Sending a parcel to the US - import tax/duty?

[MusicianTom]

Just wondering if anyone has experience of this:

I want to send a parcel of second hand books to a friend in the USA. They're a gift, I won't be sending them an invoice, and the total value is less than £100.

The cheapest way to send seems to be UPS, much cheaper than Royal Mail, but there are all sorts of caveats on the UPS website about how the receipient might be charged local taxes on the parcel. I've been round and round on the internet, and can't find anything that makes sense. The US Customs seem to say that a parcel with total value less than $2000 won't be subject to tax, but when I asked UPS, they said that VAT of 15% would be payable - but the USA doesn't have VAT and taxes vary between different states!

So has anyone got experience of sending a parcel to the USA, as a gift rather than something that has been bought?

You usually fill out the form to say it’s a gift? I’ve only ever been charged when someone made a mistake on the contents and it looked like there was ten of a single item rather than ten items (so not looked like stock rather than gifts), or when it was a £10k item as a gift.

Used books are worth next to nothing, presuming you’re not sending some rare first edition of course. My mum sent me some stuff that I left behind last time I was in the U.K., including a couple of books, and she put the value as $0 and labelled it something like used personal items. I know this is the other way around but when I lived in the U.K. an American friend sent me a gift and labelled it as such and I had to pay to release a personalised photo frame, with a spelling mistake on it, from customs!! I know she meant well and it was a nice thought but I can’t say I was massively appreciative of the gift (obvs didn’t tell her that though).