Coming through Dublin airport

brettmirl

Femmy wrote: »

Anyone here been stopped by customs? they said the busiest times will be the next 2 weeks, hopefully they will cam down a bit then, cos i am going in over 2 weeks.

Just back today. There was our flight from Newark and an Atlanta flight in at the same time. There were a few customs officers at the green channel area when we landed but by the time we collected the bags and walked though, there was no one to be seen at customs. Drive on and shop away I say!

RobY

mick_irl wrote: »

Just back today. There was our flight from Newark and an Atlanta flight in at the same time. There were a few customs officers at the green channel area when we landed but by the time we collected the bags and walked though, there was no one to be seen at customs. Drive on and shop away I say!

Just back from New York this morning (Tuesday) at 6am. Jetlagged at present so that's why I am up at 4am!

Anyway, just to let people know that they were stopping people at customs big time on Tuesday morning. Both the JFK flight and the Boston flight had come in around the same time. To be honest, I am not surprised that some people got stopped; it seemed like 50% of the suitcases had heavy tags on them, people seemed to have loads of really big bags stuffed to the seams.

It took me around 40 minutes to get my bags. At that stage, I'd say 50% of people had got their bags and gone through customs. The baggage belt had to stop 4 times because some bags were too large to fit through the opening!!

When I had my two bags (standard suitcase and shoulder bag), I headed for the green channel. Immediately ahead of me was a group of 10 women, each of whom had a baggage cart, each of which had several really large bags on it. As we turned right into the green channel, two of the women got reefed straight away. As far as I could tell, there were 3 customs officers, each of whom had their own inspection table.

The other 8 women walked through and so did I. I'm not sure if it's random luck or if they are watching for people who are taking the p!ss. Everyone seemed to be going through the green channel; I didn't see anyone go through the red channel. Based on the discussions in the baggage queue in JFK, everyone had bought stuff. A lot of people were using the unmanned check in desks to weigh their bags prior to getting them tagged and most people were either at the limit or beyond. There were definitely people getting charged for excess.

By way of comparison, I was in New York around the same time last year and the baggage belt in Dublin Airport was right near the Green Channel so I was keeping an eye on it while I waited. I don't think a single person got stopped last year. However, that was a Sunday morning at 6am so it may not be as 'policed' as a weekday morning.

I'm not sure what the duty rate is but from what I heard, if you get stopped going through the green channel, you have to pay 3 times the rate. I also doubt that removing tags makes any difference.

unklerosco

RobY wrote: »

To be honest, I am not surprised that some people got stopped; it seemed like 50% of the suitcases had heavy tags on them, people seemed to have loads of really big bags stuffed to the seams.

Reminds me of when I came back last time... A few people had black bags with tags on them. It was crazy.. I think if its obvious that u've bought a load of gear you're gonna get stopped. I came back with two cases and two hand luggage last time(bag and camera bag).... I wouldnt carry any more

Third_Echelon

Yeah, if you are taking the complete p1ss with loads of bags you will get stopped....

If you just have one case and your carry-on, chances are you won't get stopped.

BuffyBot

Split from NYC megathread for neatness

Meathlass

There was a guy from customs on the radio with Matt Cooper last week and he said they stop people with lots of luggage. One person they got last week had 24 iphones and someone else had a bicycle! Anyone any experience of flying into Shannon. I'm going in two weeks but not buying much, probably only a few hundred euros worth.

RuggieBear

heading boston next week. Plan to buy a few things but like to think i won't be bringing a bulging bag back. Hopefully wont get pulled.

RuggieBear

So what are the penalties for being stopped in the green channel with more than your allowed 175 Euro of purchases?

havana

Make sure to keep all your reciepts - (seperate from your purchases). If they do stop you and you have no receipts I believe they will estimate the value. If the under estimate, no bother, if they over estimate whip out those receipts.

I took all the tags off the stuff I bought for myself so it looked like I had brought them with me. Terrible you have to be so cheeky! An my poor brother got his MP3 player for Christmas with no box!

Femelade

RuggieBear wrote: »

So what are the penalties for being stopped in the green channel with more than your allowed 175 Euro of purchases?

I heard on the radio , that they will charge you 30% of the price of the goods, and if you dont have the receipts they will charge you 30% on the estimated irish price of the item....(which is prob alot more than the price in dollars)

Is it true though, that they wont charge you anything on kids clothes or shoes etc...as you are not charged tax on them , so you can carry as much as you like?

unklerosco

From what i've read...

A Jacket costs $200. Customs will charge the Customs Duty of 12% on that. Customs duty will be $24 - 12% of cost, making $224.

V.A.T. is now charged by Customs on the $224 @ 21% = $47.04.

The extra charges in total are $24 + $47.04 = $71.04, which is then changed to Euro at the central exchange rate of the day.

Thats the way its meant to be done so I suppose they're just charging 30% cause its easier n quicker....

RuggieBear

unklerosco wrote: »

From what i've read...

A Jacket costs $200. Customs will charge the Customs Duty of 12% on that. Customs duty will be $24 - 12% of cost, making $224.

V.A.T. is now charged by Customs on the $224 @ 21% = $47.04.

The extra charges in total are $24 + $47.04 = $71.04, which is then changed to Euro at the central exchange rate of the day.

Thats the way its meant to be done so I suppose they're just charging 30% cause its easier n quicker....

Yikes.

Thanks for that.

I'll just have to try and sneak by when there is a large bunch of women with over packed suitcases going thru:D

It's not even that i'm going to spend a fortune. Just want to get a few clothes and things that you can't get over here...but 175 euro is such a low figure.

unklerosco

Yeag but the prices u pay over there are real low too....<snip></snip>

RuggieBear

Thanks for that advice.

last time i came back from the states i had about 1300 euro worth of new clothes,boots and gadgets.

Just never gone in peak customs time so i little bit more concerned.:D

BuffyBot

Ok folks, I'll post this yet again:

Discussion of how to get around customs WILL get you banned. The advice against doing this and the face that it leads to a ban has been posted a couple of times before on the forum, and it's also prohibited in the forum charter.

unklerosco, PM me in a week