Samples

Question: We have a supplier in China that is providing us with samples valued at $.10 each.  We have been able to determine that this value is incorrect and have requested revised commercial invoices with the actual value of the product listed.    The Chinese supplier is stating that they cannot provide a revised commercial […]

Question: We plan to send (10) sample products from USA to our Caribbean salesman who is stationed in Aruba.  The estimated total value of the samples is between $ 500 – $600 with a country of origin of either Hong Kong or China.    Our salesman will carry the samples to other Caribbean islands to […]

  QUESTION:   Would anyone in the membership like to share their export sample policy for ⠀œfree of charge sample? Should the fair market value be indicated on the proforma invoice? If a “samples only – not for resale” sticker is applied to the goods, can a nominal value be indicated instead? *************

  QUESTION:   We provide free R&D  small sized samples of fungible goods (chemicals) to industrial customers for their testing. Origins always vary. Our customers don’t care due to subsequent substantial transformation that will occur in their processes. Do free small sample sizes require origin makings on the containers? As the spirit of the marking […]

Question: When importing low value (no commercial value) chemical samples, do you complete an informal entry? I have concerns with doing informal entries through some brokers and not getting appropriate notice. Also, if it is informal, don’t you get away with not reporting a chemical (TSCA, tariff number, etc.)? *****************

Question:Can anyone share how they have been able to control employees importing at will? Our company has a large RD&E organization, even with training and follow up emails we still have employees who do what they want. I am ready to pull the trigger and have any imports that don’t have prior approval to be […]

Question: I have a question around importing food samples to Russia. We have recentlyencountered problems and our samples are getting stopped at the Russianborder ( usually Moscow) , many are getting lost and are not being deliveredto our Customer in Russia.We are following the regulations for Russia and they have the correctdocumentation -Commercial invoice etc […]

Question:How do others in the membership handle shipping materials for Trade Shows?   I would like to come up with some sort of policy, but would like to see what others are doing?

Question: When using 9817.85.01 for prototypes, is it expected that the importer is paying for the prototypes and therefore would declare the transaction value?  What if a prototype was provided free of charge?  I assume TV of similar/identical merchandise needs to be declared.   I’m trying to explain to our business how to handle samples vs […]

Question: How do other pharma companies handle the HS classification of R&Dsamples?  Our problem is not identifying the content, but is the highvolume of imports (over 500 per year).  Neither the R&D group nor importgroup has the time.  Thanks. 

Is any of the membership using 9817.85.01. We import samples exclusively for quality control purposes, but not sure we meet some of the criteria – Noncommercial quantities. We only import a couple of samples of each sku, but we have thousands of skus. Note 7 (a) (ii) mentions a design change if in production or […]

We are a small importer of athletic footwear and apparel. Our seasonal production runs are preceded by several rounds of samples, including samples for development, testing, sizing, photos, etc. We are looking at claiming the prototype provision (9817.85.01) for most of our samples, but would like to get feedback from the membership on the following […]