Some shipments have no commercial transaction behind them. A hydraulic pump sent back to the manufacturer under warranty, a prototype attachment shipped to a trade show, a rebuilt component crossing the border for testing — none of these involve a sale, so there’s no purchase price to declare. But customs authorities still need a value to assess duties and taxes.
In these cases, the exporter must assign a Customs Value Only to the goods and note it clearly on the invoice. This is the fair market value of the items — what they would sell for on the open market — not zero, not a nominal figure, and not whatever number seems convenient.
Trap: Declaring a $180,000 crane attachment as $500 for a trade show run because “we’re just displaying it” is a customs violation. Use a Carnet for temporary exports when you want to avoid the duty assessment entirely.
If a Carnet isn’t in play, declare the actual value and document the nature of the shipment clearly so the receiving customs authority understands the context.