Datasheet Fluff

:Ross Herbert wrote: :> NOT levied against the importer UNLESS the value of the goods would attract duty : :Right. But here, you're talking about duty, not the screening charge. :The components I've brought in don't attract duty in any quantity.

I have never been asked to pay a "screening charge" either. This may only occur if a package is so large as to attract the interest of Customs where they actually do put it through an physical inspection process such as x-ray or whatever. If Customs do "screen" items all they usually do is look at the Douane notice to check the contents and declared value and if the value is so low that it would not attract a duty of $100 it is simply ignored. If everyone were asked to pay $48 for a Customs officer to simply look at a sticker then heaven help us all. For 99% of items imported by hobbyists or electronics techs this is not an issue I would think.

Further to the above, here is the official guideline for Australian small business importers.

"All goods imported into Australia must be cleared by Customs, whether arriving by air, sea or post. While imports of low value will generally be released by Customs for delivery direct to consignees, importers are responsible for obtaining a formal Customs clearance for goods above set value limits (currently $250 for goods imported by sea and air cargo and $1000 for goods imported through the postal system)."

Ref

So, I read this as 'if you import a consignment via the postal system, which has a declared value of less than $1000, it does not require a formal clearance.'

I presume this means the goods will generally be released directly to the consignee without additional charges, which would include most electronic component imports.

:Further to the above, here is the official guideline for Australian small :business importers. : :"All goods imported into Australia must be cleared by :Customs, whether arriving by air, sea or post. While :imports of low value will generally be released by Customs for :delivery direct to consignees, importers are responsible for :obtaining a formal Customs clearance for goods above set :value limits (currently $250 for goods imported by sea and air :cargo and $1000 for goods imported through the postal :system)." : : :Ref

: : :So, I read this as 'if you import a consignment via the postal system, which has :a declared value of less than $1000, it does not require a formal clearance.' : :I presume this means the goods will generally be released directly to the :consignee without additional charges, which would include most electronic :component imports.

And furthermore, unless I am mistaken, the Customs Tariff schedule for electronic components, eg. categories 8541 and 8542, are free of any tariff.

So it seems that duty on the value of imported components is the only thing which might be levied, and then only in certain circumstances.

So, you're not only cattle, but they have you stump trained, as well. :(

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

How many hours do you want to spend in lines? Seriously. I've been in line going south and know some who have done it by hand going north. BTW they generally don't check the package just the paperwork. Brokerage is about duty and taxes not security or contraband. They also do a check for items like FCC/DOT certification and forbidden agricultural goods.

UPS does offer the option of specifying your own broker. You might be able to use that and fax forms back and forth to customs.

Actually UPS seems somewhat inconsistent on brokerage. They offer me the choice of using them or specifying another broker. My sister received a package recently and they gave her the choice of clearing it herself or specifying a broker. They didn't give her the option of having the UPS briker habdle it. She did it herself going back and forth between two facilities in Toronto to get it done.

Yep, I've schedule somewhere. UPS wants to have me sign up with them. They do offer a discount when you do that.

It could still be cheaper than buying locally. A number of companies seem to view their Canadian distributers as if they were isolated small markets and mark up the prices accordingly. Test instrument companies seem very well represented in this category. My most recent experience with this was a Fluke current clamp. The Canadian Distributer pricing was not only higher than the US pricing but the difference was more than enough to accomodate the brokerage.

I tried to get an answer from Newark as to why they charged such a difference and received no response. I ended up importing it myself.

Sometimes this is the manufacturer imposing some sort of country based pricing scheme and charging the local distributors more. Sometimes it's the distributer taking a bigger markup. In either case they have nor caught up with the fact that it's a largely North American market and we will go elsewhere to buy. Some of them, particularly booksellers and auto manufacturers, were rather vigorously introduced to that idea when the dollar recently hit parity.

Robert

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small

international

low-value

Maybe not but it's contained within a country with 10x the population and rather less land mass. In fact from your descriptions I suspect I live in an area of greater urban concentration than you do. However, some of the expense for servicing the less populous area's of the nation ends up being supported by th emore populous parts so the average population density does have an effect. Explicitly so for postal services.

I'm slowly doing that. Most of what I order comes via Digikey or Newark and they charge a simple flat fee for shipping so they are not an issue anyway. The charge only comes up a few times a year so it doesn't end up being something that I can justify spending a lot of time on.

Interestingly, I found out DHLs low brokerage fees because of Delphi. They insisted on a shipping account to charge. I gave them Purolators (and Purolators number) expecting they'd end up insisting on a US carrier. Surprisingly they perservered and apparently Purolator has an agreement with DHL, I ended up paying Purolator for shipping and DHL sent me a bill for brokerage.

