Official Luthiers Forum!

Oops, disregard my previous post, I forgot Sadowsky archtops are actually made in Japan and then sent to the shop in NYC for fretwork and final setup. All the parts with the exception of the pickup, pots, and frets are from Japan so I guess NAFTA doesn't apply. So, I guess the customs folks knew what they were doing.

John

Stop guessing and arguing with us here, and contact the folks who sent you the bills. If they made a mistake, they will owe up to it and make it good, and if it wasn't a mistake, they will explain it to you so that you understand it completely. That goes for both you, and the other fella. There's a phone number on the bill somewhere, for you to call when there's a mistake or disagreement and you wish to contest the charges.

Sorry this all happened to you guys, but stop blaming the system; the system works, when the system is understood.

I just shipped a guitar to Taiwan from California. $150 FedEx Express.

What if you insure the instrument through Clarion Musical Instrument insurance,then when you ship it declare the value as $150.

NAFTA is great if you have all the proper paperwork with the parcel. If you don't issues can arise.

There are a couple things that should be on every guitarists list of things to look into. That is the Lacey Act, an endangered species law

http://www.eia-global.org/lacey/P6.EIA.LaceyReport.pdf

and CITES, another endangered species and trade organization.

http://www.cites.org/

The border people were going full throttle on these this last summer. So if you have Brazilian, pearl, ivory and a few other things on your guitar you'd better have proper documentation if you hope to avoid problems.

I always ship with the postal system and never get the brokerage issue. An interesting point that was told to me by a PO worker is that for the larger item, ie. guitars, they use UPS or FEDX. Makes one wonder why the hugh brokerage fee with those other guys but not the PO.

_________________
How can I be lost? I'm always right here!

Brokerage fees from UPS are only $5 if you have a UPS account (and your stuff usually goes through customs instantly).

If you don't have an account, then they could broker a parcel (paying the taxes, etc, upfront on your behalf) and find out that there's not even an address to deliver it to...which leaves them high and dry. Since the post office is a government agency, they can collect the taxes at their end instead of having to pay them to border services to get the package across the border, and so they have no risk for a no-show addressee.

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I have an account Bob but I guess it is not the right one. I just got an $85 UPS bill......

Shane

_________________
Canada