BaCHbird

[Basvarken]

I'm sorry to hear that. How much did they charge you for?

[bassvirtuoso]

I received a customs duty invoice for my Bachbird today from the shipper TNT. This is the first time I have ever purchased a bass or anything else from outside the USA and was not expecting it. Did all of you other buyers receive a similar invoice? Thanks.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear. Although I had the bass shipped to my work address and we didn't get an invoice in the mail...

[saltymonkey]

I'm sorry to hear that. How much did they charge you for?

$74.02. Ouch. It says the actual duty is $44.02. There is a $15.00 TNT handling fee and another $15.00 charge coded as PI, a residence fee-duty.

[Basvarken]

That is outrageous!  None of this was told when I had a DPD employee at my office to explain how shipping to USA works!

[Hornisse]

Looks like we are feeling the customs duty love like you guys in Europe have to endure when we ship to you.  My original series Bach was shipped via EMS through USPS mail.  I did not have to pay any duty charges using this shipping method. 

[godofthunder]

I was going to pm you Rob, but yeah I got the same thing in the mail.

[saltymonkey]

Oh well. What can you do? If there's a customs duty, there's a customs duty. I guess we're fooked. But the additional handling charges are kind of BS. Did DPD contract TNT to handle the shipping once the basses landed here?

[bassvirtuoso]

Mine was hand delivered by Fedex, does that make a difference? I'm still at work, but I'm wondering now if I got one sent to my billing address. Anyone else ship to a business?

[stiles72]

$74.02. Ouch. It says the actual duty is $44.02. There is a $15.00 TNT handling fee and another $15.00 charge coded as PI, a residence fee-duty.

I purchased a Fender P-bass from Ishibashi Music in Japan back in 2007, and that's roughly what I had to pay at the Post Office for duty + fees.

[TBird1958]

I've never had an invoice like that show up for any purchase, including Japan, Germany, U.K., or either of Bach's - Hmmm.

[godofthunder]

Well it is what it is. No big deal.

[saltymonkey]

Exactly. No one could have known. Sh*t happens.

[Dave W]

No big deal if it's legitimate, but I wouldn't automatically take their word for it that duty is owed on musical instruments imported from the EU. Worth checking out to be sure.

[saltymonkey]

I've been looking into it a bit. Basically what I've read so far in a couple of different places says: Import tax (also known as an import duty or import tariff) is collected by US Customs on every import that comes into the US. And the duty is a percentage based on the value of the imported item.

[Denis]

Yeah, I got one today too, for the sum of $76.72. 

I didn't get one for the first BaCH I got, but that one was delivered by the USPS, so maybe TNT has some hidden lingo somewhere.