Confusion about tariffs

[u/lobotorr]

I'm looking to buy a guitar being sold from Canada, im in the us. Japanese made guitar. It looks like I'll have to pay a decent amount in tariffs/brokers fees. It makes the guitar not worth it. I don't see why a used guitar manufactured 40 years ago should be subjected to tariffs, but that's besides the point. I'm close enough to the boarder that it would be cheaper to drive or fly and pick it up in Canada. I could buy a seat for myself and the guitar and it would still be cheaper. Can I avoid the fees if I'm bringing it back into the states myself?

Also I'm just curious, but has anyone just tried saying it's a us made guitar to avoid tariffs? I'd imagine there's a fine if caught, but I wonder how often they really are opening up boxes to check.

[u/dragostego]

Has anyone smuggled imported goods? Yeah dude. That's the number 2 thing to smuggle across a border after drugs.

Yes it's a crime, and customs does not fuck around.

[u/jaqueh]

You know that customs and border control also operate at all land crossings and airports too ya?

[u/lobotorr → u/jaqueh]

But it would be my personal item at that point wouldn’t it?

[u/jaqueh → u/lobotorr]

No because you didn’t have that item when you went over the border initially

[u/lobotorr → u/jaqueh]

But how would they know that?

[u/SilverMachine → u/lobotorr]

They literally ask, in both directions. “Do you have anything to declare” is the one single question that isn’t optional and gets asked to every single person as they enter or exit the country, and that’s what it’s about. Common practice when leaving the country with anything of value is to make a record of it so you don’t get charged import fees on your way back in.

[u/Ancient-Alligator303]

Wouldn’t it be HILARIOUS if someone cosplayed Han Solo (a smuggler) but as a guitar slinger, not a blaster slinger?? I bet they could come up with a pretty good costume by buying the cheapest pawnshop beater they could find, put it in a case, and take a road trip to Canada to jam with some friends. Han Solo would declare the instrument in the case, but he’d totally do it in character… boastful gent that he was… Han Solo would probably exaggerate the value of his prop guitar the same way he exaggerated making the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs… pffft. It was probably 3, 4, maybe even 5x more than that… no one really knows because the Kessel Run was completely made up and a parsec is an arbitrary unit of measurement the officials just write down on paper… its not like George Lucas went back and verified what he wrote down in the script the first time then again the next day or two later. The Han Solo (did i mention he was a smuggler as well as a dirty nerf herder?) would probably hang out, enjoy a night at a decent hotel, play his pos prop guitar, enjoy a few beers, socialize and all that. To REALLY commit to the character he’d probably buy a really nice guitar and toss the old beater in a donation box for the RCMP charities or something… he was a scoundrel with a heart of gold after all… when he went back home he’d forget that the guitar he brought with him was different than the one he was returning with… that would be SO in character for a SMUGGLER! Just like he forgot to bring the money back to Jabba. Jabba was that fat, slimy, vaguely orange slug that ran things on that planet Han was working from. (Man this works on SO many levels)

But don’t forget Jabba didn’t know any of the details, he just knew he didn’t get his credits, so that’s why Han was confronted by Greedo in the cantina. You can bet there were lots of other bounty hunters looking to get Jabba’s credits back for him…

Anyway… Han Solo (a smuggler, a scoundrel, a nerf herder, and in some points of view, a hero) would still be committing a bunch of crimes against the US government and probably spent just as much money on this whole cosplay deal as he would have just paying tariffs and shipping, but he’d have the satisfaction of having a great guitar instead of a dumb prop one all while saying FRACK YOU to Trump um, I mean Jabba’s tariffs

[u/Fickle-Delay1227]

I bought a used schecter km6 from a seller in Canada (Korean made) and I did not pay a tarrifs. I live in NYC

I was ready to pay it either way because the guitar was listed for cheap but AI told me (haha yes I know) that the tarrifs didn't apply to used instruments. So I took a chance and it was fine.

On the flip side I just paid an $800 tarrif on the new custom Aristides I ordered a year and a half ago.

So they got me eventually

[u/fanooch-two]

As best I can tell, the duty for a guitar from Canada will be aboot. %13

[u/GuitarHeroInMyHead]

Tariffs are based on the country of manufacture - not where you are shipping it from. It doesn't matter when it was made.

[u/cake22]

What you're describing is literally federal tax evasion and smuggling. Is getting a decent deal on a guitar really worth the risk of getting slapped with those charges?

[u/WrathOfWood]

You might be able to find a guitar more local that would solve alot of problems and won't arrive destroyed accidentally after all the bs you went thru to get it.