Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

buying 2 Macbooks in USA and taking then back to EU

P

pisiak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2010
4
0
Hello guys,
i would like to ask if anyone of you here have any experience going through USA customs with more than one Macbook (in my case 2) ???
what is the beast way to do it ?
if one person takes 2 new Macs, customs makes him/her pay custom duty...do you know how big is the duty for Macbook of cost of 1099 dollars ?
thanks for your advice in advance...
 
It's your own country customs you have to worry about, not US customs.

Trying to explain why you have 2 new macbooks in your carry on might be tough ... I wouldn't risk putting them through checked baggage.
 
Make sure you already have both of them set up as TSA may ask you to turn them on. TSA is going to be your only obstacle in the USA. Your home country's customs may try and hit you with a tax. Buy two of the cheap plastic cover cases, damage them, make them look nasty, put them on the MacBooks and if asked say you use them with your work. Just make the laptop look used as hell and the cases let you do that without messing up the finish.
 
I agree that you should take them out of the boxes and ship the boxes home (shouldn't be too expensive since they are light).

Buy 2 sleeves for them. In the US, you don't even have to take laptops out of sleeves anymore so nobody will even notice them. If you are worried, you can run through setup assistant so they boot into the accounts screen. You can always reinstall the OS at home to get the factory fresh feel.

I don't have a lot of experience with customs, but have never had foreign customs look through my carry-on. One computer would be easy to sneak through even if they took a peek. But 2 may be hard to explain if they aren't legitimate (as yours aren't). If you are travelling with a friend, have them carry one so everyone has one machine. Shouldn't be a problem then, I'd think.
 
I brought two with me from S. Francisco to Italy. Be sure both are working and battery charged. And yes, ship boxes and manuals right away, from US to EU. I don't think there is any law that don't allow you to travel with two laptops, or a laptop and iPad, for instance. Be careful about the weight of you hand luggage, now airlines became very controlling about that...
 
I just went to Armenia from the US last month and back. I purchased a laptop here for a family member in Armenia. I had to carry that with me in my backpack. It was no problem at all despite being brand new and not even set up. I had all of the laptop discs with me and everything. They required me to take it out of the bag to be x-rayed, however they never made me open or turn on a thing.
 
thx

guys thank you to all off you for a usefull tips and help, we will try the UPS probably and we will see...once more thanks
 
LAS.mac said:
I don't think there is any law that don't allow you to travel with two laptops, or a laptop and iPad, for instance.
Click to expand...

Of course there is no law, but someone traveling with 2 brand new looking laptops will stand out more than someone traveling with 1 brand new looking laptop, especially to customs officials who are looking for import violators.
 
Of course there is no law, but someone traveling with 2 brand new looking laptops will stand out more than someone traveling with 1 brand new looking laptop, especially to customs officials who are looking for import violators.[/QUOTE]

i knew there is a law about it :) i ll probably try to send one...but the question now is, if there is a duty to pay when you send a package ???
does anyone know if there is a duty to pay when you send mac via UPS or something like that ?
 
EU duty

i knew there is a law about it :) i ll probably try to send one...but the question now is, if there is a duty to pay when you send a package ???
does anyone know if there is a duty to pay when you send mac via UPS or something like that ?[/QUOTE]

Speaking for the German rules.If someone sends an item from USA to Germany, they have to fill in a customs form with a description of the item and its value. The value allowed without import tax (For even something described as a Gift) is very low ($50? Something like that). Sent by regular USPS, the person in Germany would have to go to their local Customs office to pay the tax and pick up the item. UPS normally will pick up the tax on delivery. Rare that anything large slips through the net. It is possible the process is similar in other EU Countries.
 
Last I spoke to UPS about customs here in Denmark they said that they never open packages. They only look at what's declared on the customs forms. So as long as you declare that the contents of the package is below your country's tax limit there should be no problems. But you have to remember that the package's contents are only insured for the value you state on the customs form. So if you write that your package's contents are worth USD20 and the MacBook gets destroyed in transport, tough luck.:eek:
 
gorjan said:
Last I spoke to UPS about customs here in Denmark they said that they never open packages. They only look at what's declared on the customs forms. So as long as you declare that the contents of the package is below your country's tax limit there should be no problems. But you have to remember that the package's contents are only insured for the value you state on the customs form. So if you write that your package's contents are worth USD20 and the MacBook gets destroyed in transport, tough luck.:eek:
Click to expand...

i see...one waz or another, thanks. this is quite a conundrum...i will have to think really hard to come up with something :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back