Driving to US and bringing some packages to ship from there. Form Required?

[byto253]

I am making a trip across the border to pick up an item and as I am going will bring some large and heavy items with me to ship them directly with USPS - about 10-12 items.   All the items are under $800 and in total under $2.500US so they qualify as informal entry.

Aside from the invoices and a manifest with the name, address, description and value, do you know if there is an official US form that needs to be filled in?

I have been searching and it may be CBP Form 7501 but it seems aimed at companies.   

[flipistics]

This is something you likely want to do a lot of homework on. My understanding (which I'm not 100% sure on) is that if the items you sell were sold for profit, it counts as commercial activity and there may be a bunch of hoops you have to jump through. I think you almost certainly have to pay a commercial entry fee, but I'm unclear whether or not you have to get a transponder for your vehicle.

I really wish the governments would get together (or ebay!) and produce us a set of approved guidelines of how we handle all these situations correctly in plain, easy to understand terms that don't send you to a billion different links all written in legalese.

[byto253]

I worked with someone a few years back that did this, and it was a $10 fee and a transponder was not required.  The transponder was available but the cost does not make sense for an occasional trip.