breakerfall

One final question before I up and leave the UK tomorrow on my K1. We were planning on buying a region free blu ray/dvd player to save me replacing my whole collection of films (there are a lot). This means taking some with me on the first trip and likely shipping the rest later.

I’ve whittled it down to favourites to make this trip easier, but is there an issue with this with customs? Do I declare them? Do I look dodgy? I’m assuming there’s no problem since...well, they’re mine. I have 15 in the case.

Any possible issues?

hungryhorace

I took over a whole bunch of expensive electrical items in my luggage. There is no requirement to declare them as far as I can remember. If you're unsure, ask the CBP officer.

BunnyGirl

I know it sounds daft but I've been wondering about this too. I'm sure the customs form asks about the value of items you're 'leaving' in the US, and I obviously don't want to get stuck with duty to pay on my own stuff! But as I'm not 'leaving' the items there (I'm obviously staying with them) then I'm guessing this is a non-issue?

hungryhorace

Have you owned them for over 12 months? If so, it's a non issue.

ubernathan

we came through with a ton of stuff -- in suitcases. The only thing we declared was the tea and coffee, which for personal use are fine.

Pulaski

..... And in most ("all", IME) cases they have no apparent interest in checking or asking how long you have owned the personal household chattels you are bringing anyway.

Hotscot

Was it bound for Florida?

BunnyGirl

I was going to say, I'll only have had my wedding dress for 3 months when I fly but it's just an 'off the rack' one, not like it's worth $$$. It's going rolled up in my carry on

Rusty Chainsaw

Rip the films to an external hard drive and just bring that. Far easier and less hassle. Then plug the drive into your computer / console / Blu-ray player / smart TV and just play them directly from there.

Pulaski

"Rip the films to an external hard drive" v "pick up the closed DVD cases and place them in your case".

You have an interesting perspective on what is "easy" and causes "hassle".

Rusty Chainsaw

Well, carrying one small thing as opposed to a bunch of bigger things is easier in my book.

dunroving

Photo needed in order to answer this question.

penguinsix

Technically, if the DVDs are pirated, Customs could seize them. There are also rumors of extremely steep fines though I've not seen the actually language on that.

This is what the CBP website says:

Prohibited and Restricted Items | U.S. Customs and Border Protection
However, if you go to the travel message boards you find people do it all the time without getting queried.

ubernathan

This is exactly what we did. Reduced a several bookcases of CDs and DVDs to a 6x6x6 cube of NAS. but then we're nerds.

mrlion

Exactly! Bonus points if it lives in the cloud somewhere and you can just download it.

One of the big benefits of our move has been letting go of all the extraneous media - we have the kids' DVDs / blu-rays and pretty much everything else has been ripped.

Smart TVs that play anything - even ripped stuff on a USB stick - are now relatively inexpensive. You'll be buying new electronics here anyway.

But back to the original question - never had any issues bringing old stuff into the country - I think customs are actually pretty reasonable and they're not looking to catch you out. When i've heard of people inadvertently bringing in things they shouldn't (one v smart guy bringing in lots of bottles of very rare whisky for example...) he was given the choice of pouring it away or paying the big duty / fine. For a few blu-rays you're prob safe.