Shipping clothes and other items to my home in America

[yemmie]

Hi Guys,

 

I have read some of the posts here already, and have used the link that takes you to the rules for Non-residents/first time immigrants. I think my girl qualifies as this so she /I will not have to pay duties on her clothes, and other personal items she has shipped here, nor on any household items. I understand the packing it up and having a fairly accurate inventory list for clearing customs. Here's what I am not clear on:

 

Is it possible to have the stuff shipped directly to my home, or do I have to actually go to the port of entry and clear it in some way and pick it up there myself?

 

If I have to go to clear it, is it possible to have the stuff sent to a local port so I don't have to go too far to get it?

 

I have read a few posts in which Toplaw made reference to boxes of his girls'stuff arriving, but I did not know if they came to his home, or if he had to go pick them up at the POE. Toppy, if you read this, I'd love to hear from you. In fact, maybe I should PM you about it.

 

Can anyone recommend a good shipping company that will be reliable and reasonable?

 

Thanks as always.

[Toplaw]

Yemmie, first of all, congratulations on your visa. I know you guys are very happy.

 

Over time Ping shipped probably 35-40 boxes to me. She shipped them to my law firm, but only because there is always someone there to receive them. All of the boxes were delivered to my law firm, with no need to go to a POE.

 

The best we could tell, they only opened and inspected one of the many boxes. It had a paper inside telling us that they had opened it to inspect it. It contained, among other things, a very large and heavy jade piece of art. That may be why they opened that box. All we know is that of all the boxes that were shipped, this is the only one with significant breakage.

 

The jade artwork was really messed up. I was actually tempted to throw it away, but Ping asked me to repair it as best I could. Once she got here, she spent a lot of time with oil and elbow grease to make it shine. She also told me that it cost $4,000, which explains her desire to repair it rather than throw it away.

 

We used China Post. On average it took about 2.5 months for a box to arrive.

 

Use bubble wrap, is my recommendation. Ping had never heard of it, but it probably would have protected the jade piece of art.

[chilton747]

My wife ships boxes of tea to me. I takes about 40-50 days and it is delivered to my house. She uses China post as well. These are very large boxes with a lot of tea and customs does go through it well. Toplaw's suggestion of bubble wrap is a good one. My wife still hasn't learned how to ship tea without it getting damaged.

[Sebastian]

I can't remember which freight forwarder I used when i moved out of Guangzhou..

 

But - here's a list with contact numbers -

http://www.freightnet.com/country/28-W

 

I remember that I had to box up stuff that was 'boxable', and then the few delicate items I had - a crating service crew from the forwading company came out and crated the stuff.

 

Then - they made a larger crate right there with big plywood, and packed my boxes and smaller crates into it.

 

It cleared customs in usa easily cause it my was personal effects.

 

A truck picked it up in Guangzhou, and a truck delivered it to my House in the USA. It took about 5 weeks shipping time, was a boat inbetween.

 

A Forwarder should be able to handle it all, door (in China) to door (in USA). There's a lot of underlying paperwork with consigning and customs, but once you make a manifest? yer done - it's someone else's troubles with the paperwork.

 

NOTHING was opened, NOTHING was broken. The crate was 10 feet long by 50 inches wide by 50 inches tall, made out of plywood and other types o wood.

 

Course, hers will be a bit different, if you have to think about some guidelines for being an immigrant - I know nothing about that. I hold the opinion that if it's marked personal effects, none of it is dutiable, regardless of the country of origin, coming into the USA. (I could be wrong, of course)

Edited September 5, 2008 by Darnell (see edit history)