Exporting to U.S. and customs regulations

I am not an expert, but I believe this outliine should give you an idea.

You must determine the Harmonized Tariff Code for your product. You can go to this link http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/bychapter/index.htm
to view the code listings. All nations use the same code schedule.

You must prepare a true and accurate invoice.
If your shipment is above 650RMB in invoice value you must declare the shipment through China customs.

If you are a company, you must be licensed by China to conduct export business. If you are, then you should already have staff that know how to complete the customs process. It is not simple, and I can not detail for you all the steps, but the key is first you must be licensed to even conduct an export.

Your export will most likely have China export VAT tax due. This could be between 0% to 17% of the invoice amount.

When your shipment arrives it must clear USA customs, and if an import tax is due it must be paid or a bond posted. Your customer will need to use a licensed Customs Agent to clear the shipment through customs. From a brief review of the Tariff schedule it appears that mobile telephones might have an import tax of 0% to 35% of the invoice amount.

From your post I presume you are not experienced in this area. It is not a simple process of just filling in a few forms.

I would suggest you consider contacting a licensed import/export company and ask them to handle the process for you. Please be aware they will need to purchase the items from you and be the seller to the USA. They will most likely require payment in the form of LC before shipment of the itmes.

You should also make sure you receive an offical VAT invoice with your purchase, since the VAT tax you paid can be deducted from the Export VAT tax due from you when you make the shipment. You did pay VAT tax on your purchase...right? :)

Sorry there is not a quick and easy solution for you, but the goverments are very good at making sure they get their import or export tax paid.

Good Luck with the transaction.

If qty is small,you can consider it as sample. But try EMS whether it is ok or not. After all EMS is official, not like DHL or Fedex needs to be checked through Customs. 500 phones packed in box,maybe volume is not too big