Cost of import to Mexico

Hi All,

I know this is quite a specific question and there may not be many (or even none) on this forum that can answer, but you never know…

I took advantage of the Inventables Black Friday deals and ordered an XCarve 750mm and am anxiously awaiting it. The order confirmation states that the various packages will be shipped through USPS.

I am now looking into the details of what importing to Mexico entails, but I’m confused. I know I’ll have to pay VAT (16%), but I’m now seeing messages stating that anything over 1000 USD must be dealt with through a custom broker which scares me as this will cost a lot (I’m thinking worst-case almost the same as the actual machine (VAT + custom broker + additional taxes).

Has anyone here imported an XCarve to Mexico? Did you use USPS? What did you end up paying for? Did you need a customs broker?

I hope anyone can help.

Thanks in advance.

Robert

I can deal with 50 bucks, but hope to not have to pay anything specific. I already found that apart from the 16% VAT there should not be any import duties thanks to NAFTA.

Thanks for your reply.

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Have them ship the X Carve pieces in separate boxes. on different days. Break it up into values less than the max. Its components you are putting together so it should not be a problem.

I was thinking the same. I’ve sent Inventables support an email. The order is already broken up (in their system at least, as it hasn’t shipped yet) in 3 or 4 parts. The only question is if they can break up the commercial invoice into these separate parts as well. And perhaps USPS employs custom brokers who take care of this. We’ll see. I’ll update when I know more.

Thanks for your input.

Hey Robert,

Sorry for the inconvenience, could you talk about your experience with import costs? I’m about to buy my carve x and I would like to know how it went.

Regards.

Hi Oscar,

No inconvenience at all. It actually went fairly smoothly. The different boxes were sent through UPS and I created an account on their website (UPS My Choice) which allowed me to track the items. When they were imported, I received an email from UPS stating that I owed import duties. It showed the amount and a button to pay, which brought me to their website where I could pay directly.

The only trouble I had is that since I paid online, for each delivery, I had to prove that the duties were already paid. The first one was easy, but the second one took some doing. The driver arrived, told me I had to pay. I told him that it was already paid and I showed the confirmation email I received from UPS. He called his boss, the boss asked me to send him the confirmation which I did and I received the package without further issue. The next day the driver showed up again asking if I still had that email and if I could forward it again. But after that no issue.

I found that the duties for one package was about1600 pesos (this was in December of 2017) and I think the other was about 1200, but I’m not quite sure.

I think you can pay directly to the driver as well, which might prevent you from having the ‘issues’ I had, but paying online is fast and easy.

Hope this helps.

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Hi Robert,

Thank you very much for your prompt response, it helped me a lot, I will take that advice to pay upon receiving the package. Did you buy it without the Wasteboard?

Yes I did. I just bought a sheet of MDF (I went with 3/4", but I think if you buy the wasteboard it will be 1/2"), cut it to size and took the design and very carefully laid it out on the board. The exact design with layout of all the screw holes can be found online. I don’t remember exactly where it is, but if you can’t find it, I’ll look it up

Found it! This is for the 750 mm XCarve (the one I have), but the others are available on that site as well. A Fond Farewell to GrabCAD Workbench - GrabCAD Blog

The 500 mm one: A Fond Farewell to GrabCAD Workbench - GrabCAD Blog

The 1000 mm one: A Fond Farewell to GrabCAD Workbench - GrabCAD Blog