Hello,
I wonder if anyone has experience getting raw stones or jewelry from the US into Europe.
When I purchased my cool Persian raw stones, I was a bit shocked that S&H, fees and taxes have added an extra 60% on top of the gross price.
If I understood it correctly, if I buy let’s say in Arizona, I would pay local sales tax, German VAT & import taxes, customs duties and fees. Well, that’s crazy. I found that none of them is refundable, in contrary for example to Texas which refunds the local sales tax when leaving the state.
I can imagine three approaches
Buy from the EU and get it shipped to Europe. All taxes apply.
Buy while in the US, and import into EU when going back home. All taxes apply.
Buy while in the US and get it sealed and shipped. Will this avoid some of the taxes?
In more detail, I’m planning to get some raw Bisbee, Royston and Carico Lake as well as some belt buckles.
Any advice?
Thanks guys.
That is crazy. I have no idea about shipping jewelry/ turquoise overseas. Only experience I have is when our Church did a trip to Hungary, they learned it was much easier to buy what they needed (supplies for a youth camp) once they got there rather than ship it across due to fees, shipping etc. I have bought things in Canada, brought them home, and can file for a refund on some of the taxes. Obviously Europe must be completely different. Hopefully someone else will have some experience with this issue.
If you brought a larger piece of luggage, and took it home with you on the plane, that would at least save on shipping.
Yeah it’s crazy. I do understand having to pay some more for exotic items from abroad, but most of the time i actually pay more on shipping, border handling and taxes than the turquoise itself. And when buying from US miners on ebay i always am getting taxed twice and then have to jump through many hoops to get one of the taxes refunded. We’re at a significant disadvantage as turquoise lovers from overseas. Sorry for the little rant haha. In the end it’s always worth it when having those beauties in hand. It’s the system btw, the people are always great and try to help out where they can
I am actually seriously flirting with the idea of (temporarily) moving to the US once an opportunity should arise. The people seem really kind in the turquoise areas and the stone seems to be laying around everywhere. I’m seeing pictures of rock gardens with boxes filled to the brim going for $5 a pound, and am reading stories from people showing amazing polychrome stones, going ‘look what i found hiking this morning’. Wasn’t there even a town where they filled the town square with pebbles that contained turquoise (was it Blue Gem area?) and after heavy rains people were allowed to pick the turquoise out of the streets? (should have made a screenshot of that story, can’t find it anymore).
I exported to Germany for many years @gt75. Everything is subject to customs tariffs, and value added tax (Zoll und Merhwertsteuer). Importing as costume jewelry rather than fine jewelry may save you money. You’ll need to check the import codes and tariff rates for various classes of items which may apply. If you’re importing enough, you can use a forwarder like Kuehne und Nagel to clear the goods for you with German customs.
My pleasure.You can bet the German companies currently importing both real and counterfeit Native American Jewelry are using tariff codes with the lowest possible tariff rate for the items you want to import. You can usually get the best current codes to use from inquiries to customs brokers operating in Germany. If you can get a store owner talking they’ll often share tips with you as well.
I used Kuehne und Nagel extensively when I first started exporting from the US to Germany. It always made the process trouble free. After the first year I was familiar enough with all of the ins and outs, and had learned enough German to do all of the import and customs paperwork myself.
Best tip I can give is to pick up as much knowledge as you can from the pros.
Have gotten reply from two major shops in CO and NM selling raw turquoise. Both confirm that I don’t need to pay any US taxes, only shipping, in the two cases
Buy from the EU and get it shipped to Europe.
Buy while in the US and get it sealed and shipped.
So I take the advantage of (2): higher competition and the chance to touch and talk about the stuff before I buy.
And that is a brilliant recommendation. Will research more. Thanks!
Anyone a clue how to deal with semiprecious stones digged out myself? Planning to dig for Kingman, Oregon sunstone and NY herkimers. Which value to put on the parcels, and which customs codes? My first idea was to put the day’s digging fee as a value, so, some hundred dollars, as the real value is very hard to determine. That would create some few dozen Euros/dollars of import fee which feels fair.
And oh, any other turquoise mine open for paid digging?
