Where 'lately' could mean since the 29 August loss of the de minimis duty exemption? If so, how did that go?
You could message them and ask. They've always been quick to respond when I've had a question. On the front page there's a "Messages" link.
Hi Fred: I'm Sara from the prius ABS thread. You suggested posting my question to you.....thanks & here it is: Thanks for the help. Now,,, if only someone could help me with my indoor fireplace insert. Pilot working but not lighting big burner. Double hooded pilot is lighting; I've cleaned the flame sensor with steel wool but still not lighting. Grrrrr....service wait is 3 weeks. Yes, I've learned my lesson to check fire place earlier in the season before service schedules fill up. Anyway, Thanks for the help.
Had to look up what Amawhatever was - so I'm a 'no' on that. HOWEVER (comma!!!) I have looked into ordering a gently used HF transceiver recently and if I'm accurately informed, the de-minimus duty was lowered from $800 to $65 for the 15% duty. My state charges sales taxes for on-line purchases - so I guess the feds want to get paid now too. As stated above, my information may be old and inaccurate. SO.... meh. An exemption is the process of being free from an obligation or liability imposed on others - and given the way "the rest of the nations do it" I don't really have a problem with paying my taxes in this case. Import duties have been around for a while - which is why we used to call USCG boats "Revenue Cutters."
I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. I did write "de minimis duty exemption", but that doesn't mean there's such a thing as 'de minimis duty'; it meant there usta be a "de minimis exemption" from all the bureaucratic procedure of being an importer (of which paying the applicable duty is one small part), if the value of the thing you're importing is small enough. Before things cropped up like Amayama or Alibaba, usually you couldn't practically buy a thing in the US unless there was some US company acting as importer and US distributor. Under the law, if you buy some product abroad and have it shipped in, that makes you an importer, and you have all the responsibilities that come with that: making sure it's a thing allowed in, complies with US trade regs, that it meets US standards, and that you can send someone to the customs impound in Los Angeles or wherever the shipment unloads, to pay whatever duties are applicable and claim the merch and load it for the domestic leg of its shipment journey. A little understanding of how that worked went a long way to answering questions like "how come I can see the factory in Shenzhen sells, like, a hundred of these for 900 yuan but I have to pay $20 for just one at Walmart? It's not just some unreasonable markup, you're also paying Walmart for doing all that work an importer has to do. If you're not located close enough to the port of entry to send your own people to get your incoming merch through customs, you can hire a customs broker located near there, and send them. And I'm sure it's become more convenient these days, with international shipping services that will handle the customs-broker chores as well and it just all shows up on your shipping bill. Still, that doesn't make them the importer; they're just your agent, and all the legal importer obligations and paperwork are on you. This recent era where it's been easy to just go online and find the thingy you want for cheap and have it show up on your doorstep, just like something you buy from a domestic seller, has kind of been made possible by the de minimis exemption that allowed you to place a cheap order for one thingy without putting yourself in the whole business of being an importer. So I'm kind of wondering how the business models of the Amayamas and Alibabas are going to adapt.
