How much would you value your prints at?

[Terry S]

Just recently I had to send to the USA from the UK, two 10" x 8" prints for a print exchange. I've done this many a time with no problem. This time though the lady at the counter at the post office gave me a 'customs declaration' slip to fill in. On it I had to put the value of the contents. Being totally put on the hop with a queue building behind me, I figured out that the prints cost me about £2.50 each to print, giving a total figure of £5, which I wrote on the slip.

The next day I thought more about what had happened. Was £5 a reasonable reflection of the 'value' of the prints? Thinking about it, definitely not!

I had spent time taking the picture, buying the camera etc that the film went in, processing both the film and negatives etc etc etc. I began to think that I should have put down at least what a wedding or portrait photographer would have charged for two 10" x 8"s to cover the reprinting should they go amiss.

What 'value' do / would you put on your prints in general or when you too have to fill in such a slip?

Terry S

[Richard Gould]

Personally I would put the value of the materials used, remember that if sending from here to the UK if the value excesds I think,£30 then the recipient would have to pay VAT on the contents, after all, it is just the value of the materials used, it is not like a special delivery where, if the thing is lost, you can get an insured return, if I was sending prints special delivery I would increase the declared value to around £75 each and pay the VAT myself directly before posting, but just a customs value is, legaly, just the cost of materials, at least from here, I did check this out a few years ago when I was often sending prints away, to both the UK and the Continent, where the rules on VAT from outside the EU, which we in the channel islands are, are different to the rules applied to goods from Jersey to the UK,
Richard

[Lostlabours]

There's no VAT on Exports, it's the other way around we pay it on Imports from non EU countries. So it's quite the opposite of your scenario Richard.

We should value prints properly taking into account time and effort as well as wastage, test strips, work prints etc. I'd suggest a minimum of £20 each.

In practice I usually value for shipping at half what I sell my prints for which start at £120.

Ian

[Richard Gould]

Originally Posted by Lostlabours

There's no VAT on Exports, it's the other way around we pay it on Imports from non EU countries. So it's quite the opposite of your scenario Richard.

We should value prints properly taking into account time and effort as well as wastage, test strips, work prints etc. I'd suggest a minimum of £20 each.

In practice I usually value for shipping at half what I sell my prints for which start at £120.

Ian

Your goverment changed the rules for VAT on things from Jersey to the UK, on anything we send to you VAT is due on for anything above £25, IE
If I sent a gift to you with a declared value of £50 then VAT would be due on that item, we have the optipn to pre pay the VAT on items that we send, at our post office, at the time of posting, the main execptions are items returned for repair, but unlike you, who when say buying a second hand camera that VAT has already been paid on, if I sent you a used camera worth over £25 and I choose not too pay the VAT at time of posting then you would have to pay VAT on it before delivery, this was done when companys such as HMV or the film sellers were selling goods to the UK VAT free due to the VAT Relief, on goods from Jersey to the UK, There was a court case about this and sadly we lost, The various firms have since upped and left the Channel Islands to places within the EU and are still sending the same goods to the UK, VAT Free, but our local flower exporters and other local firms have for the most part gone out of business as they cannot compete on price with the VAT added on, so anything we send to you is subject to vat even gifts over gthe value of £25, and other items over the value of arouns £5, so if I was sending say yourself a print and valued it as it should be and declared it so on a custome declaration then you would pay VAT on it.
I would add that we have a GST tax, 5%on everything, even food, but we can import anything to the value of £250 without paying tax.Remember that we are NOT part of the UK, we here are a crown dependsy, A Pecluir of the crown, with our own goverment,laws,taxes Ect and we also are not a member of the EU, we choose not the become a member when you joined but have what is called a Special Relationship with he EU, and our own foreign minister is attempting to keep that relationship when Brexit happens Another point of some interest is your Queen is not Our Queen she is our Duke of Normandy, and She is addressed as The Queen our Duke when she Visits here, we are the very last part of the Dukedom of Normandy, so in a way we can lay claim to conquering you in 1066, and so, as we choose to remain out of the EU, since the LVCR was scrapped anything sent from Jersey to the UK is now an import, and VAT is due on it, and goods sent to us from the UK is classed as an export, and VAT is deducted at source, we do not pay VAT,
History lesson over
Richard



