A product arriving in the UK from the US is liable to customs duty (a certain percentage of the value of the goods, usually between 5% and 9%) and VAT (at 17.5%) unless they have an intrinsic value of less than £18 (that’s about $30) or unless they are worth £36 or less and originate from a private person (i.e not a business person).
There is no legal way for the buyer to avoid these taxes. If he attempts to avoid them then he is breaking the law and the package may well be seized -i.e forfeited, tough luck, no laptop. That is the ultimate risk he runs. It’s called smuggling and I do not advise it.
The only way for him to (illegally) avoid these taxes was if the package was misdescribed by you on the customs declaration form and UK customs decided that they believed you without opening or x-raying it (even though the weight of the thing would more than likely give it away). The other implication would be for insurance: the value is now listed as only £18, not $1500 or whatever. If it goes astray in transit your customer is screwed.
The other way would be for the UK customer to travel to the US and pick it up in person, and bring it back in their hand luggage and not declare it at Customs at the airport.
If your customer is VAT registered (i.e a business with a VAT registration number rather than a private individual) he can recover the import VAT on his tax return if there is a business use for the product.
