Best way to ship from Eu to USA
- Thread starter Sandmann
- Start date
cptbob
Well-known member
There are no customs duties to import antiques into the US (generally defined as over 100 years old). Just use the word "antique" in the description on the declaration and you should be OK. For something small like that you might be able to use Deutsche Post but they may make you use DHL which is a little pricier
mitunsUnogy
New member
ich hatte Recht 
mituns
mituns
GFMMackensen
Member
Speaking of shipping....I sent 5 "antique" medals to Australia in March and it was $71 since Australia ,I was told ,would only allow priority express shipping from the USA. A policy remnant of the COVID scare there, no doubt. I was also told it might go down again in the "future". Yesterday, I received a package from Australia about the same size and weight as what I originally sent. It was sent for 21 Australian Dollars . At 69 cents to the Australian Dollar that's $14.49. A visit to the post office came shortly thereafter. I was told the rate to ship to Australia had indeed gone down last month but now it was back on. Timing is everything!
Sandmann
Well-known member
Customs is very confusing. This time I sent it as „antique“ and it worked, as far as I know the receiver didn’t pay customs. But I had other tries where the receiver had to pay customs.
It is also the same with German customs. 2 times I received reference books from India and had to pay customs. The last time, same seller, same product and same package carrier, I had to pay nothing. I think it depends a lot on the customs officer.
It is also the same with German customs. 2 times I received reference books from India and had to pay customs. The last time, same seller, same product and same package carrier, I had to pay nothing. I think it depends a lot on the customs officer.
coert65
Well-known member
I think so too Sandy. I had helmets shipped to me from the US, sometimes had to pay nothing, and sometimes I had to pay customs charges.
dosty
Member
Here's a tale about shipping from Europe. A year ago, I purchased a high priced item from France. I had not dealt with the dealer before. He shipped it to me FedEx. As I recall, the label stated the year of the helmet (1896) but did not say "antique" or "over 100 years old". When it arrived at the FedEx center in Tennessee, they contacted me to say that I must pay a federal import tax for anything over $5,000 U.S. It was a couple hundred dollars. But worse, I had 3 days to pay before they sent it back. There was no time to argue about the "antique" status, so I did.
Not the end of the story. Ten months later, my State notified me that I owed sales taxes on it at 6.23%. They said that the Feds had notified them that I had made a purchase on which I might owe taxes. The short story was that I was now labeled an "Importer." My State doesn't care if it's an antique either. Plus there were 10 months of non-payment penalties accruing, of which they waived 85% of them. But I had to use 2 State computer systems that didn't talk with each other. Et cetera, blah, blah blah.
Lesson: it pays to work very closely with international vendors. Especially if they aren't familiar with shipping intricacies (and tricks), like certain German and British dealers are. It seems that if you can dodge the Feds, your State won't know.
[Side story: because of a foul up, the vendor was going to send my beautiful helmet to the U.S. Virgin Islands, not the mainland! Thanks to Google translator, my rusty French, and my hound dog librarian's nose in finding his personal phone number, we got that straightened out]
Vashka
Not the end of the story. Ten months later, my State notified me that I owed sales taxes on it at 6.23%. They said that the Feds had notified them that I had made a purchase on which I might owe taxes. The short story was that I was now labeled an "Importer." My State doesn't care if it's an antique either. Plus there were 10 months of non-payment penalties accruing, of which they waived 85% of them. But I had to use 2 State computer systems that didn't talk with each other. Et cetera, blah, blah blah.
Lesson: it pays to work very closely with international vendors. Especially if they aren't familiar with shipping intricacies (and tricks), like certain German and British dealers are. It seems that if you can dodge the Feds, your State won't know.
[Side story: because of a foul up, the vendor was going to send my beautiful helmet to the U.S. Virgin Islands, not the mainland! Thanks to Google translator, my rusty French, and my hound dog librarian's nose in finding his personal phone number, we got that straightened out]
Vashka