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Payments Unit

Stanford University as a whole has an exclusive customs broker, American Overseas, whose local offices are in San Mateo [tel:  650-340-1111].   Peter Kim in Payments handles the interface with this company for SUL.  If bibliographers are contacted, please refer the caller to him at 5-1151.

1. Why do some shipments get stopped in customs? What are the criteria?
   Shipments entering the US from out of the country whose stated value is more than $1,100 are likely to go through this process.  Of course we receive many shipments each week whose value exceeds this amount; the catch is that the value is stated on the packages, rather than simply “library materials” or “printed matter.”  The items that have been stopped in my experience are large collections and individual items which are very expensive.
   
2. Who contacts us?
   Our initial contact will be the customs agent of the shipper; this may or may not be American Overseas.  The question I ask is “Is this fully prepaid door to door by the shipper?”   If so, delivery should proceed normally with minimal fees. However, some shippers pay the freight only to the port of entry, and not “door to door”, which can cause shipments to be held up.  We have an agent to speed these shipments through and handle the necessary paperwork required.  Complex shipments are best handled by our designated agent, who also can be our shipper.  If American Overseas is our shipper, this is the optimum situation. When we buy materials overseas, asking them to use AO is a good idea. They are an international shipper; information is available on their website: http://www.americanoverseas.com/
   
3. What are we paying for?
   Books themselves are not subject to duty or customs fees, but shipments whose stated value is over $1,100 get charged a “merchandise processing fee.”  This is based on the stated value of the contents, and ranges between $25 and $485. It is calculated as 0.21% of the stated value.  $485 is the maximum fee charged.
   We also pay fees as follows:
   · delivery fee if shipper has not paid “door to door”
   · document turnover from shipper’s agent, if a different customs agent initially handles the shipment
   · service fee to American Overseas for paperwork and final delivery to SUL
   As an example, when a large collection sold by Gerits arrived in 1993 we paid --
   · $21 merchandise processing fee  (stated value of $10,000)
   · $32 to document turnover from a different agent
   · $85 for American Overseas services
   · $25 for the actual delivery fee (not shipped “door to door”)
   a total of $163 for the materials to be delivered to the Mail Room
   
4. What does American Overseas need to know from us?
   A purchase order number for the shipment; I often am working with very little information, and AO will fax me what they have. We have used a standard number “M19207” which is a generic number for Stanford’s account with AO as a whole; if we use this, we also need to give AO a fund account number to which the fees will be charged. Thus I need to know who ordered the material,  who the seller is (I often am told only the shipper’s name), and what the primary fund is for the purchase.  I do not handle the invoices for these transactions; they go directly to Bonair Siding and get charged to the designated account there.

(related document:  Customs FAQ on the Resources for Fund Managers page)

Last modified: July 18, 2006