Registering jewelry with CBP prior to traveling abroad?

Only recently did I learn you can/should register jewelry with Customs prior to departing the US so as not to risk potential duty when returning. Has anyone ever been suspected of importing diamond jewelry that they owned prior to departure?

I found that a CBP Form 4457. can be completed prior to depature

We've never experienced a problem but didn't know that this could be an issue.

Only recently did I learn you can/should register jewelry with Customs prior to departing the US so as not to risk potential duty when returning. Has anyone ever been suspected of importing diamond jewelry that they owned prior to departure?

 

I found that a CBP Form 4457. can be completed prior to depature,,,,,,,,,

To save myself that nuisance, I am sure to bring sales receipts for whatevver jewerly i have with me. I have never needed it but it is good to bring it in case the issue arises. Be sure it has a good description of the ring or bracelet. etc..... A copy of insurance binder would be proof you owned the piece prior to leav ing the country.

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We've never experienced a problem but didn't know that this could be an issue.

Many of the jewelry stores in the Caribbean (on the ship, too)report big purchases to US. Customs before you return to the US. They have a list of big jewelry purchases at customs. We purchased a ring and declared it at customs. The agent was surprised that it was NOT on their list. the jewelry stores get a bounty if you do not declare our purchase and are caught.

I don't worry about the jewelry I bring with me.

I've read that carrying the original purchase receipt will help if it includes a sufficient description of the article. We once traveled with a new expensive camera and I mentioned to DH that I had heard we should carry the receipt - he said no one will check or care. Sure enough, coming back into the US, the agent asked us to prove we hadn't bought it in the Caribbean. I said to DH "See, I told you we should have brought the receipt!". The agent looked at him and said "I have a wife at home just like her" and let us pass.

The last time we talked to a CBP official about this issue (it was when I had my Global Entry face to face interview) I was told that you can only register items that have a serial number. While some precious jewels might have an engraved serial number (apparently this happens if it gets a GIA certificate) most jewels do not have a serial number.

Hank

We have never done this before but some do recommend it.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Keith

When disembarking in Fort Lauderdale, I was pulled and questioned about my omega watch. Mine was 3 years old and the scratches on the bracelet gave its age away. Talking to friends it happened to them too so they don’t just use the list, they random check too.

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Pulleez....you really don't need to do that. Probably a good idea not to bring the "crown jewels" on a cruise, anyway.

No one really cares...just to let you know. If you're wearing it, you're good to go.

Pulleez....you really don't need to do that. Probably a good idea not to bring the "crown jewels" on a cruise, anyway.

 

No one really cares...just to let you know. If you're wearing it, you're good to go.

I would not bet the family farm on this 'good to go and no one really cares guarantee':) It is the job of Customs Inspectors to care and my impression they care.

Could you please pro vide an 'authority' or link that states anything like that?

Pulleez....you really don't need to do that. Probably a good idea not to bring the "crown jewels" on a cruise, anyway.

 

No one really cares...just to let you know. If you're wearing it, you're good to go.

Puhlleez, you're dead wrong. Wearing jewellery is no guarantee it won't be questioned. You've obviously never watched Border Security. You should. Highly informative. And amusing. But sorry, it's not in your local library.

Puhlleez, you're dead wrong. Wearing jewellery is no guarantee it won't be questioned. You've obviously never watched Border Security. You should. Highly informative. And amusing. But sorry, it's not in your local library.

:D I would like to watcfh Border Security but my cab lecompany does not show it. I found something of if on Line so I'll try to watch on my laptop.

I've registered by camera. Saves hassles.

In 97 cruises, I've never registered anything and never had a problem. And now, since you no longer fill out the blue Customs/Immigration forms, and the only question you're asked by the CBP agent is if you have anything to declare, I don't think registering is necessary (we just got off a ship in Miami, and going through Customs took less than a minute. The agent was just interested in looking at our passport). But if you're still nervous, put all the jewelry you're taking out on a table, and snap a photo of it with a smartphone, making sure there's a time/date stamp on the photo.

In 97 cruises, I've never registered anything and never had a problem. And now, since you no longer fill out the blue Customs/Immigration forms, and the only question you're asked by the CBP agent is if you have anything to declare, I don't think registering is necessary (we just got off a ship in Miami, and going through Customs took less than a minute. The agent was just interested in looking at our passport). But if you're still nervous, put all the jewelry you're taking out on a table, and snap a photo of it with a smartphone, making sure there's a time/date stamp on the photo.

Many years ago, I was in a social situattion and a Cust oms Offic ial happened to be among the group present. I asked him how to rpove one owned jewelry prior to the travel. . This was LONG before smart Phones And he said to take a photo of it placed on front page of a newspaper, showing headline and date of the newspaper H e added, to bring sale s receipts or copy of insurance binder., both of which should have description of the piece of jewelry. . Your sugggestion i s along the same lines except that some techie people know how to edit photo s and conceivab ly c ould change the date they set on their phone. I don't use a smart phone so maybe I am totally wrong. :(

I once registered a newly bought camera with my local Customs Agent prior to a trip. Due to the hours of operation of the Office, it was somewhat inconvenient to do.

No returning Customs agent asked for my registration slip.

This is at the bottom of my list of worries. I don’t register anything and don’t bring receipts.

We just leave the loot at home and wear stuff we get from the Cracker Jack box or the gumball vending machine ;p

True story. It's 1985 (or thereabouts) and we're coming back from a trip to London and Paris. At this particular time the $ was just getting hammered against every foreign currency. I remember it being $2.45 to the £ and almost 10 Francs to the $, and so we decided not to do any shopping. I mean like zero. Why would we overpay for something in Europe when we could get a better deal on it in Beverly Hills?

So the CBP agent sees that we $0 written for the value of items purchased on our customs form, takes a look at DW's Louis Vuitton luggage and Sable coat, and decides that we have to be lying. It took almost an hour for him to go through all our luggage, only to come up empty. Needless to say, I was pretty steamed!

I used to take photos of my jewelry, as I was packing -- more for insurance purposes, than anything else. My beautiful long-haired sable cat (now gone to the Rainbow Bridge) was the original feline 'photo-bomber'. He loved to sneak into my pictures. One day, I was reading a thread on this very topic, and I just had to laugh. With my kitty in every single photo, I had evidence that the jewelry was photographed before I left home! Don't know whether CBP would have accepted that as 'proof', but to be purrr-fectly honest -- in all of my cruises, this issue has never come up (knock wood)! :D