Duty free or not?

Sometimes I have been charged a brokerage fee by UPS, sometimes not. I have never paid the fee and they have never come looking.

Yes you have to pay coming into the USA also. It is not a great deal of money. I think it is about $18-20 for around $700 worth of gear. You pay the shipping company, then I am not sure what they do with it, I assume it goes to the gov't.

I once bought speakers from a individual in Singapore. Cost $1350. Import tax or what ever they want to call it ran $74 and I was billed directly from DHL. S.O.B.s charged a $5 fee to collect the tax!

This might vary from country to courtry though.

I at one point, a couple of years ago, purchased something, can't remember what it was, from an individual in Germany. He shipped the item to me via Fed-Ex, Fed-Ex sent me an import duty bill for something like $30.

Thanks for all the answers.I went to Bax Global and did a quote request. they list shipping fees and service charges seperatly and total charges. I assume that there are no hidden charges. Thanks again Gary