Buying goods in the US and bringing to UK

ZeeZee

Hi there.

I've had a quick search and couldn't come up with anything to answer my question (no doubt I was using the wrong search terms and someone else will point me in the right direction!)

I'm travelling to the US and as myself (and my family) have been caught up in the HP Touchpad hype, I am looking to purchase them from the US, as they are significantly cheaper on Amazon.com.

What I would like to know is can I bring four Touchpad's back from the US without any issues, or will I have to pay import duty / tax for these, keeping in mind they are for personal use. (myself, other half, brother, and a friend).

Thank you

richardw

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingnoneu.htm#1

claire16c

How much do they cost?

malkie76

£390 is your personal allowance. Anything over that and you pay duty and taxes on the WHOLE amount.
Doesn't matter that it's for personal use.

ZeeZee

Thank you that's perfect.

The touchpads roughly equate to £140, and £180 (2 models, of which I would have 2 each, so it's £640 in total.

I won't be alone so can split this between two of us. Which would bring the total below the £390 threshold.

One thing I am unsure of is how the value of the goods is determined. Would this be the UK value, or the 'price paid'. i.e. eBay goods. Also in terms of 'proof of purchase' would a printout of the final eBay listing suffice?

Thanks again

hermante

The value of the goods would be the price you paid, so I expect a screenshot of the ebay screen will have to do, you can ask the seller for a receipt. Do you have an address in the US to receive them?

It does matter that it's for personal use, as that allowance only applies for personal use or gifts. If you're "buying for somebody else" who is going to repay you then technically the tax is due. If you're carrying the touchpads in hand luggage then nobody will notice, but if they are going in your checked bags then having 4 may possibly get you flagged up if your bags are scanned after offloading from the plane. Also keeping them in the original packaging would make it very suspicious.

Anyway you are very unlikely to get stopped by anyone at Heathrow and Gatwick, most of the time nobody is even watching. I have only seen customs officers twice in 50+ trips, first time there were 5 of them just standing around chatting, and the other time she was only interested in food (only had sweets).

I don't really understand the reasoning behind these rules.. many tourists bring in phones, laptops, cameras, watches etc which are certainly worth more than £390

ZeeZee

Hi there,

Yes we are staying at a friends in San Diego for a while so there is an address at which to recieve the goods, Amazon provide a printable invoice, but depending upon the prices at the time it may very well be eBay that I end up purchasing from.
I guess technically I would be buying one for my friend as I'm not that generous! OH/brother would get the freebies (I do have a heart after all!)

I wouldn't want to carry them in hand luggage as it would be a little unsafe, or rather I'd feel safer having them packed within my case. I'm one of those that HAS to have the packaging for everything, gets me in trouble at times but that should be ok, as the price (when split between two of us) would be under the limit.

I guess if you have split items like cameras/watches you could claim that you already had them.
That's another question actually. Could one not say the goods were purchased from duty free?

Regards

pennylane99

ZeeZee wrote: »

That's another question actually. Could one not say the goods were purchased from duty free?

and the receipt?

shaun_from_Africa

Amazon provide a printable invoice, but depending upon the prices at the time it may very well be eBay that I end up purchasing from

It might well be cheaper from ebay but what about a guarantee?
If HP offer a worldwide warranty it may be one of the conditions that they goods be purchased from an official retailer which the ebay seller may not be.

I guess if you have split items like cameras/watches you could claim that you already had them.
That's another question actually. Could one not say the goods were purchased from duty free

If you did claim that you already had the items and customs asked you to provide proof of this then you may well find yourself in a hole.
You wouldn't have any receipts to back this claim up, nor could you show that they had been registered for any guarantee.

As to the duty free idea, this wouldn't work.
You are allowed to bring in £390 of goods (excluding your tobacco and alcohol allowance) and it doesn't matter if these goods were purchased in an overseas shop, off the internet or in a duty free shop. It is the fact that were not purchased duty paid in the UK that is the important factor.

ferf1223

ZeeZee wrote: »

I wouldn't want to carry them in hand luggage as it would be a little unsafe, or rather I'd feel safer having them packed within my case. I'm one of those that HAS to have the packaging for everything, gets me in trouble at times but that should be ok, as the price (when split between two of us) would be under the limit.

Good luck with that - sorry, but I can't think of many things that would be more appealing to a would-be thief than boxed electronics in checked luggage. Not to mention how much checked baggage gets thrown around. If it were me, I would flatten the packaging to pack in your checked bags if you want to keep it (I can understand that) and stick the tablets themselves in your hand luggage.

lfc321

ferf1223 wrote: »

Good luck with that - sorry, but I can't think of many things that would be more appealing to a would-be thief than boxed electronics in checked luggage. Not to mention how much checked baggage gets thrown around. If it were me, I would flatten the packaging to pack in your checked bags if you want to keep it (I can understand that) and stick the tablets themselves in your hand luggage.

This. No way would I be putting these in checked luggage.