make sure he states it is a gift when he sends it or you will pay import tax. even more expense! fair play for your patience too.

didn't know that, cheers. i've just ordered the wife a watch and told the retailer to ship it as a gift on someone's advice! coming from outside the eu and via fed ex, looks like i'm gonna be on customs and excise christmas card list.s**t.
is it 17.5% plus what?
thanks again, too late for me but i won't go dishing that one out again. unless it's to someone i don't like. haha.

HM Revenue & Customs

for UK forum members

www.hmrc.gov.uk/home.htm
Check out the "internet shopping" section.

Just received a canvas via Fedex that travelled via the states to the UK, all above board with the correct documentation, but good old UK customs still had to open the package and inspect it before releasing it at Stanstead!

UK customs know all about sellers sending goods with a lower value on the documentation.

If you don't declare the true value on the package and it gets 'lost in post' then you are only insured for the declared value.
I was just sent my own work from the end of an exhibition in the States and had to pay £300 in import taxes!

jollroger, that sure does suck. If it is a gift and you provide the original 75quid reciept is that all you are insured for. I hope you get your money back via insurance through DHL, can you still keep the damaged print?

Its definately worth checking what they will be posting the item in and by what method.

I ordered 2 Kozydan prints direct from the US (sent via US postal service) and they were posted in a toilet roll thin cardboard tube and were totally wrecked when they arrived. In fairness Kozydan were cool & sent me replacements, but still in the same crappy tube and still arrived damaged - replacement were not so bad and i cant be arsed to go through it all again.

In total contrast, faile arrived this morning again from US postal service but tube was hard as nails and print is in perfect condition!!

my faile print was in a crap tube and im only 45 mins from where they shipped it and it came crushed.

This may be overkill for transactions within the UK - but with all my international transactions I require double tubed (tube within a tube). The extra $10-15 for a second tube and slightly more postage is worth the potential hassle of insurance claims/damaged goods/etc.

I've never had any problems with prints from faile. All come in thick white tubes. But obey....

Packaging/Shipment seems to be one of the biggest thorns in any collector's side. This topic has also been discussed exhaustively at the thegiant.org forums as well. For the more valuable prints, many of the members are using what I consider to be a very novel approach. They are double tubing prints with a cardboard/yazoo indestructable tube that is placed inside an appropriately sized 1/4" thick pvc pipe with threaded end-caps.

Sound like overkill?

Maybe. But I'll tell you what--the damn thing won't be crushed. And when you consider that so many of these prints are made in extremely limited runs, how many of them can we (as a community) really afford to be careless with? Each one that is destroyed reduces your potential chances of finding a replacement, and that will eventually drive the prices of the remaining prints sky-high. Not that they're super-affordable already, but you get my point . . .

The other great thing about using this method is, the tubes are re-usable seemingly indefinitely--particularly if you place the shipping label into one of those handy plastic pockets that can be affixed on the side of the tube. Simply slice the plastic carefully upon receipt, place your own shipping label inside, unscrew/rescrew the threaded end cap and ship away!

It *does* take some effort and expense to have these tubes made, but as many of you have already learnt--the hassles of so-called "insurance" are simply not worth it. And for god's sake, avoid carriers like DHL and UPS like the plague. I think their depot handlers use print tubes as dolly's to roll aircraft out of their hangars.



Now that I've written a short book on the topic, if you felt like there was anything worthwhile in my post (good grammar, proper punctuation, the fact that I hate George Bush, you think my user name is uber-sexy) please click the little plus sign in the lower corner of my name.

It will make your mother so happy when you do.

Jay

I think PVC piping is slight overkill. Being in Australia all my prints bar one have had to travel all the way across the globe. All have been in POW style carboard tubes no problem. Even one home-made triangular shaped tube made it all the way no problems. All this of course by the standard international carrier.

I avoid courier's like the plague after a framed print arrived smashed to smitherines and all the broken glass cut up the print.

You must be from the US tadghostal as all the new members from those parts seems to be asking for respect, seriously why do you care?

ironic humour yeah I get it, must of had my radar turned off.

Be happy that you don't have to pay the 17.5% VAT on your purchases though!