[SunRescue] Re: UK VAT/Duty

[P.A.Osborne]

> For the sake of discussion, what is the best way to send someone in
> England or Sweden, for example, a junk computer board you pulled out
> of surplus scrap that cost you maybe 1 US dollar?  Most of the time
> we swap these things for free, or at most 5 or 10 bucks.  Yet, some
> of the commercial parts mongers may try to sell them for 50-100 dollars
> or more.
> 
> How does one guage what to `value' it at, for the customs folks?
> I paid 1 buck for it, or pulled the board out of a computer I paid
> 5 bucks for in surplus, yet may have cost 100K new?  Commercially,
> you would go backrupt trying to sell it... or sit on it till the cows
> come home.  The market value for the board at flea markets and trade
> shows might be 5-10 bucks, if you are lucky.
> 
> What to scribble where on the customs forms?


Funnily enough I worked with (not for) customs doing just that
sort of paperwork for about 5 years (finished 10 years ago when the EC 
trade barriers dropped but thats another story).  

Anyhow  what I would put and have in the past used is:

"These parts are second hand items and are of 1gbp resellable value 
and are considered by the recipient as personal effects."

Possibly mentioning the age of the parts may be worthwhile,  as most
people will realise that say an SS10 which is what eight years old
will maybe have seen better days.

This has worked for me in the past and I dont doubt there will come
a time when it wont.  

What you need to remember is the HMC&E are a suspicious bunch and
work on the principle of if you need to import it it must be worth
something.

Therefore shipping an item with a Proforma invoice stating the value
of the goods will help as there is an indication of the value,  so
if Mr Bill sells me an SS2 for 5 usd,  then an invoice stating that
he is selling me an SS2 with serial no xyz as second hand goods etc 
for the value of 5 usd is what should be used for HMC&E to base their
charges - theoretically.

However it gets worse than that as you have to account for shipping
terms and conditions - which you may also have to pay duty + vat on.

BTW:  usually its worked as   value of item + value of freighting +
duty + VAT.

Ho hum

--Paul