Loading
The first sale rule can assess duty on the earlier sale in a multi-tier transaction, not what the importer pays. Track eligibility, the document chain, and affected duty layers.
This page is the public entry point. It explains the issue, links to the public tools that surface the primary records, and routes recurring work into review.
Use this when the first question is whether the transaction structure supports first sale.
Use this when the question is whether the documentation supports the earlier sale value.
Use this when the question is how the lower value changes duty across the active layers.
First sale lowers the dutiable value, which compounds across every ad valorem layer on a line, but it stands or falls on the documentation behind the earlier sale. The position is only as durable as the evidence.
Traverse keeps the valuation position tied to the transaction structure, the documentation chain, and the active duty layers, so the first sale question stays connected to the records that support it.
In a transaction with a manufacturer, a middleman, and a US importer, the first sale rule can let appraised value be based on the earlier manufacturer-to-middleman sale, provided that sale was a bona fide sale of goods clearly destined for export to the United States at arm's length.
It requires evidence that the earlier sale was a genuine sale, that the goods were destined for export to the United States, and that the price was set at arm's length. The documentation chain across both sales is what supports the lower value.
Save it when the same suppliers and transaction structure repeat, so each entry uses a value the documentation supports and the position holds up under later review.
Keep eligibility conditions, the documentation chain, and affected lines together. Save first sale scope.