I'm back in the US for a short visit and went a little crazy with my shopping. I had a long shopping list to start with when I left the DR, but anyway...
I booked my flight First Class on American Airlines because I thought First Class could check in a 3rd suitcase for a small fee. Nope. It's $200 for the 3rd suitcase as of Feb 2024 (I didn't think it was $200 when I booked, but whatever). FYI for anyone thinking of doing this same thing.
I have a shipping account with EPS, so I'm just going to ship stuff to myself in boxes. No problem. It'll cost less this way, I think.
I know I have to include an inventory of the contents in the box.
So here are my questions:
- How detailed should this list be? I mean, I have LOTS of little things in there. Some big things, but also lots of little things. Do I need to list each item and their individual value, or can I create a collective group for similar items? Example, I have multiple 'household' type items. Can I list 'Household accessories' with a dollar value for that group, then list each item individually as a line item but without the dollar value for each item?
- Should new items be removed from their packaging so that they don't look new? For example, I bought some beach towel clips, to hold your beach towel to your chair. They're still on the cardboard card from the store.
- I know there's a $200 limit on items shipped. If the value is over $200, then you pay taxes or something, right? So, if I'm shipping multiple items in a box, would that $200 limit apply to the whole box, or just to an individual item? Do I need to keep the total value of each box under $200?
- Will Customs go through every item in the box to verify my inventory list against the contents? I have some towels and clothes packed in those vacuum-sealed bags to take up less space. If they open those, they'll never get them resealed and vacuumed.
- I know EPS charges extra for larger items, so I'm trying to use multiple small boxes. Should I limit how many boxes I send in one go? Would multiple boxes send up a flag to Customs or something? I'm not shipping anything illegal, but I don't want to cause unnecessary trouble for myself there. Right now, I have one medium box (18x18x16) and one small box (17x11x13) but thinking I might need another small box (still trying to cram as much as I can into a suitcase so we'll see).
Thanks for any advice and info, and I hope someone else can find this beneficial in the future.
I think I have my strategy now, but lesson learned. This was my first time back to the US after being in the DR for 1 year. The next time won't be this bad. 
It's all good.
