Flying to the USA to pick up a guitar

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  • notanonnotanon Frets: 604
    @skinfreak are you still thinking of flying out shipping? Can you say what the guitar is yet? Pictures or links please ;-)
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  • ricorico Frets: 1220
    I’d bloody well go for it. It sounds like fun!
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    If you want to check the instrument before buying it and you fancy a trip and can afford it, go for it; you can still pay the duty. That way you have a dream guitar, you’ve had a fun time and you haven’t broken the law.

    If the above doesn’t apply, pay for a platinum courier service.

    If the whole thing is about evading customs duties then I don’t recommend it!
    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • The biggest mistake the OP has made here isn’t alerting the tax people it’s alerting his wife!

    The only course of action available now is to travel to the states for a nice holiday with his wife, and come back with a guitar if there is enough money left in the piggy bank :-)
    Link to my trading feedback: http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/58787/
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  • AustrianJohnAustrianJohn Frets: 1666
    Boromedic said:
    Part of me wonders if the people complaining about you avoiding import duties are just as concerned about say, Amazon's tax avoidance? As much as they are about your potential miniscule duty payment of a few hundred quid? I bet they still buy stuff from them without a second thought, and then try and pull the hypocritical moral high ground cos HMRC miss out on a few quid. Ridiculous, if I could do it, I certainly would.
    Yup, all the following companys paid basically zero corporation tax in the UK after making millions in profit:

    1. Amazon
    2. Starbucks
    3. Google
    4. Gap
    5. Apple
    6. Cafe Nero
    7. Vodaphone
    8. Waterstones
    9. EE
    10. Topshop
    11. Boots
    12. MacDonalds
    13. Vision Express
    14. Thomas Cook
    15. Diageo
    16. Glencore
    17. facebook
    18. ebay

    Anyone still bothered by a few £100 in missed inport duty on one guitar?

    Legally minimising the tax a company pays is quite reasonable. The real problem is that the Government/HMRC provides the loopholes for these companies to exploit.
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  • kt66kt66 Frets: 315
    I went to Manny's NYC mid 90s, they told me if I bought a guitar they would do me a form to say it had been returned for repairs
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  • kt66 said:
    I went to Manny's NYC mid 90s, they told me if I bought a guitar they would do me a form to say it had been returned for repairs
    With vintage guitar shops often competing for business I guess it may be quite easy for a shop to do this if needed as so to get your business?

    On another note what If you go on a cruise to New York and back? is their the same level of customs? On a ship you could argue you took the guitar to just play? 
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    I used to live in Philly and hand carried guitars back and forward maybe 6 or 7 times over the 6 years I lived there - I never had any issues with custom on either end and TBH the only thing that stopped me doing it was that airlines stopped agreeing to put them in the sports good lockers where the Ski's and golf clubs get stored.

    I was much less keen when I had to buy a ticket or it went in the hold, for obvious reasons on both counts.
    This, BA especially have clamped down on instruments as hand luggage, smuggled ('cos th's what it is) or otherwise.
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • siremoonsiremoon Frets: 1524
    I don't really follow the Amazon et al comparison.  What those companies do may be immoral, ethically untenable etc but it is not illegal, smuggling goods through UK Customs is.
    “He is like a man with a fork in a world of soup.” - Noel Gallagher
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  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8175
    siremoon said:
    I don't really follow the Amazon et al comparison.  What those companies do may be immoral, ethically untenable etc but it is not illegal, smuggling goods through UK Customs is.
    You're probably right.
    And if you actually think that sneaking a guitar through without paying duty is worse, I'm assuming you must be the CEO of Amazon so can you let me know when you are next having a blow-out on Gibsons please?
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    sev112 said:
    Hope there’s no customs or VAt people who frequent this forum :)


    I'm not sure that flying to the USA to pick up a guitar is really within my normal frame of reference but this reminded me of a chap I knew from my court days. He would come back from Tenerife (IIRC) with a suitcase full of fags to sell down the pub. On his one trip he boasted about what he'd achieved to a bloke on the bus back from the airport. Turned out the bloke was an off duty customs officer. I can't remember the detail but he certainly went to prison for it. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • midlifecrisismidlifecrisis Frets: 2341
    ther are no doubt people who do this all the time, guitars, cameras loads of stuff. But they do not talk about it on forums, nuff said
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  • skinfreakskinfreak Frets: 200
    I’m really glad I started this thread now. If only becuase of some of the jokes. 

