Shipping a laptop to the UK.

[aolj]

I'm in Michigan, US. I plan to ship a laptop to UK. Are there any steps that I have to take to ship it? VAT taxes for UK and all? Plus is it better to do it UPS/FEDEX or USPS? Anyone had experience shipping to UK?

Any help is much appreciated!
:beer:

Thanks!

 

[andylawcc]

as with shipping any non-document aboard US, you will have to type/write up a "Shipping Invoice," just ask the Fedex or UPS person over the counter for it, it should take less than 8 minutes to fill out. Its quite lenghty but don't feel itimated by it. You will then have to attach it to package. I believe USPS is THE most economical way to ship.

beware though, EXPLICITLY state on the Invoice that it is a "NON-COMMERICAL ITEM" and "NOT FOR RE-SALE" and "FOR PERSONAL USE" otherwise you will be raped with those VAT taxes... (which did happen to my co-worker)

 

[aolj]

Thanks!! I'll ask the person over the counter to help out too!

 

[aolj]

Damn!! I shipped a laptop to my brother in UK. He said he was taxed <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">£</SPAN>200 by customs. Anyway for him to get it back?
Damn customs... :|

 

[aolj]

N E 1?

 

[vegetation]

For something that expensive, it does not matter if it's declared a gift or commercial. Basically, gift items just have a higher minimum amount that can be taxable but since we're talkin about something expensive here, the difference would be nil.