I have many books and other things. As far as i know, I will be able to carry 2 luggage with me which they will not be more than 32 kilos. It wont be enough for me. What am I going to do?

Thanks,

I think you may want to look for a commercial shipper who ships internationally - that may work out cheaper then sending them by courier or post. When I moved from Canada we hired a moving company to transport my belongings (yes, a lot of books as well) and we had to make sure they were able to ship to the US. As well, in order for my belongings to arrive duty free I had to enter the US first, then fax a copy of the I-94 I received at the border back to the company. They had to show it to the customs agent when the truck carrying my belongings crossed the border. It was not cheap and we had to pay the movers prior to when they arrived to pick up the goods and then trust everything got picked up. Thank goodness for friends who are willing to help!

Good luck.