Has anyone ever had customs try to charge them for items they already owned?

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Jack Daniel's

pictures taken by the phone in the uk before the trip & the UK plug should help settle that argument, Unless they thought you could find a computer & register it on itunes & copy an old phone data across,
lol,

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You don't need a computer. You can set an iPhone up, sync it up to your iTunes account and download your last backup (including all your old photos) from iCloud without going anywhere near a computer. You just need wifi or mobile data access. Takes about 10 minutes.

The UK plug is a good point though. Unless you bought the UK plug with you for your old phone and bought a new iPhone over in the US.

[mickchick]

Customs & Excise can immediately identify the country of sale of any cameras, phones or similar by checking the serial number online. However, in the event of anyone being stopped and asked where they bought their goods from, it makes the checking process much quicker if you can produce proof of purchase. If you are taking through UK Customs something that you bought abroad, even if the purchase was some years ago, you really ought to have a receipt to show you paid duty on it at the time. But that's a worst case scenario. Sometimes Customs will stop you and ask about a camera or a watch just to gauge your reaction in case you are concealing something else, like too many cigarettes. Oh, and cutting tags off things in the belief that what Customs can't prove can't get you into trouble is just plain wrong. Uniquely, Customs rules require you to prove your innocence; they dont have to prove your guilt. I once spent two weeks on a jury at a court near Gatwick, and Customs were having a blitz on duty-dodgers at the time. We had to listen to case after case where people tried to claim the goods they were bring in had come from their local stores at home, but couldnt prove it.

[Jack Daniel's]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

You don't need a computer. You can set an iPhone up, sync it up to your iTunes account and download your last backup (including all your old photos) from iCloud without going anywhere near a computer. You just need wifi or mobile data access. Takes about 10 minutes.

The UK plug is a good point though. Unless you bought the UK plug with you for your old phone and bought a new iPhone over in the US.

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Not something i have ever done with my last couple of iPhones, but then 128GB of data would take a while over WiFi or cost you 100s in data charges.

[duchy]

Any big purchases not bought on line I tend to photograph the receipts anyway as I'm really good a losing them otherwise (online I keep sales emails)

[Pussycat Doll]

I make sure I have photos on my phone of me wearing the items here in the UK.

[gl20]

Left some cufflinks in my hotel room in Tokyo last year. The hotel staff kindly mailed them but, you've guessed it, I got slapped with a duty charge that I had to pay before they'd be released at this end. I couldn't be bothered to process a rebate and, based on a post above, I'm not sure if I'd have been successful since they were a gift from my wife from about 15 years ago so no way we'd have the receipt. Frustrating, as they'd have inspected them and seen from all the scuffs that they were old.

Also not sure how this works re value. £390 mentioned above and it would have been clear that these links were not worth that much.

[Lizzim]

Originally Posted by gl20

Left some cufflinks in my hotel room in Tokyo last year. The hotel staff kindly mailed them but, you've guessed it, I got slapped with a duty charge that I had to pay before they'd be released at this end. I couldn't be bothered to process a rebate and, based on a post above, I'm not sure if I'd have been successful since they were a gift from my wife from about 15 years ago so no way we'd have the receipt. Frustrating, as they'd have inspected them and seen from all the scuffs that they were old.

Also not sure how this works re value. £390 mentioned above and it would have been clear that these links were not worth that much.

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It’s only £390 when travelling - items sent via post ae subject to much lower limits.

[disneypars]

DW takes a photo of her Pandora bracelets and charms with a dated newspaper as proof but have never (to date) been stopped.

[ERICSMUM]

Years ago I was stopped at Heathrow on my way back from business in Boston. They were interested in my laptop and were determined to prove that I’d either bought it in the US or at least bought and loaded software. They switched it on and checked loads of programmes, but sadly for them they were all registered to my employer and dated.

[Grump$]

Easy way to prove your laptop is UK bought is to see the £ sign on the number 3. The US laptops don't have this.