Cost of importing containers

Simon & Nicky

Bronze
Feb 3, 2004
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www.simon-hall.co.uk
We already know that it's best not to, and we've been put off by dozens of horror stories, but Nicky still thinks it's a great idea to bring in (a few bits). This equates to a container full!

We could not start our residency application during our last visit because there was a cock-up with copies of my birth certificate (we managed to chop the number off on the copy by accident)!

Shipping takes six to eight weeks, residency three or four months (or so). Apparently you must be resident before avoiding import duty. There is also some new form filling to be done which nobody is fully aware of.

Some people on the board say they paid, others didn't - there is no pattern or right way or wrong way - just the way it worked on that day.

So my question is this - assuming that most households contain roughly the same things who paid the most? Perhaps I should offer a prize to the winner! If it's too expensive I'll just set fire to it when the wife's not looking - but a rough idea of how much I'm going to be paying would be useful.

Thanks


Simon

ps still getting nowhere with bringing in my Rabbit and Guinea Pig. :bunny:
 

amparocorp

Bronze
Aug 11, 2002
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FWIW,,,,,,,last time i looked, (about 2 years ago)port of Newark, New Jersey, USA to port of Haina RD, just west of SDQ, was 3000 US dollars for the use of container and it's time on the ship.....this does not include the cost of getting things from your front door to the container at the port......add customs duties,,,,,you will pay duties no matter what your residency status, maybe a little more, maybe a little less, depending on the time of day, phase of the moon, or relative humidity...................,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and what will be the condition of your things upon arrival and who do you complain to?........good luck......eom..
 

Simon & Nicky

Bronze
Feb 3, 2004
655
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www.simon-hall.co.uk
Cost of import

Sorry, should have made it clearer. We know half of it will never arrive or disappear somewhere in the DR but we want to know how much import duty we should expect to have to pay so we can budget for it.

Simon
 

Peter & Alex

Bronze
May 3, 2003
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www.rainbowsenddr.com
Not true!!!!

Simon & Nicky,
We had this discussion when you were here!! I paid nothing here except RD$2000 in handouts at the port in SD to make sure that when the container from Dubai was opened nothing went over the fence!! I paid another small handling fee to the shipping agents locally - can't remember how much but it was minimal!
All goods inside the container were valued by the shipping agent in SD as being used and well below their real value!! Customs did check everything.
We did not have residency at the time but we got an official looking letter covered in stamps from Immigracion saying that we had applied for residency and that everything was being processed - this we took to Customs and they accepted it. (But things change so quickly here that this may no longer be valid)?
Director of Customs authorised release of the goods with full exemption from duty!! We lost nothing in transit!! Container arrived in Cabarete by road from SD a few days later still with the new seal on the doors which we had witnessed being attached at the port, the original seal having been cut off by customs when they checked the container in our presence so that we could identify that the goods were ours. We also had 1.5 tonnes of other stuff in a crate which arrived at the other port in SD but we got fed up being there and left it up to the shipping agent to deal with this - RD$1000 seemed to work. This was also lumped in with the main container and all arrived safely again without any duty.
Talk to Guido, he'll be up to date on procedures I should think?
Peter
 

mariaobetsanov

New member
Jan 2, 2002
337
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customs and cost!

when my parents moved, it cost them close to 12,000 US to bring their furniture and appliances. 1996. All was in a large containner. It was pack in California by a mover. At the time since they were senior citizen and the moving company took care of all dealings with import, so be ready for high charges. There has been hard the economy is bad, rates will be high. Or find out which company has connections in DR, they usually have special service, such is the way of living in DR. The containner is usually delivered unopened to their holding place or to your house if in Santo Domingo.