Travel exporting/travelling from Usa to Europe : Question!

[boelieke]

Hello everyone,

In the (near) future i would like to travel to America (New york), i live in Europe.

My father told me that the legal limit to exporting stuff from usa to europe is about 170 dollars.

But does this mean i will get 'in trouble' when i buy more than that amount??
(I would take off tags of clothing and make them look a bit messy, and not like new clothes)

But what do i do with handbags and more expensive things?
For instance, when i see a gorgeous handbag on sale for 300 dollar, should i remove tags and throw away the recite (ree-sea-t??) and tell the airport people that i already owned it? Or will i have to pay something because i went over that amount?

Can anyone explain this please,

thanks in advance!

 

[annanas]

in the uk the limit is £145 so it's a little more than $170, but it's ridiculously low nonetheless. which is why hardly anyone declares anything my parents once tried to declare a rug they bought in morocco and the customs agents were so surprised they let them go without paying

you're extremely unlikely to get caught unless you buy obscene amounts of things, but if you want to bring things in without declaring them you can throw the packaging away, remove tags and if you're really worried, post yourself the receipt in case you think you'll need it for a warranty. i just came back to the uk from the us and took everything in without packaging and there weren't even any customs agents around. even if you try to declare depending on the country they might not bother charging you.

the way you're most likely to have to pay fees is either by receiving something in the post, or if you're coming from a country where they give visitors a tax refund and they decide to report it to your country. this only tends to happen with very large purchases though, the only example i can think of is a nokia executive who bought a very expensive watch in switzerland, claimed the tax back and brought it into finland without paying duty. the swiss authorities told the finnish authorities who then called him at home the next day because they knew he hadn't declared it. it would probably have been cheaper just to pay the swiss tax

 

[boelieke]

thanks for your answer. I only have one question left, if i would buy something expensive (like a handbag) would it be best to keep it as hand-luggage (on the airplane) or put it in my normal luggage? So they wouldn't really say like : hey that looks like a marcjacobs, have you bought that here? can you prove it's real?

haha silly questions, but i'm just wondering

 

[annanas]

carry that in your hand luggage, or even as your hand luggage. things generally don't go missing but someone could always decide to take it, especially if it looks new. the only bags i put in my luggage are ones that are so beaten up nobody else would want them

oh and customs probably don't know what marc jacobs is, if you were carrying lv or gucci monogram print then they might question it but it's pretty unlikely with marc jacobs.