    I am not trying to make light out of it and relaise the moral issues associated with some of the connotations. If it were completley about dodging import duties then I wouldn’t be posting on here. It’s as much about the other factors, and CITIES appears to be one of the major problems. However I have a solution for that (or rather the dealer does) and so if I pull the trigger it should not pose a problem. The thing about bringing the guitar on the plane/checking in the hold also seems to negate the benefits of getting it in person. So I ain’t getting it in person. 

    So if I do buy it, the moral minority (and this thread does seem to indicate that more than 50% of those commenting have a wandering moral compass like me  ;)) will rest easy knowing that there will be no tax dodging going on. 

    I do take issue with the idea about the chap selling suitcases of fags though. This guitar is going into my will if I get it. 
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  • skinfreakskinfreak Frets: 200
    OK- I took the plunge: Custom built PRS Tremonti used by the man himself on the new album, signed by the band and PRS himself on the headstock. 1 of 14 made. Holy shit....


    Holy...holy...I'M IN DEBT!! ;-) GAS sorted for the next 3 years while I pay and play this off...hope I get that pay rise. And the UPS chap will sit at the door step waiting for me to pay the import duty. All legit. YOU ALL HAPPY NOW?!!?
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  • soma1975soma1975 Frets: 6626
    What's wrong with CITES now? They do phenomenal work. 

    HNGD. I hear import duty improves the tone. 
    My Trade Feedback Thread is here

    Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8175
    You beauty! Enjoy...
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • NeilNeil Frets: 3594
    skinfreak said:
    I’m really glad I started this thread now. If only becuase of some of the jokes. 

    I am not trying to make light out of it and relaise the moral issues associated with some of the connotations. If it were completley about dodging import duties then I wouldn’t be posting on here. It’s as much about the other factors, and CITIES appears to be one of the major problems. However I have a solution for that (or rather the dealer does) and so if I pull the trigger it should not pose a problem. The thing about bringing the guitar on the plane/checking in the hold also seems to negate the benefits of getting it in person. So I ain’t getting it in person. 

    So if I do buy it, the moral minority (and this thread does seem to indicate that more than 50% of those commenting have a wandering moral compass like me  ;)) will rest easy knowing that there will be no tax dodging going on. 

    I do take issue with the idea about the chap selling suitcases of fags though. This guitar is going into my will if I get it. 
    You say that now...... ;)
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  • Strat54Strat54 Frets: 2329
    Nice score. Like the Copperhead one on his website too. Such a shame the dollar/pound rate is so poor. Not used UPS for a while but they used to ring you when the guitar landed here in the UK to collect the duty before it was delivered.
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  • CHRISB50CHRISB50 Frets: 4286
    Neil said:
    skinfreak said:
    I’m really glad I started this thread now. If only becuase of some of the jokes. 

    I am not trying to make light out of it and relaise the moral issues associated with some of the connotations. If it were completley about dodging import duties then I wouldn’t be posting on here. It’s as much about the other factors, and CITIES appears to be one of the major problems. However I have a solution for that (or rather the dealer does) and so if I pull the trigger it should not pose a problem. The thing about bringing the guitar on the plane/checking in the hold also seems to negate the benefits of getting it in person. So I ain’t getting it in person. 

    So if I do buy it, the moral minority (and this thread does seem to indicate that more than 50% of those commenting have a wandering moral compass like me  ;)) will rest easy knowing that there will be no tax dodging going on. 

    I do take issue with the idea about the chap selling suitcases of fags though. This guitar is going into my will if I get it. 
    You say that now...... ;)


    Lol. Exactly my first thought. We've all been there!


    HNGD OP. Enjoy it.

    I can't help about the shape I'm in, I can't sing I ain't pretty and my legs are thin

    But don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to

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  • skinfreakskinfreak Frets: 200
    Strat54 said:
    Nice score. Like the Copperhead one on his website too. Such a shame the dollar/pound rate is so poor. Not used UPS for a while but they used to ring you when the guitar landed here in the UK to collect the duty before it was delivered.
    I was torn with the copperhead. The difference for me was that the copperhead is a standard colour but the antique white usually covers the entire body. Apprently Eric Friedman was hoping the white one did not get sold so I am going to break the news to him when I meet the band in Birmingham later in the month. The guys at Fret12 were great to deal with though. Fair play. Well you'd expect them to be!

    I'lll be changin my Will next week too... ;)
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