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Sending stuff for repair to the US, in Europe

XiaoSu Han

XiaoSu Han

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Hi,

what's the right procedure to send stuff from Europe to the US for repair and getting it back without having to pay customs again? What kind of documents do I need?

Anyone got experience with that? We need the LCD fixed and have a shoot in 2 weeks, so I am just a little bit afraid that it couldn't arrive in time

regards, Xax
 
actually i'd like to know too. I live in Portugal and id like to send my RED to US to do a ownership transfer to my name.. Im afraid of customs charging me 20% of the value, which is like the price of a semi-used car!!!
 
Bad experience here, in may 2008 camera blocked at the French customs during return path because we didn't declare the camera at the customs when it first came with its operator.

Advice : if you're coming from outside Europe with your gear, declare it and get an ATA carnet.

For the people who own a Red in Europe, it should be easier : the Red bill, proof of purchase, should be enough.

But it's strongly adviced to start a shooting which will last more than 2 days with a 2nd Red body at least. A Red camera is just a computer with a lens : if it doesn't work ok, you're good to send it back for repair. No comparison possible with an Arri/Aaton camera on this side, where you can still try to fix here and there ! But the picture is worth the trouble...
 
shit.. i bought my RED second hand.. i don't have any RED bills :S Gona try and see if the guy who sold it to me can send it to me..
I might have to pay taxes just to GET a carnet? :(
 
Cinemano, by Red bill I meant the bill from the seller : if you've got a bill, a proof of purchase of your second-hand camera, it should be ok. It's just to prove to the customs that you've bought your camera within Europe and that it's not an import from the States when the camera comes back from repair.
 
Cinemano, you should make shure that the person, you bought it from imported it legally (paid import duties and VAT.) A simple invoice from the guy who sold it to you is not enough. If he got the Camera via Fedex, as most of the cameras shipped, he should be able to give you a copy of the Fedex Paperwork including Customs Clearance.

There are special papers for "Return & Repair" shipments, if you give Fedex a call, or with whoever you like to ship it, they can assist you.
 
Chipper way is just to travel in USA and get camera with you . Repair it and come back .
It can be any eqv sow it will cost you less that FedEx or any other.
You do not need to pay any customs , just tell them that it is your
camera , and you just travel with it :) .
 
Actually I bought the RED from the US by ebay. Then I had his mail it to New York address of a friend, who in turn carried it for me to Portugal in his luggage when he came to visit us. So my bill i guess will be in Dollars and in Europe. Guess im screwed huh..

Gona have to have it carried by a friend back to NY and then shipped from there for transfer of ownership.. then carried back when the next person visits us from US. I never dreamed they would need the camera in their hands just to have it transfered to my name. Its not like they havent already seen my camera. It was in UK being upgraded. Ill never get bureaucracies..
 
Cinemano, just wait a little bit : when the European Center will be open for repairs in London, you won't have to worry anymore.
 
I think that it would be great if you could ship it to the UK, and have them ship it back to the US and do the customs for you.

But that would be a dream I guess :)
 
When I sent a lens back, I asked Fedex in Norway who was very helpful and provided me with the right documents to fill in, no problems. Same again with the audio board upgrades, filled in a Proforma Invoice and a freight letter and everything went silky smooth.
 
hi eirik.. its a good idea for the europe to US shipping.. but what garantees that the red people will do the same documents to ship it back to you? they might assume it wont go to customs.. no?
 
cinemano said:
hi eirik.. its a good idea for the europe to US shipping.. but what garantees that the red people will do the same documents to ship it back to you? they might assume it wont go to customs.. no?
Click to expand...

They ship back Fedex, the same company - so Fedex keeps all the copies of the documents, I had to explain it to them once, they just checked their database and found the outbound pro forma invoice, and cleared my lens...

My hot tip of the day, is Call your local FedEx, they will help you!
 
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