Valuation

Valuation

  • Value of carrier medium

    Question: We ship software licenses on pieces of paper.  These are for our proprietary company software.  In the past, before I got here, they would declare the customs value of the shipment as the value of the license itself (say, $3000).But I’ve always followed the practice that you declare the value of the carrier medium […]

  • US Sale drop shipped from China

    Question: The import scenario is such that we have a sale of hardware and software programming from US seller to unrelated US buyer.  The hardware is drop shipped from the Chinese manufacturer to US buyer.  The commercial invoice includes the price of the hardware and the price of the software that will be programmed and […]

  • Fair Market Value of Promotional Items

    Question: The supplier has shipped promotional items (pens, brochures, flash disks, baseball caps, scale) into a shipment that must be declared to CA Customs. The supplier has provided their view of the fair market value, but is there a valuable tool/resource to use when determining the appropriate market values to ensure the correct amount of […]

  • Assist? – Export and re-Import valuation

    Question: We are a trading company and we have an inquiry from a customer here to send the steel plates (HTS CODE 8543.30.9080) to a steel plant to process the coating. After the coating process, the steel plates will be sending back to our customer in USA. Here comes the questions, What is the correct […]

  • Repairable Part Customs Value

    Question: My company imports airplane parts to the US that need repair. What value would you declare for these parts? They are not usable so I don’t think we should declare them at their purchase price, but do you declare them at their repaired price? Answer 1: There are a number of rulings by CBP […]

  • Value for Customs Purposes only

    Question: We plan to export some equipment to an unrelated party in Chile.  We want to send it to this customer free of charge.  We do not expect to be paid by the recipient in Chile.  We intended to include the phrase “Value for customs purposes only” on the commercial invoice. We just received notification […]

  • discounts, valuation

    Question: Can anyone explain what an “unconditional price adjustment” is when discussing discounts related to an import?  It is part of the three part test CBP applies to determine the effect of discounts lowering customs value.  As for CBP, they purport to apply a three-part test for testing the effect of discounts lowering customs value: […]

  • Splitting Margin with the Seller – Customs Value

    Question: Good day. I was just informed by our sales department that for a specific container of product, when we sell the product, we will be sending the seller (the company we are buying the product from) half of the margin.  Does this factor into the price paid in any way? I could not think […]

  • Retail Packaging & Valuation

    Question: We are moving some packaging to a facility in Mexico. The process will include shipping excess product from our US location, that was already imported from our foreign vendors, to the facility in Mexico, and shipping product from our foreign vendors directly to the facility in Mexico. Once at the Mexican facility, they will […]

  • Assist

    Question: Is the term “Assist” generally only used in the US?  I have found valuation rules for other countries requiring that tools/molds, detail parts, and consumables provided for free must be added to declared value for imports, but they did not specifically call them Assists.  I’m developing a valuation guide for a multinational corporation, and […]

  • Value of Used Computers

    Question: My company is considering importing company owned used and no longer in use computers to scrap in the U.S.  These computers were originally leased but the lease was bought out during the pandemic and have since depreciated on the company books to a zero value.  I am working to determine the customs value of […]

  • Export return value

    Question: Hello, I have a supplier located in China. We imported 90 pcs @ $60 EA. HTS code 8542399000. We had an issue with these parts and need to return them to the supplier. The supplier has asked that we return on a commercial invoice showing the price as $3 EA HTS code 8542399000. To […]