Macbook Pro as a gift

[Nyctalus]

Hi there!

I am from Portugal, but I am planning to study in US this summer. I want to buy a MacBook Pro 15" for my girlfriend's birthday. I am planning to buy the laptop in the US Web MacStore and send it to Portugal by USPS Express Mail International. But in way to pass thru the Portuguese Custom with minimum taxes I need to send her like a gift so I need the "Gift Ticket".

How can I do that? Anybody can help me, giving me instructions for doing that in the right way?

Thanks,

Fred

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

Hi there!

I am from Portugal, but I am planning to study in US this summer. I want to buy a MacBook Pro 15" for my girlfriend's birthday. I am planning to buy the laptop in the US Web MacStore and send it to Portugal by USPS Express Mail International. But in way to pass thru the Portuguese Custom with minimum taxes I need to send her like a gift so I need the "Gift Ticket".

How can I do that? Anybody can help me, giving me instructions for doing that in the right way?

Thanks,

Fred

pretty sure apple is not going to ship you a laptop to portugal from the us online store....

you are going to have to have the computer shipped to someone in the us and then they would have to reship it to portugal.

 

[palpatine]

Hi there!

I am from Portugal, but I am planning to study in US this summer. I want to buy a MacBook Pro 15" for my girlfriend's birthday. I am planning to buy the laptop in the US Web MacStore and send it to Portugal by USPS Express Mail International. But in way to pass thru the Portuguese Custom with minimum taxes I need to send her like a gift so I need the "Gift Ticket".

How can I do that? Anybody can help me, giving me instructions for doing that in the right way?

Thanks,

Fred

This sounds like a really bad idea. You are going to purchase a high tech piece of equipment and pay money to send it through the mail to your girlfriend, right? I guess you guys have quite a relationship, because I have never spent 1800 dollars + on a birthday present!

I doubt the Portuguese officials are so stupid. My guess is that there is a limit to the value that a gift can be, and this computer will be hundreds and hundreds of dollars above that. You could go to the US post office or a Fed Ex outlet to ask, but I don't see this ending well.

A far better solution would be to buy it in Portugal, or buy it in the US and carry it back safely on the plane with you. I have shipped a netbook once by Fed Ex (I left it behind when I went on an international trip--funny story, because I packed the plug but not the computer!). It arrived safely, but I still wouldn't recommend it.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

This sounds like a really bad idea. You are going to purchase a high tech piece of equipment and pay money to send it through the mail to your girlfriend, right? I guess you guys have quite a relationship, because I have never spent 1800 dollars + on a birthday present!

I doubt the Portuguese officials are so stupid. My guess is that there is a limit to the value that a gift can be, and this computer will be hundreds and hundreds of dollars above that. You could go to the US post office or a Fed Ex outlet to ask, but I don't see this ending well.

A far better solution would be to buy it in Portugal, or buy it in the US and carry it back safely on the plane with you. I have shipped a netbook once by Fed Ex (I left it behind when I went on an international trip--funny story, because I packed the plug but not the computer!). It arrived safely, but I still wouldn't recommend it.

you can buy insurance when you ship items... it's also a very minimal amount for every $100 you are insuring.

 

[palpatine]

you can buy insurance when you ship items... it's also a very minimal amount for every $100 you are insuring.

true. would you do it, though?

unless there is obvious physical damage, i think you'd have a difficult time proving it. you also have the cost, which is going to be what, 150 or 200 to ship? not to mention the potential for customs problems. to give a concrete example from the us, a friend has shipped two packages this year to the us and both arrived missing contents and one with someone else's contents mixed into them. frankly, i don't trust thhe inspectors to treat my stuff with the same care that i do. for books and toys, it's annoying. for a computer, it would be infuriating.

like i said, it sounds like a bad idea.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

true. would you do it, though?

unless there is obvious physical damage, i think you'd have a difficult time proving it. you also have the cost, which is going to be what, 150 or 200 to ship? not to mention the potential for customs problems. to give a concrete example from the us, a friend has shipped two packages this year to the us and both arrived missing contents and one with someone else's contents mixed into them. frankly, i don't trust thhe inspectors to treat my stuff with the same care that i do. for books and toys, it's annoying. for a computer, it would be infuriating.

like i said, it sounds like a bad idea.

depends how much money you're saving by doing it, $200 shipping might be a better deal than buying it in your country...

guess it just depends where you are shipping to. I used to ship tons of stuff back and forth to a guy in australia, never had any problems with customs or anything. Definitely also depends on import taxes and such.... you can't always just ship anything anywhere, gotta do research first and to be honest this is probably the worst place. If you want advice talk to the people at UPS, they will know a lot more about int'l shipping and requirements for different places than we will! My .02

 

[palpatine]

depends how much money you're saving by doing it, $200 shipping might be a better deal than buying it in your country...

guess it just depends where you are shipping to. I used to ship tons of stuff back and forth to a guy in australia, never had any problems with customs or anything. Definitely also depends on import taxes and such.... you can't always just ship anything anywhere, gotta do research first and to be honest this is probably the worst place. If you want advice talk to the people at UPS, they will know a lot more about int'l shipping and requirements for different places than we will! My .02

agreed

i stil wonder about this relationship, though. i don't know if any of my girlfriends ever got presents worth more than 100 dollars. that might explain the empty pages in my imaginary black book ?

 

[alust2013]

I'd suggest the buy, then take it back on the plane method. That's a pretty hefty present.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

agreed

i stil wonder about this relationship, though. i don't know if any of my girlfriends ever got presents worth more than 100 dollars. that might explain the empty pages in my imaginary black book ?

ehh maybe he is rich ahahahaha!!

 

[palpatine]

ehh maybe he is rich ahahahaha!!

I thought about that. But, if that were the case, wouldn't he just send it directly from Portugal?

As a poor and stingy guy, perhaps I just have trouble imagining what it would be like to be rich and give my girlfriend expensive presents

 

[bigjnyc]

pretty sure apple is not going to ship you a laptop to portugal from the us online store....

you are going to have to have the computer shipped to someone in the us and then they would have to reship it to portugal.

I think you misunderstood his post. He will be in the US and will physically buy the laptop from Apple.. then he wants to ship it himself from the US to Portugal.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

I think you misunderstood his post. He will be in the US and will physically buy the laptop from Apple.. then he wants to ship it himself from the US to Portugal.

haha yep

 

[PT123]

It's risky because for it to be classed as a gift coming into the EU, you will have to value the box much lower than it's worth (e.g. $100) and therefore if it goes missing (and things DO go missing in customs) then the insurance will only pay you $100....which is not cool

There is absolutely no guarantee the package will arrive, and if it doesn't, you will only get paid what you say it's worth.