Ohlins News

["Tom Brown" <tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gentlemen:

Just got off the phone with US Customs in Detroit.   I purchased a NAD
stereo amplifier on Ebay from a guy in Canada.   It was about 5 years old.
A month later, I get a bill from US Customs for $19.56.  Huh?   I look on
the bill and saw "country of origin:  Japan".. tried to think back to what
this could possibly relate to and remembered this purchase, $345...about
5.7%.   I thought there must be a mistake, so I called them.   They
explained the whole thing.

Country of origin IS Japan, even for a 5 year old item.   NAFTA exempts only
items manufactured in Canada or Mexico, not items from other countries
shipped from Canada.

"What does this have to do with Ohlins shocks?", you may be asking yourself.
Well, I'd told people that Wolf BMW had a great deal on shocks and that
there was no duty on them because of NAFTA.  I'm wrong about the duty.
There is duty owed when stuff is made in another country and is shipped to
the US.  I got mine a while ago, but I think, since the popularity of Ebay
has risen, there is a lot more stuff like this coming in from Canada and
Customs has gotten a bit sharper about it.  NAFTA was young when I bought my
shocks, so I may have got a break due to the confusion of our Customs
officials.

So probably there will be duty on Ohlins shocks coming in from Canada.
Probably it will be around 5.7%.  Ask Wolf about it when you inquire about
the shocks.

- -TB

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