Robert

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I'll be buying about $10000 in equipment in the next year or two.. I figure it's worth doing the homework to become a broker. (Ex: How I pay customs the GST and PST) Involves a fax bounce?? .. Ugh... :( Cancelled my land line, sold my fax modem and only use a cell. I have no idea if I can fax with my cell phone linked to my computer. (No data cable too.) I think I can only 'fax out' using a web to fax service. (10 cents a fax.) Dunno if I can do fax free brokering...

D from BC British Columbia Canada.

[...]

When living in Europe the book stores rarely made a dime off of me. All technical books were ordered from the US.

Probably have to find a web service that does give you a fax number and forwards. It won't be cheap. I am an advocate for keeping at least one land line. Various reasons. One, lengthy power outages where some cell towers exhaust their batteries and don't have a diesel. Two, if your broadband goes down you can still use dial-up to get that important schematic or whatever.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Nah. Brokers are licensed and regulated 3rd parties. You just want to know how to clear stuff yourself. Pick up a brochure at CBSA or at their website. Brokers have to know about all kinds of arcane things.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it\'s the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

Ahhh... I used the wrong word.. Not becoming a broker, I think it's 'importer'. I did a quick look at:

Ugh... :( Looks like lots of reading. Canada post brokerage is looking much better now. :) And if 'importing' takes a long time to learn, even UPS brokerage might not be so bad*. :P

*From a short term point of view.

But being a bit of a do everything knowledge junkie, (Heck! I do my own taxes.), I'll probably learn importing too..

D from BC British Columbia Canada.

One way or another you have to pay to deal with the paperwork at the border. You can either pay brokerage, spend the time to fill out and pass around the paperwork or let Digikey put it in their prices and shipping charge.

Digikey doesn't charge much for shipping, less than I could ship a similar sized parcel down the road. So to get the border paperwork dealt with at the same time I would consider a bargain.

Robert

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Sure drive out to UPS's import compound and pick up the import paperwork. Drive over to wherever the customs clearance it set up, fill out the required forms and get the proper clearance information in return and drive it back to UPS. Simple :)

It might be cheaper and faster just to use Staples for faxing.

Really the hardest part is probably figuring out items like the SIC if they haven't been filled in, or country of origin. It really doesn't take long though to eat up the brokerage charge.

Robert

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Now this begs the question: Why don't we have those high brokerage fees in the US? Can't remember them from Europe either but that's been a while. And ok, there I often went and picked up the package at customs myself or had them send it over and pay the tariff and VAT.

Could it be that the Canadian system is just to freaking convoluted? Time to clean house a bit and ditch some bureacracy? Maybe along with some bureacrats ...

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Import compound? Huh...

Do I tell an E*bay seller (US) to ship the package to the closest UPS import compound (BC) for pickup? I suppose somehow UPS has to be told not to invoice me for GST, PST nor brokerage.

I guess I can pay the GST and PST at the customs clearance.

D from BC British Columbia Canada.

No, the compound is just a stop on the way not a destination. It can even be a virtual location if the package can be cleared before it arrives.

You pay that along with any duty owing. Actually they may just leave you to pay PST on your honour.

Robert

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

I suspect they are just hidden differently. At least in the US, I've run into as much paperwork shipping to the US as importing from it. Proabably somewhat coloured by sitting in US customs waiting for a clerk to get around to me. And as I said from experience I know it's not unusual for a Canadian exporter to have to pay for brokerage in both directions.

There's also an issue with the shipping companies. When some of them charge 7x their competitors it seems a trifle odd. Maybe the more etablished couriers are using brokerage as a convienent profit centre?

You won't find me disagreeing with the idea that the import/export process is too complicated. Partly from centuries of accumulation, partly from dividing products into a million different types from a million different places each with their own rules. The rules BTW are largely the same for both the US and Canada, that was the real effect of the FTA and its successors. Even after all of that most import/export appears to be covered by a few documents

There are a number of initiatives in place to make border crossing easier but they seemed to be aimed larger scale importers/exporters.

I suspect the only way it will get much easier is with a customs union but I don't think either country is ready for that.

Really considering the amount of trade between the two countries, I think the issues are likely rather specific. In my case I suspect shifting as much of the non-Digikey traffic to DHL as I can will make a good deal of difference.

Robert

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Whereas you're the sort of cattle that'll go to war on your country's say-so, then spend the rest of your life complaining about how much it hurts. War is meant to hurt - but you thought it was ok because it was only going to hurt non-Americans. Pretty-much exemplifies the rest of my post.

Clifford Heath.

What are you bleating about now? i spent my time in service as a broadcast engineer.

My, you're deluded. I was never in a combat zone, but apparently your few working neurons were.

Yes, it does and you should be VERY ashamed of yourself for being so ignorant of those you damn.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Oh. Ok. You've gone on about how the government hasn't looked after its veterans, so I assumed you were one, and your health issues were from that. Sorry.