[LargeFormat] Import duty and VAT ON Ebay purchases

[Jim Brick]

I've bought many things on eBay and retail mail order, from Canada,=20
England, Germany, etc. I'm in the US and have never paid anything in duty.=
=20
The mail folks just leave it on the front porch.

Peter Wilkinson (Wilkinson Photo Products in England) shipped me one of his=
=20
56-60 processors in the early 70's (I still have it and it is still in=20
perfect running and cosmetic condition) and when I picked it up at the=20
dock, I had to pay 1% duty to customs. $10. A couple of years later, he=20
shipped me the automatic processing set-up for the 50-60, which was worth=20
about $6000, and I paid nothing.

Jim


At 11:21 AM 3/6/2003 -0800, jon press wrote:
>I=92m based in the UK, and have just received a sinar
>5x4 camera I bought on ebay, the seller being in the
>US. The camera cost around =A3400 pounds, I then had to
>pay a further =A3100 pounds in VAT and duty, upon
>receiving the package, which I=92m not very happy about.
>
>Could I please have peoples experiences of importing
>equipment, and if it is possible to avoid paying these
>fees.
>
>Regards,
>
>Simon.