Question about Customs

[BSR]

Asking for a friend … who went a little nutty at the Louis Vuitton Madrid and bought a couple of items, combined value about $10,000.  Any advice about how to get the items past Customs?  My friend is a cheap bastard and really doesn’t want to pay the duties/taxes.  Should he brazenly claim “nothing to declare”?  How thoroughly does Customs search luggage?  Should he just say he bought them in the US?  He’ll be flying from Bogotá into Las Vegas, if points of origin and entry make a difference.

[+ FrankR]

3 hours ago, BSR said:

Asking for a friend … who went a little nutty at the Louis Vuitton Madrid and bought a couple of items, combined value about $10,000.  Any advice about how to get the items past Customs?  My friend is a cheap bastard and really doesn’t want to pay the duties/taxes.  Should he brazenly claim “nothing to declare”?  How thoroughly does Customs search luggage?  Should he just say he bought them in the US?  He’ll be flying from Bogotá into Las Vegas, if points of origin and entry make a difference.

If you can spend that much money on LV you can afford to pay the tax. Do the right thing - pay the tax. 

[pubic_assistance]

5 hours ago, BSR said:

How thoroughly does Customs search luggage?  

IF they check, they check thoroughly. In all my many years of travel, I've never been checked. People who carry large amounts of luggage are particularly suspect. Customs tends to focus on people bringing large amount of merchandise for resale and checking for agricultural products crossing the border, not Louis Vuitton wallets meant for personal use or gifts. Technically anything over $800 is subject to import tax but virtually no one ever claims such purchases. If its out of its packaging and tags removed there is really no way to prove you just bought it and are cheating the customs rules. 

[+ nycman]

As others have suggested: Take the items out of the LV shopping bags. Discard the LV shopping bags. Rip the tags off the merchandise. Hand carry/wear/use anything you can on the airplane home and as you pass through customs. I’ve walked through US customs hundreds of times, but never been stopped. I have been stopped multiple times by Canada, once in Germany, once in the Caribbean, once in Morocco, and once in Egypt. On every occasion, I’ve been let through without having to pay any duty or fees. However, I also wasn’t carrying anything that would be subject to duty or import taxes. Nonetheless, they wasted hours of my time asking me to explain things like underwear that had never been worn. They literally picked up every single piece of clothing in my bag and asked me where I bought it and how much I paid for it. They tortured me over why anyone in the world anyone would pay $2000 for a cashmere Ralph Lauren purple label sweater. Try explaining that to a massively underpaid and exhausted Customs worker.

Just stay calm and endure the torture. They’re only trying to get you to buckle under the pressure. If they actually knew you were guilty of something, they wouldn’t bother asking you questions. As long as you’ve taken the precautions above, it’s virtually impossible for them to prove where you bought something. Avoid the temptation to be sarcastic or condescending. "Yes sir", "No sir", and "Thank you, sir", are only words that should be coming out of your mouth. For the record, the Canadian Customs agents were the biggest jerks. By far. Every time. I must be on their "watchlist" or something. It’s so bad that I actually avoid going to Canada, which is sad because I think it’s a nice country otherwise.

Edited 23 hours ago by nycman

[+ JamesB]

I agree with the advice shared above, if it’s just a couple of items, the best approach is to simply remove any tags or packaging. In this case, since your friend is flying in from Colombia, customs typically isn’t too concerned about a few Louis Vuitton pieces if you know what I mean. I travel from South/Central America to the U.S. at least 4 times a year, and the only time I recall being stopped was when I had an empty suitcase. For whatever reason, that raised a red flag. They ran it through the x-ray and then let me go without any issue.

[+ SirBillybob]

YMMV but I’m often searched when returning to Canada usually at YUL, and the agents, male or female, have always been sociable and polite through the process. Small sample, obviously. The fun part is when a cute guy looks into the small cloth bag in which I store my Priape douche bulb and a silicone penis I use to insert and ASSess the degree of a job well done.

My left cheek twitches when overtired and a really hot guy from Little Italy making me buckle at the knees asked what was up with that. I just said, blushing, he was making me nervous but that all my luggage and my person was an open book. On my way 30 seconds later, not without some degree of regret. 

Edited 16 hours ago by SirBillybob

[Luv2play]

13 hours ago, nycman said:

As others have suggested: Take the items out of the LV shopping bags. Discard the LV shopping bags. Rip the tags off the merchandise. Hand carry/wear/use anything you can on the airplane home and as you pass through customs. I’ve walked through US customs hundreds of times, but never been stopped. I have been stopped multiple times by Canada, once in Germany, once in the Caribbean, once in Morocco, and once in Egypt. On every occasion, I’ve been let through without having to pay any duty or fees. However, I also wasn’t carrying anything that would be subject to duty or import taxes. Nonetheless, they wasted hours of my time asking me to explain things like underwear that had never been worn. They literally picked up every single piece of clothing in my bag and asked me where I bought it and how much I paid for it. They tortured me over why anyone in the world anyone would pay $2000 for a cashmere Ralph Lauren purple label sweater. Try explaining that to a massively underpaid and exhausted Customs worker.

Just stay calm and endure the torture. They’re only trying to get you to buckle under the pressure. If they actually knew you were guilty of something, they wouldn’t bother asking you questions. As long as you’ve taken the precautions above, it’s virtually impossible for them to prove where you bought something. Avoid the temptation to be sarcastic or condescending. "Yes sir", "No sir", and "Thank you, sir", are only words that should be coming out of your mouth. For the record, the Canadian Customs agents were the biggest jerks. By far. Every time. I must be on their "watchlist" or something. It’s so bad that I actually avoid going to Canada, which is sad because I think it’s a nice country otherwise.

This accurately sums up the Canadian experience with customs. They are hawks. With Trump eliminating the $800 de minimus tariff free item in the US customs code, does this apply to travellers or just importers?