[tigerlily]

I seem to recall reading that if you are shipping things over, and some of the things are new and unused that you will have to pay a customs fee on them (so that's why nobody runs out and fills the extra space in their container with IKEA flat pack furniture). But I thought I also read somewhere that if the item was purchased more than 6 months before (and you could document this with a receipt) that they then would not charge you a customs fee on the item. Is this true? Has anyone read this?

Those of us still a long way off could then be doing some shopping 6 months before departure!

[sarahw]

Quick tip - take everything out of the original packing - or at least open it & make it look like its been taken out the box & used at least once. I did this with my new computer equipment & ripped all of the delivery stickers which mentioned dates on them - as it was our container wasn't checked & I'm not quite sure if they open all the boxes (because frankly there were about 60 or 75 large boxes on my container - can't see them going through everything - but with Customs you never know!)