My exchange student is trying to bring some expensive local knives from home when she comes. the approximate $ amount of knives she is thinking about bringing is $2300.

Will she have issues at customs?
Will they charge a duty or tariff?

I cannot figure it out from the U.S. customs site.

Couple of options.

• Pay her to ship them. Mark it as a gift
• Document that it's a gift.

You shouldn't have any trouble, but obviously that's not a carry on. I have two suitcases of Solingen cutlery that I brought back.


Key thing is gift. The limit is $100 but it's tough for a CBP person to know the difference. Could also say you're a cooking student and just bringing them in..

So each knife I think is either slightly more or less than $100. If it is an 8 pack she brings in her checked bag, she can mark it as 8 gifts packaged together for $100 each?

What happens if she brings 8 different (larger) knives valued at $200 each?

Married A Horn said:

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So each knife I think is either slightly more or less than $100. If it is an 8 pack she brings in her checked bag, she can mark it as 8 gifts packaged together for $100 each?

What happens if she brings 8 different (larger) knives valued at $200 each?

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I've brought in a long list of things that should have been taxed, fined, or just outright banned.
Including but not limited to..

• Wooden toys
• Cutlery
• Antiques
• Cuban cigars(dumb)
• Liquor
• Salmon(worse than above)

Which isn't to say I recommend that, I fear Customs. They have no oversight, and you have no recourse,
I was importing tools and tool kits from Germany but Covid brought it to a halt and I felt
lIke they made it difficult too. You can't win against Customs.

The cutlery I brought in came through untouched. Easily 2k. No clue. I told them the cigars were Spanish. All 5e labels were removed, they had no idea. But remove the labels and make them look used, if they question it, you have a bit more room to negotiate it. Above all play dumb, parents bought it,you don't know the price. Their main thing is they don't want it to be resold or used for a bad purpose. I would absolutely say it's a gift,

It really just depends on the agent at that time, I'd change the labels and make it look cheaper but paying the fine still might give you a world class set of cutlery, and yes their stuff is better. Congrats hahaha!!

Let me look at the customs declaration form tomorrow and I'll tell you how I'd answer but more than likely I'd just make it look like it's used or a lower brand. Customs agents see it all but they aren't exactly experts in Swedish knives either.

Oh and another recommendation is a Swedish football Svff jersey or national team hockey jersey, blue and gold looks good….

https://shop.svenskfotboll.se/

Married A Horn said:

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So each knife I think is either slightly more or less than $100. If it is an 8 pack she brings in her checked bag, she can mark it as 8 gifts packaged together for $100 each?

What happens if she brings 8 different (larger) knives valued at $200 each?

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Eh, I'd keep it to 2-3 gifts, reason I say it is if they know it will immediately be turned around and sold in any form , the agent won't feel guilty about taking some of the profit.

Gift yes! But eight seems a stretch.

Lots of Boden representation in the NHL.


https://www.nhl.com/player/elias-lindholm-8477496

On the declaration form.....

On Box 14, check 'no commercial merchandise.'
Box 15 is sort of the catch-all.

I would list the knives as $500 total, technically it's used when she leaves the store with it, not when you get it.. That sort of keeps the value under 1k even in the extreme.

You're safer listing and over describing. It's generally a bad idea to have items that look valuable but are not listed on the CBP form. In fact, that's a no-no. List it, give it fair value which is what you'd pay for it.. Make sense?

the CBP form says "Duty will be assessed on the first $1k above the exemption." I interpret that to mean you can bring in 1.1k in dollars. So the knives should be safe. key thing is it's a small brand, it's not a luxury item, ie. Cartier watch

She said she was just going to ask the owner the best way to do it...she says surely he has dealt with this topic before. I said - great idea!

Yeah, that's best. I'm sure he can get there. Good of you to ask it' buys a lot of good will and I'm sure the knives are excellent.

I bought an antique map in Australia. It shows Texas as a Republic. Complete freak find.

On the customs form, it is shown as 'Map $200."

Let's just say it has increased significantly.

Not sure this is worth a damn, but might merit a look. Store in Plano.

https://www.woodenspoonplano.com/