Shopping allowance and advice

by **bighoppo** on Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:50 am

Hiya folks.

I'm taking my wife and 6 yr old to Florida in September for our holiday of a lifetime. I'm getting myself prepared in terms of info hence this question. I've ben tld by many friends and family that shopping is awesome due to the quality of goods and prices. Can anyone offer some advice in terms of how much can we bring back? Has anyone ran into any problems with us customs etc? How did you manage your luggage (part fill cases etc). Don't get me wrong, this isn't a shopping holiday, but I'm trying to work a shopping budget, hence the request for info. I've heard of people taking old clothes to the US and wearing the new ones back to UK, and also taking empty cases with them. Any info you can give me would be excellent. Many thanks.

Drew

by **HW John** on Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:34 pm

None EU regulations apply

Per person

200 cigarettes; or 100 cigarillos; or 50 cigars; or 250 gms of tobacco
2 litres of still table wine
1 litre of spirits or strong liqueurs over 22% volume; or 2 litres of fortified wine, sparkling wine or other liqueurs
60cc/ml of perfume
250cc/ml of toilet water
�145 worth of all other goods including gifts and souvenirs

by **carole2000** on Sat Jun 14, 2008 16:16 pm

Hi, I've just got back from Orlando and we only took enough clothes for a few days and took minimum in the way of toiletries. The best shops for bargains are Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Burlington as they sell last season's designer names and sports wear. My husband was buying golf gear such as Callaway trousers - �60 here $20 there. My son likes A&F clothes - t.shirts on their website and London shop are �30,and I got them for $19 there. You just have to be careful about your baggage allowance as you get charged a lot extra if you go over. Also remember everything has 7% tax which is added at the till. The malls are good when they have sales on as they discount heavily. Don't bother with CD's, DVD's as they're no cheaper than UK. Your wife will probably love the designer handbags and shoes in the discount stores - I wore an old pair of shoes and threw them away replacing them with 3 pairs! You get a good rate when you use cards and at the cheap prices �435 is quite a lot of goods between the 3 of you! Have a great time.

by **angelcaz1** on Sat Jun 21, 2008 07:54 am

Hi

We came back 2 weeks ago what we did was to take very little with us. We took the labels of everything we bought and just packed it in with the dirty washing etc.

Their is loads of outlet malls as well as shoping mall's so you are spoilt prices are really good croc's shoe's �12.50 levi jeans �15 and so on. this was our first trip we are trying to book up for next year.

hope this helps

Also their is disney outlet shops at prime and preimim shoping malls so they are great for the kids and big kids lol

by **tsuser** on Sat Jun 21, 2008 17:09 pm

Just don't get too carried away with the shopping. I was watching one of the many TV programmes set either in airports or holiday resorts earlier today. In this one a couple had arrived at Sandford (Orlando) airport for the flight back to the UK with 7, yes seven, extra suitcases filled with stuff they had bought. They were more than a little upset to be informed that they would have to pay around $500 for excess baggage. They didn't have enough money and their credit card was also maxxed out.
The only way they could sort it was to phone a friend in the UK and get them to put the excess on their credit card. I suspect that when they got back to the UK they would also have been stopped by Customs and would have to pay import duty etc because they were way over the �145 limit.

by **busterballs** on Tue May 05, 2009 21:03 pm

if some one you are going with is planning a round or two of golf, get them to put much of the heavier things in the golf bag. When I went a few years ago my partner played some golf and we paid £30 (return) extra to take the clubs and bag on the plane. Due to the golf bag having a weight limit of 32kgs and not 20kgs like our luggage we filled it full of things that we had brought. Especially as it was a hard case golf travel bag. It saved us a fortune in excess baggage. And as long as all items have labels removed and look like they have been used or warn then customs cant do anything. I'm sure the people working at our hotel thought i was mad walking backwards and forwards in the new trainers i had brought to make them look a little used!!!! Also another trick is don't take towels with you buy them cheep in wall mart and then throw them away at the end of the holiday the same with all your toiletries, they are cheaper out there any way.