Having a camera sent from USA to UK, Customs confusion

[RobbieKB]

Camera sent from U.S to U.K, title wrong!

Help needed: Has anyone ever had a camera sent to them in the U.K from the U.S?

My uncle has a camera he wants to send to me. It's second-hand, but worth about $3,000. I got a quote to see what sort of customs fees we'd have to pay to send this camera from New York to England. I'm getting prices of £500 to £1,000 in fees. Is this correct?! Surely there must be a way I can get this camera to the U.K without paying so much money.

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? I have companies send me thousands of pounds worth of equipment every year for reviews and I find it hard to believe they spend hundreds if not thousands on customs charges. I've never sorted this out myself before, so I'm thoroughly confused by the HMRC help.

[Scrump]

Unable to help on the customs charges, but title corrected for you.

[RobbieKB]

Scrump said:

Unable to help on the customs charges, but title corrected for you.

Thank you mate.

[The_Jackal]

Put "Gift $10" on the outside.

[elanfan]

If you can wait for someone you or they know that are travelling to the U.K. just ask them to bring it with them. No one will question a tourist with a camera. The only cost will then be getting to you in the U.K.

[satans worm]

Can’t help you on the import, but I have to ask, what camera is it?

[h0b0]

The_Jackal said:

Put "Gift $10" on the outside.

Good luck with insurance.


This is a topic that infuriates me as I have sent gifts from the US to my family in the UK and have to pay the customs duty on it because it is assumed I’m avoiding tax because so many abused the system.

[satans worm]

h0b0 said:

The_Jackal said:

Put "Gift $10" on the outside.

Good luck with insurance.


This is a topic that infuriates me as I have sent gifts from the US to my family in the UK and have to pay the customs duty on it because it is assumed I’m avoiding tax because so many abused the system.

Me too, every Christmas i put some basic things in like a crappy calendar from my photos of the year only a mother would like, but they get charged large tax amounts to collect them in the UK for more than what it cost to print in Costco!

No idea how it works, but on a 3k camera, i would expect a 750 tax charge (purely finger in the air stuff, no real science behind this )

[randlemarcus]

At those prices, I suggest a quick trip to New York is in order. It's not at all unusual to carry a camera for such a trip.

[jimPH]

Make two payments, one low, one high.

Put the invoice for the low amount in the declaration, proof is your payment.

Problem is, if it gets lost or damaged, then you won't be covered.

[peter tdci]

It sounds like a mixture of customs duty and VAT (which you have to pay on gifts over the value of £39).

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad

[The_Jackal]

satans worm said:

Me too, every Christmas i put some basic things in like a crappy calendar from my photos of the year only a mother would like, but they get charged large tax amounts to collect them in the UK for more than what it cost to print in Costco!

No idea how it works, but on a 3k camera, i would expect a 750 tax charge (purely finger in the air stuff, no real science behind this )

Cant you just create the calendar on a uk photo site like vistaprint?

[taxboy]

peter tdci said:

It sounds like a mixture of customs duty and VAT (which you have to pay on gifts over the value of £39).

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad

That's correct duty is calculated on the value of the camera plus shipping and insurance to the UK
VAT is charged on the value of the camera plus shipping and insurance plus the import duty.
If it's a digital camera the duty rate is 0% so there will just be the VAT of 20%
Depending how it's shipped there will be clearance charges for collecting the taxes.

[satans worm]

The_Jackal said:

satans worm said:

Me too, every Christmas i put some basic things in like a crappy calendar from my photos of the year only a mother would like, but they get charged large tax amounts to collect them in the UK for more than what it cost to print in Costco!

No idea how it works, but on a 3k camera, i would expect a 750 tax charge (purely finger in the air stuff, no real science behind this )

Cant you just create the calendar on a uk photo site like vistaprint?

most English web sites don't allow for a US credit card to be used, address don't work for billing.

But perhaps I should give it another go for sure

[h0b0]

satans worm said:

The_Jackal said:

satans worm said:

Me too, every Christmas i put some basic things in like a crappy calendar from my photos of the year only a mother would like, but they get charged large tax amounts to collect them in the UK for more than what it cost to print in Costco!

No idea how it works, but on a 3k camera, i would expect a 750 tax charge (purely finger in the air stuff, no real science behind this )

Cant you just create the calendar on a uk photo site like vistaprint?

most English web sites don't allow for a US credit card to be used, address don't work for billing.

But perhaps I should give it another go for sure

Amazon.co.uk don’t have an issue. Just go to normal Amazon.com and change country.

For other sites, it can be the credit card company that blocks it rather than the site. For example, my YouTube premium is based in Turkey. I couldn’t get credit cards to work but me debit card did.