I have recently had an nyala raw European mount shipped from South Africa to the Port of New York. There are no other trophies being shipped, just this one set of horns. I typically use Fauna and Flora with John Meeham to import the trophies, but John has retired and therefore I was stuck on the brokerage firm to use. The shipper from South Africa recommended Genus Logistics of which I agreed to use. Brokerage invoice from Genus was $839 USD.

The the background, heres my point:
Dont ever use Genus Logistics for the importation brokerage of your trophies. I sent an email asking for help in understanding these fees and all that was responded was late fees begin in 2 days, better pay your invoice now. Good customer service!

Lastly, do you have recommendations for bringing trophies into the Port of NY? I'll be heading back in August and am looking to get this lined up in a better fashion with an understanding of fees prior to trophy importation at year end or early 2025.

Thank you all for your assistance.

I used John Meehan myself many times.

Sorry to hear he retired.

In my recent experience the amount you were charged is par for the course.

I have used Fauna and Flora, Genus Logistics and others and they all charge pretty much the same. In fact, I got a quote from Coppersmith the other day for the same work in NY and it was almost exactly the same amount as you were charged by Genus Logistics.

All brokers I have used, including Genus Logistics, have always given me an itemized invoice, so I don't know what's going on there. You certainly should have gotten one.

Anything involving hunting trophies these days is more expensive than ever. That goes for dip and pack and mounting costs, as well as the costs of shipment of raw or finished trophies and the cost of clearing customs.

That's why a lot of people have given up on the whole process and just leave their hides and horns in the field. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm not far from it.

Do you think some of this is due to the use of sub contractors and commissions paid to almost everyone?

Granted South Africa is completely different but I am paying nothing compared to what you guys pay.

FWIW, I pay around 200-300$ for brokerage. Shipping and brokerage usually comes to well under 1000$

I think it’s mostly higher “labor” costs - i.e., the higher costs that we in the USA pay to any and all service providers for the time they spend doing any given job.

I have used them and no problems at all. All the clearing service are up in prices and they are clearing a crate not the animal. 1 or 10 cost the same.

I recently had 3 pigs ( skins and skulls) and same for 1 hyena shipped from Ethiopia. It was a little over $400 to get it to my broker here in the USA, almost 5x that to get it from Chicago to me in Oregon. I used D&L

In the past I have picked up my own trophies from Port of NY and Atlanta. I receive a copy of the paperwork, receive confirmation of their arrival, make an appointment with USF&W to inspect and pick them up, at no cost other than my time and fuel. Both places the process took less than 30 minutes at location. So I have seen what is actually required to "clear" customs.
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Maybe I'll just go back to doing that?