I am trying to find out if anyone here has experience with buying a cartridge or similar item from a UK dealer, (or other outside US source), and what if any costs are assoc. with duty/import fees or taxes? I get mixed signals from my own investigations and few real answers.
for export, the price you're quoted should be "ex VAT" or excluding value added taxes. depends on the retailer/country some add the tax in their webprice others quote prices net of any taxes. at any rate you shouldnt pay the local tax of the home country.
I looked into importing a Reel to Reel deck from UK and after searching a while, found a customs pdf that basically showed very low rates below 5% for just about anything to do with audio. I just looked and now they have an interactive online version of the file (it was a pain to search through 100+ page version I used). Here is the link: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/offsiteR...ade/trade_programs/duty_rates/determining.xml
The key thing is to have it marked with the right customs category per the above doc as opposed to description of the product.
We buy a lot of stuff on eBay from UK and occasionally other countries as well. If items are shipped by Post, we have never had an issue with the payment of duty or other fees. I suspect that if you purchase from a commercial business and that business prepares a commercial customs declaration, and the value is a "significant amount" then you would encounter some interest in collecting duty and, possible, use tax (depending on the state).