Can anybody clarify, I am hoping to buy a pre-owned flute in the US and import it to the UK. I’m on a tight budget and I’m wondering whether its likely to attract duty if its ‘used’ goods?
Thanks,Paul
I’ve shipped several flutes back & forth from Ireland, and in each case they wrote “flute repair parts” or something like that on the package and forms.
Anyone else?
I put return for repairs…
Yeah. “Old flute for repair” has worked for me several times now 
My pre-owned Wilkes came from New Hampshire to Sweden (also an EU country) without any problems. The seller wrote “returning repaired flute” on the parcel. I’d advise against using Schenker to deliever the flute as they had my flute for nearly two weeks at their Swedish depot before I found out where it was. Someone else had a similar problem with them, and said he just about had to prise his instrument out of their hands.
I recently bought a flute (June 2006) from the USA and was charged an
additional £9.11 by the postman on delivery.
This was because the duty rates had changed.
The Customs & Excise make a charge for any goods imported into the European Community via the postal system with a value exceeding £18.
The post office also made a charge of £4 for their
trouble, and the delivery was delayed by being diverted into the
customs/post office system by about 2 days.
So if the sender were to put e.g. £15 or equivelent in their currency
you should be OK.