Shipping a macbook from D.C to B.A

[La Marlina]

I flew in to EZE from New York on 5 August, and after I put my bags through the scanner, the customs man asked me why I had 2 laptops, and he told me to take them out of my bag so that he could see them.

The first one I took out was my beat up plain vanilla Mac, which is several years old. He didn't make me turn it on, but he did give my Mac a serious go-over, touching the screen, the keys, looking at the scratches (many!) and missing plastic parts covered with clear tape (one), and such.

He seemed satisfied that it was old and dirty enough to not be either new or for re-sale as new, and waived me through, without asking to see the brand new, but yet out of the box and sticker free PC notebook in detail (whew!).

Point being, yeah, the fact that there were no stickers and that my computer was out of the box didn't really matter to the guy in customs, he really did look it over pretty hard before letting me pass.

This is the first and only time I've traveled with two computers, I've never had trouble getting through customs question-free with only my Mac in my possession in almost three years. I'm glad the Mac is old and scratched though, because the customs guy looked all business with me (and he held up the long line while he conducted his inspection) until he saw the sorry state of my Mac.

 

[Ashley]

My husband bought a macbook in the states last January and when he came back through customs (with his older machine), the lady gave his laptops a thorough inspection - including, yes, turning them on to check for updates and use! In the end, he had to pay about 200 dollars in duty (I can't remember why they discounted the amount) so rest assured that simply removing packaging is not always enough to prove use!

 

[jez]

If you are taking an electronic item (camera/laptop etc.) out of Argentina (from Ezeiza Airport) with the intent to bring it back into Argentina, you can register it with AFIP, (in the middle of the row of check in desks at the airport) they make a note of your ID and note the serial number and stamp your copy so you can prove you are re-entering the country with the item and not importing it.

 

[HenryNisental]

Best way: give ti to a frind to bring iy with him:0 % tax!!!

 

[LAtoBA]

Yeah for them to go through all that (turning it on and checking for updates, which means nothing) is ridiculous. Hmmm maybe the person needed to buy a new laptop because their laptop died right before coming.......like mine! Argentina.....people in other parts of the world do use two laptops.....and others have two cameras. Damn!

 

[notebook.fix]

Hi Napoleon & Robino...that person was ME & it was a bit of a nasty surprise.
They are definitely tightening up on it now.

In my case the laptop I had brought in for me was really BIG...( 18.4" LCD ) & this just didn't help, it drew a lot of attention... not expecting it, my friend activated Win7 on it the night before coming over & the Mafia stopped him, powered it up & checked it.

Do what ever you can to make it look used, I don't mean to state the obvious but put stickers on it & smear the cover with a bit of dark chocolate...do what ever you can and if they ask any questions you say it's going back with you. It's your own work computer. Don't speak Spanish, make them work. Argue till you're blue in the face.

All the best.

You should be ok if you follow all the advice.

All the best.
R.

EDIT: Next time, I'll make sure to get Linux installed on it prior to it coming in. You can install Ubuntu, OpenSUse, Fedora , PC LInux, or any popular Linux distro. Download a 700MB CD image & burn it to CD ROM...if you need instructions just PM me. Make sure you have plenty of time install it. Sometimes the latest MAc Hardware may not always allow all linux distros to boot up, so I'd download two or three different Linux Flavours just in case, one of them will work.

I'd install Linux so it can only boot up to the command line, no GUI....that should put them off. I'd love to see their faces trying to log in ;-)

Buy the computer ASAP and use it as much as possible before coming. Do not wait until the last minute to buy your computer! There was a post a month or two ago from someone who had a friend bring a computer to him from the States. The OS had been activated the night before and ADUANA (customs) charged a 50% tax on the computer.

For my next computer I will have my brother buy it, and use it for a month or two before I even see it. It will have crap all over the desktop and will obviously not be brand new.

BA isn't the 1st World. Don't treat it like it is. You will feel all sorts of pain if you do.