I bought a pair of ProAc, UK built speakers in Canada and drove them across the border, myself, so I got to watch firsthand the U.S. customs process unfold.
The customs agent correctly figured out, with my help, that duty needed to be paid since the speakers were not built in the U.S. or Canada but what ensued was about 20 minutes of watching the agent flip through hundreds of pages in what looked like the Manhattan phone book, filled with product listings and duty rates, all written in 7 point type.
With a lot of help from me she did find an area for speakers made in the UK but the number of possible choices for the percentage of duty to be paid overwhelmed both of us. In the end, she just picked a line, apologized for the whole process and charged me something like 7%. It was clear what I was charged was almost completely arbitrary.
In another case I bought a pair of Linn speakers from a guy in Toronto and had them shipped to Seattle. There was no sign of any duty charges when they arrived but I got a bill from U.S. customs more than two months later for about $60 on an $1,100 purchase.
The customs agent correctly figured out, with my help, that duty needed to be paid since the speakers were not built in the U.S. or Canada but what ensued was about 20 minutes of watching the agent flip through hundreds of pages in what looked like the Manhattan phone book, filled with product listings and duty rates, all written in 7 point type.
With a lot of help from me she did find an area for speakers made in the UK but the number of possible choices for the percentage of duty to be paid overwhelmed both of us. In the end, she just picked a line, apologized for the whole process and charged me something like 7%. It was clear what I was charged was almost completely arbitrary.
In another case I bought a pair of Linn speakers from a guy in Toronto and had them shipped to Seattle. There was no sign of any duty charges when they arrived but I got a bill from U.S. customs more than two months later for about $60 on an $1,100 purchase.