Emerald Order - Clearing New York Customs???

[raysachs]

My check IS in the mail, but it's gotta clear customs, and god knows what's gonna happen to it there...

[RP]

Originally Posted by raysachs

My check IS in the mail, but it's gotta clear customs, and god knows what's gonna happen to it there...

You mean the customs station located at the Mason-Dixon Line???

[David Eastwood]

Steelvibe - you clearly know a great deal more about this subject than most of us here - thanks for posting! This point struck me, though:

Originally Posted by steelvibe

We don't have any kind of NAFTA agreement with Ireland like we do with Mexico and Canada so I'm surprised we don't see this more often (duty rates and taxes applied to Emeralds as they hit our border).

Me too - if Emerald is sending 600 guitars a year to the US, wouldn't you think that the exceptions would be buyers *not* being asked to pay duty? I went crawling back through the archives here, and can only find 3 verifiable instances of a US buyer having to pay. Granted, posters here only represent a small percentage of Emerald's output, but the statements from Emerald reflect the small number who've experienced (and reported) this.

Is there some kind of agreement with Emerald and the US? (I doubt it)

Like you, I doubt it. Emerald clearly believe that they are exempt, though, and were presumably advised so.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. In the meantime, I'm happy that I didn't have to cough up nearly $400 to release my two from captivity

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by RP

You mean the customs station located at the Mason-Dixon Line???

I could pretty much walk it over that line and avoid customs, but it would cost you. So, one way or another... The North shall rise again!

-Ray

[Flanders]

I purchased 2 Emeralds in 2014; the X20 had a duty fee, the XO7 did not.

[RP]

I wanted to provide a conclusion to this saga. Evidently the folks at Emerald Guitars have had little success in sorting this out with US Customs, and the process seemed to be at a standstill. Therefore, I accepted Alistair's gracious offer to pay 1/2 of the $234.14 Customs Fee (although I call it a ransom) that I had to pay at the post office.

Obviously this solution does little for future Emerald buyers in the US who may or may not be charged an unexpected Customs Fee when they try to retrieve their guitars from the post office. It's still very curious to me that my X20-12 stayed an extra week in customs as compared to Joel's Emerald which was in the same shipment and arrived at his home a week sooner.

I don't really agree with those who suggested that the extra fee had to do with the cost of my guitar which was an in-stock black X20-12 and would have been priced lower than any Emerald with a woody veneer. I've heard nothing to verify that any woody veneer (or multi-neck guitar) in that same shipment remained longer in customs or had the extra fee attached to it.

While this experience has left a bad taste in my mouth, I do appreciate Alistair's stepping up and trying to sort things out with US Customs and then reimbursing half of the fee...