South Africa Travel

Question:

> I’m thinking about buying a laptop from american ebay, having it > delivered to a friend in america and when i go to visit i’ll pick it > up and bring it back as personal baggage. am i right in thinking that > this way i’ll get away without paying any import duties?

I think it’s a pretty safe bet that a single laptop, not in its original packaging, isn’t going to get any attention from customs. I’ve never been asked anything about laptops by customs people. miguel — Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu Latest photos: Maldives, Dubai and Vietnam

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> > I’m thinking about buying a laptop from american ebay, having it > > delivered to a friend in america and when i go to visit i’ll pick it > > up and bring it back as personal baggage. am i right in thinking > > that > > this way i’ll get away without paying any import duties? > > I would prefer for my friend to send it over by post but i’m > > thinking > > that i may have to pay duties on receiving it. > A while back I worked for a New York-based company. I picked up my > nice > new Dell laptop from their NY office and carried it back to the UK; > nobody > stopped me, of course. I had them send the printer by post, and I did > have > to pay duty on that. That fits with my general experience that C&E in > the > UK couldn’t care less what you bring back through the airport unless > you > are very obviously importing lots of new stuff, yet that they are > quite > clued-up on international packages. > Imports from the USA to Europe carry import duty and VAT. > You do realize you have commited a criminal offence, I suppose..

Since the computer remained the property of the New York company and indeed was returned to them at the end of my employment, I am not sure whether it should have been subject to duty — I can’t remember how the rules work for temporary imports, for example. (And yes, I know I should have asked; you can report me if you want and I will ask for numerous other petty breaches of the law to be taken into consideration.) The point in the context of the OP, anyway, is that nobody *asked* about a carry-on, but they did pick up on an item sent by post.

Response:

>> I’m thinking about buying a laptop from american ebay, having it > delivered to a friend in america and when i go to visit i’ll pick it > up and bring it back as personal baggage. > am i right in thinking that > this way i’ll get away without paying any import duties?

Almost certainly, just like you get away with speeding etc. >I think it’s a pretty safe bet that a single laptop, not in its original >packaging, isn’t going to get any attention from customs. I’ve never been >asked anything about laptops by customs people.

South African Customs officers asked me on entry, although once they realised I was a visitor and not a resident they lost all interest Jim.

Response:

> I’m thinking about buying a laptop from american ebay, having it > delivered to a friend in america and when i go to visit i’ll pick it > up and bring it back as personal baggage. am i right in thinking that > this way i’ll get away without paying any import duties? > I would prefer for my friend to send it over by post but i’m thinking > that i may have to pay duties on receiving it. > I would appreciate any advice on this matter of shipping goods between > the US and the UK. I’m hoping that frequent american travellers would > be reading this newsgroup.

If you are resident in UK, legally you are only allowed to bring in goods to the value of