I moved to the UK from America a few years ago. They tried to charge me VAT on my own belongings when I shipped them over! In other words, I strongly suspect customs will charge you VAT on the item.

Unless of course you know someone in America (relatives, etc) who can ship it to you. You might be able to get away with saying it's a gift then.

On the down side, if anything's wrong with it, you'll have to pay to ship it all the way back, and they might not accept the warranty cause you took it out of the US.

Carrie