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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: shawnm on June 09, 2021, 07:15:02 AM

Title: Duties or other surprise expenses when importing from China
Post by: shawnm on June 09, 2021, 07:15:02 AM

I'm thinking of importing 24 100ah LiFePO4 cells from China to power a trike. I know i have an $800 threshold before US customs kicks in. I checked the Harmonization schedule and it doesn't look like there is an additional duty.   Has anyone done such a purchase and is there anything I'm missing? I don't want to be surprised and blow my budget.

thanks
Shawn

Title: Re: Duties or other surprise expenses when importing from China
Post by: Crissa on June 09, 2021, 12:53:20 PM

All I'd worry about is that they're heavy, and might have some extra shipping.

-Crissa

Title: Re: Duties or other surprise expenses when importing from China
Post by: Richard230 on June 09, 2021, 07:46:34 PM

And they will arrive by sea in a shipping container, which is going to take a long time as both ships and shipping containers are in short supply right now. When I crossed the SF Bay Bridge a couple of weeks ago, container ships were parked all over the Bay waiting to access the Port of Oakland and unload their cargo. The news media at the time was saying that the line of ships waiting to get into the Port were backed up for many miles into the Pacific Ocean. So the time that it takes for your batteries to arrive and their shipping costs are likely to be of more concern than the import duty fees. Perhaps Customs has a website with specific information regarding their import fees. Any other costs would likely relate to shipping and delivery to your home.