Import and export Question

[JonRon]

Hello Shrimpers,

Need some advice for the ones who Import and Export.

I am living in Germany. I was told that if my shipment is under $1000. I do not Need any custom paperwork to ship Shrimp to the U.S. I only have to place invoice inside and outside of package.

Questions I have.

would the one receiving the Shrimp in the states need some form of customs paperwork or no?

If I was to ship a package with UPS or DHL would the receiving Party Need to go to the Airport to pick up package, or should it be shipped to their home?

[chappy6107]

I dont know about the paper work side, but at one point I wanted to buy a few bettas from some one in Thailand and was told that I would have to use a transhipper once it arrived in the U.S.  It drove the price up so high for shipping that it no long made sense.  Hopefully someone else will chime in with better info.

[afeather]

3 hours ago, chappy6107 said:

I dont know about the paper work side, but at one point I wanted to buy a few bettas from some one in Thailand and was told that I would have to use a transhipper once it arrived in the U.S.  It drove the price up so high for shipping that it no long made sense.  Hopefully someone else will chime in with better info.

 

+1 to what Chappy said. I explored the route of importing a single betta from Thailand once and decided not to after all the extra transshipper fees. Im not sure if the same would apply for shrimps from Germany or not. 

[blissskr]

9 hours ago, JonRon said:

Hello Shrimpers,

Need some advice for the ones who Import and Export.

I am living in Germany. I was told that if my shipment is under $1000. I do not Need any custom paperwork to ship Shrimp to the U.S. I only have to place invoice inside and outside of package.

Questions I have.

would the one receiving the Shrimp in the states need some form of customs paperwork or no?

If I was to ship a package with UPS or DHL would the receiving Party Need to go to the Airport to pick up package, or should it be shipped to their home?

 That's incorrect it doesn't matter on the value as there is no personal exemption on fish and wildlife all must go through customs and inspected to be legally imported. To do it legally the shrimp would have to be shipped to someone that has their import license. And they would have to pick it up at one of the designated customs facilities based on their location, which is where the shrimp would be shipped first under the importers name. Now all that being said I've seen countless examples of people who illegally import shrimp by having them shipped in and taking the chance that customs doesn't inspect that package. Despite it being illegal people have success with this as customs generally only inspects a random pulled sample of incoming mail/packages as the volume is too large to inspect all of them. So while doing it that way it may make it through and the person get their shrimp OK, it's simply not in anyway legal. This is despite what some people in the U.S. think or many foreign shrimp suppliers, in my experience mostly based in Asia think about the situation or offer to ship sans proper declaration or import process. Generally they do so because when customs discovers an illegal import (especially a small size) they generally just seize the shipment and hold 30-60 days before destroying it. And the most action they take is simply sending the person to who it was addressed a letter of warning regarding the laws with instructions to claim and provide necessary documents legally or forfeit. Or one can just ignore the letter they send and an automatic forfeiture takes place after the specified time frame listed on the letter. While this is generally what occurs the agencies who deal with this stuff could also choose to make an example out of anyone they please and actually prosecute if they so desired instead of simply destroying the illegally imported article. So while some people do import illegally with success it's still illegal if the proper processes aren't followed regardless of the outcome.

[JonRon]

16 hours ago, blissskr said:

 That's incorrect it doesn't matter on the value as there is no personal exemption on fish and wildlife all must go through customs and inspected to be legally imported. To do it legally the shrimp would have to be shipped to someone that has their import license. And they would have to pick it up at one of the designated customs facilities based on their location, which is where the shrimp would be shipped first under the importers name. Now all that being said I've seen countless examples of people who illegally import shrimp by having them shipped in and taking the chance that customs doesn't inspect that package. Despite it being illegal people have success with this as customs generally only inspects a random pulled sample of incoming mail/packages as the volume is too large to inspect all of them. So while doing it that way it may make it through and the person get their shrimp OK, it's simply not in anyway legal. This is despite what some people in the U.S. think or many foreign shrimp suppliers, in my experience mostly based in Asia think about the situation or offer to ship sans proper declaration or import process. Generally they do so because when customs discovers an illegal import (especially a small size) they generally just seize the shipment and hold 30-60 days before destroying it. And the most action they take is simply sending the person to who it was addressed a letter of warning regarding the laws with instructions to claim and provide necessary documents legally or forfeit. Or one can just ignore the letter they send and an automatic forfeiture takes place after the specified time frame listed on the letter. While this is generally what occurs the agencies who deal with this stuff could also choose to make an example out of anyone they please and actually prosecute if they so desired instead of simply destroying the illegally imported article. So while some people do import illegally with success it's still illegal if the proper processes aren't followed regardless of the outcome.

Blissskr,

Thank you for the Reply. However, I did not get the Information I was looking for.  I have figured out that I will Need to apply for a FWS form 3-177 along with their fee. This will allow customs to know that the package has been approved by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, or at least customs will know that I have took the right steps. 

What steps will I Need to take next?  I am wanting to make it where the one receiving the package will not have to pay for any paperwork. Only for the Shrimp and the shippment cost.

[blissskr]

5 hours ago, JonRon said:

Blissskr,

Thank you for the Reply. However, I did not get the Information I was looking for.  I have figured out that I will Need to apply for a FWS form 3-177 along with their fee. This will allow customs to know that the package has been approved by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, or at least customs will know that I have took the right steps. 

What steps will I Need to take next?  I am wanting to make it where the one receiving the package will not have to pay for any paperwork. Only for the Shrimp and the shippment cost.

Even filing that form you're still going to need a licensed importer or customs broker who can essentially receive the shipment and then reship it to whoever you're sending it to after it's cleared customs and been released or the person you are shipping too would have to be licensed and do it. Generally most for hire importers will act as the broker and reship the package on it's way or arrange it's transport but this adds even more to the total expense they'll charge for simply receiving or importing the shipment. The cost generally ranges in the hundreds of dollars for starting fee's for this type of service. You can yourself apply for a license as a foreign agent to import into the U.S. but they are rarely granted and it's a time consuming process waiting for approval. Even then you'd still need a U.S. agent to receive the shipment anyways. Your best course of action in my opinion would be to look up and hire a licensed customs broker who could handle the process of receiving and reshipping the package for you, which done right would allow the one receiving the package to just receive it with no paperwork, etc required on their end.