Finding Answers

Well, the research is well underway and there certainly is a lot of information about importing and exporting out there! Some of these documents are way over my head and at times I feel very overwhelmed. I have a composition notebook filled with notes, highlights to this and that and sticky notes stating what is to come next, but I don't have any concrete answers as of now.

I talked to one rather helpful and friendly man in New York today who told me if I got his information from Facebook, he was hanging up. I reassured him that I got it from the Customs and Border Protection website so he was willing to help me. He usually doesn't give any information over the phone, but since I was in a devastating earthquake and my parents were extremely worried about me, he was sure, he complied and told me everything I needed to know :) It looks like I will need to send samples and descriptions of everything to his office (I can do most of it over the internet thank the Lord!), but it can take up to a month. EEK! Please be praying that it will get to him quickly and he can determine what our Harmonized Tariff Schedule and Country of Origin is so we can get this business going!

A Harmonized Tariff Schedule determines what the rate of duty is. HOPEFULLY, our products will be within the CAFTA-DR (Central America Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic) so we will not have a 20% tax on our shipments. That would greatly help with our profit margin and that means more money for Cercadillo! The Country of Origin is also important for determining whether or not the product can enter the country free of duties or if we'll be taxed. According to my research, CBP is the only agency that can provide legally binding advice on the classification of imports.

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
~James 2: 14-17