Buying from China

[dishblue]

I have found a piece of electronic test equipment from China

$100-200 Dollars How do I know what if any import duties or taxes

that there may be . I am in Idaho.

Thank you, Jim.

[thallidguy]

You can verify this with US Customs, but I believe the current exemption is $800. So you would not have to pay duty for importing a $200 item unless it was part of a larger single purchase.

However, there are hazards to buying from sellers in China, who may deliver less than they promised, or a counterfeit of what they promised, or they may not deliver at all.

[precious--metals]

so you wanna buy and deal with China, goodluck...bahahaha!!! 

[onthelake4854]

Buy from CHina   - WOW!!!

Like gambling do you?

When I'm searching for something I ALWAYS restrict it to North America to get rid of the CHinese dreck and too-iffy-for-words-Chinese-sellers

But hey if you like jumping out of a plane without a parachute, you will love buying from CHina

[mudshark61369]

@dishblue,

Have you noticed everyone else is warning you about buying from Chinese sellers?  There are good reasons for that.   If the piece of equipment normally sells for much more, than what the seller has it listed for, the quality will not be the same.  There is also a good chance the seller will not perform or try to scam you if there is a problem.  You may also receive instruction in chinese characters or so poorly translated, you can't figure them out.

[chrysylys]

I've only had a few problems and they've been minor and easily resolved.  I've had more problems with US based sellers to be honest who have been overtly beligerant.

[rolenboy01]

I would strongly advise against ever spending more than 30 dollars on any item coming from china.

[d-k_treasures]

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@rolenboy01 wrote:

I would strongly advise against ever spending more than 30 dollars on any item coming from china ...

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... a year.

[springa392012]

I've only had a few problems and they've been minor and easily resolved. I've had more problems with US based sellers to be honest who have been overtly beligerant.
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In my experience, US based sellers and overseas, particularly Chinese based sellers have no any difference. Rather, all depends on characters of sellers. Some are good, but unfortunately few of those sellers have no caring characters to deal with. However, I never purchased any items from China more than $50.
You may look at Seller's feedback along with non-bias opinions from others.

[chrysylys]

Got a $4 item this morning.  Sent out December 27, just a few hours after I placed the order.  Tracking number they uploaded that shows on the Purchase page was in a slightly different format ( ID************CN ) that couldn't be tracked along the way.  Small white poly envelope is marked 'Internal use only, no need to scan.' just under the tracking number and bar code.  Estimated arrival was 1/12 - 2/15 and as in this case, it's fairly usual for me to get them earlier than later in that window.

[ed8108]

 my opinion:

    Buy from the  U. S. A.

[mob-rules]

Anything electrical from China BEWARE and make sure the ground wire is really attached and is making a ground connection (worst offender for cutting them or not attaching them is China).  Make sure all transistor (mosfets) are securely attached to their heatsinks as well.

Up to $1,600 in goods will be duty-free under your personal exemption in the USA

Up to $800 in goods will be duty-free if it is from a CBI or Andean country.  CBI stands for Caribbean Basin Initiative.

Basically we have it easy for import duties in the world and the $1600 is what you will go with when dealing with China.

[rixstuff]

There arent any but my guess is one of two things will happen - you will NEVER get the item OR you will get a cheap piece of junk that you will not be able to return for a refund of any kind ever.  As Judge Milian says on People's Court, "The cheap comes out expensive."