A rather touchy shipping question

[Havoc]

Hi, this is the "Stupid Questions Vol. 2" of my Stupid Questions Marathon, so bear with me.

I didn't know where to post this so I posted it here.You should consider making a "General Discussion" for notebooks though.

Now, my question:

[?]I live in Europe.In Greece.Is there a (proven) way to buy things from the US, and have them shipped into the UK or Greece, avoiding all tax costs? Stating that the item is a gift is one.It doesn't work always, and Big online stores won't do it (I guess, haven't asked).So, is there another way of avoiding tax when importing from the US?

Thank you, everyone.Ban me.[]

[ricola_pak]

A laptop would be something too "big" to label as a gift, unless the custom officers are nutheads!

I don't think you have anyway to get around this, unless you smuggle it in or something []


I had the experience of what you want to do though. It was a pair of canalphones (headphones that go deep into your ear canals) that costed $130 USD. The company sent it with a value of $10 so I didn't have to pay any duties etc. But that worked because the headphones DO look cheap and can be packed in really small box.

[Andrew Baxter]

If you can find a cheap flight to the U.S. and have a lot of shopping to do then you can actually save yourself some money even with the cost of the flight factored in. A long way to go to do some shopping, but kinda fun. Just a thought as I know no way of avoiding what you ask here.

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[gilo]

I wish there was a way , but each way you'll choose will be risky and might end up coasting more .

The best option is to find someone living in the US that will ship your stuff personally via USPS EMS , you can ask them to make your buys look "used" for decreased customs/vat value but not as free .

btw : as part of the EU I think you have access to some of the best laptops in the market such as LG , joybooks and samsungs that are not in the US .

I'm only writing so because the big companies "seal" the markets in order to increase profits , its their right to conduct business the way they see fit to but I don't have to agree and follow blindly , there is no *justified* reason other then "because we can" .

[Havoc]

Hey, thanks for the replies.I didn't think anyone would answer. [8D]

Well, I guess it's either smuggling or buying from a EU Country, UK for example.A suggestion from me to the owners of this website:

It would be nice if you included UK (Or any other european) prices in your Price break down shopper helper thingie.That would help A LOT!!

For all you EU buyers looking for good prices: Check out EBuyer ( http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/ ).They've got pretty good prices,and are quite reliable (According to Bizrate) although I haven't checked anything else(Support, waranties, whatever else).