I am having mailed to me a flute from Ireland to the US. Does anyone know how the customs work and what fees might be invloved? How should you best describe the item on the customs form?
Thanks,
Don
I live in NOrway and always have similar problems. Because of this I have grown a distinct disliking of customs people 
If you can, you should ask the sender to pack it as a personal package, i.e. no company logos etc., and mark it as a personal gift. This might make it slip through. In norway, it depends on how busy the customs people are.
Anyway; they normally are out there guessing wildly when it comes to the value of the thing. I once argued with a customs person about the value of a bodhran. It was marked as a gift and had a veryvery low customs value put on it… He had no clue, but insisted that it be somewhat higher than the minimum limit; so at least he would get to charge for it…yipes… 
I came up with some amount that we agreed on.
You will pay more the higher you (the sender) set the customs value; but you will also get less back if the postal service looses tha package and you have faked it low. I have experienced tha latter to be a very small risk in my corner of the world.
Bottom line: dont be honest with customs, it’ll only cost you
Feel free to criticise me if you feel you have the right to; I am so good on all other areas of life that I feel I have earned this little sin.
E. 
BTW, I’m the same situation as you right now; waiting for a flute from Ireland.
Sometimes people send things marked as “commercial samples” to avoid charges. At least one flute maker i know marks his packages “flute parts – requires assembly”. 
I received my flute from Ireland a while ago.
It was labeled with a few small fibs.
Something to the effect of…
“Practice flute. 90 euro.”
Close enough to the truth so that if they opened the package, you wouldn’t get into trouble for lying, but understated enought to avoid attention or sticky fingers.
Regards,
jb
I bought a “new-to-me” flute from Europe last Spring, and thought it had slipped through! A couple weeks later, if I remember this right, here comes a bill from Customs for $50 bucks! Bad surprise!
Along slightly different lines, the flute then was $750.00 Euro or $877.00 USD ~ a far cry from what it would cost today…
Mary
My whistles came from England. He sent the invoice and billing information in an envelope. With the package he sent a document that indicated he was returning them after valuation. I can provide the exact verbage if you wish.