Richard

[B&W Neil]

Originally Posted by Terry S

Just recently I had to send to the USA from the UK, two 10" x 8" prints for a print exchange. I've done this many a time with no problem. This time though the lady at the counter at the post office gave me a 'customs declaration' slip to fill in. On it I had to put the value of the contents. Being totally put on the hop with a queue building behind me, I figured out that the prints cost me about £2.50 each to print, giving a total figure of £5, which I wrote on the slip.

The next day I thought more about what had happened. Was £5 a reasonable reflection of the 'value' of the prints? Thinking about it, definitely not!

I had spent time taking the picture, buying the camera etc that the film went in, processing both the film and negatives etc etc etc. I began to think that I should have put down at least what a wedding or portrait photographer would have charged for two 10" x 8"s to cover the reprinting should they go amiss.

What 'value' do / would you put on your prints in general or when you too have to fill in such a slip?

Terry S

I get asked a similar question at the PO when I post off the Bromoil Circle's box of prints every three months or so. I guess you are asked in case the value being posted exceeds what is automatically covered. If it does I believe there are options to increase the insurance, at more cost.

Neil.

[vincent]

I think the value of photographic prints is not taken into account as they they can be replaced and as such if they were lost you could not claim a certain value. I overheard a PO clerk this to a customer today when they were registering their post.

[Maris]

Originally Posted by vincent

I think the value of photographic prints is not taken into account as they they can be replaced and as such if they were lost you could not claim a certain value. I overheard a PO clerk this to a customer today when they were registering their post.

An interesting point vincent. I'd suggest the PO clerk is wrong. Photographs on paper are not fungible. This is because they are the actual photographs in question. The PO clerk, by referring to them as "prints", seems to have the notion that the things being consigned to the mail, being only "prints", are only mere reproductions, copies, or facsimilies of a some grand original photograph lurking elsewhere. 'Taint so.

A photograph, like any other art object, has at least two values. One is the cost of the materials and the expense of fabrication. The other is the market price of the right to possess. A nice recent art-world example is the sale of Gustav Klimt's Bauerngarten (Blumengarten). There's maybe $2000 of paint and canvas in it but the "right to possess" went for $59 million. When I sell a photograph internationally my contract with the PO is for material cost. The buyer can send me the "possession" money by other channels.

[Richard Gould]

Originally Posted by B&W Neil

I get asked a similar question at the PO when I post off the Bromoil Circle's box of prints every three months or so. I guess you are asked in case the value being posted exceeds what is automatically covered. If it does I believe there are options to increase the insurance, at more cost.

Neil.

I think that you are refering to Special Delivery, where if the package is lost then compensation will be paid, and you can register for a higher value than the standard, TerryS was refering to the value that you put on the customs form, on a standard package, not special delivery, and on standard posting if the package is lost then you get no compensation, from us to you that is the value of the goods, which, from here would not be the value of the photographs but the value of the materials used, at least, that is the rule here, maybe it is different from the UK to here.
Richard

[maltklaus]

If you sell the print, you put in the amount you sold it for. You're required to by law, if you lie, you could face tax fraud charges. If it's a gift or part of an exchange, give an estimation of your materials cost (only the cost of making the print - not the negative, not your time) - it's a gift anyway so no need to add any intrinsic value. Material value is almost always going to be below any value where customs charges and/or duty would have to be paid by the receiver (22€ here in Austria last time I checked).

[big paul]

what about that Andreas gursky picture of the Rhein ,yes that one,, how much must it cost to send that insured it was sold for $4,338,500. :-)




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