sagalaut

So I bought something from outside the EU on the internet. Nothing big, some 50 quids worth. Few days later it arrived in Lisbon. And there it sat for nearly a month. then I get a registered letter asking for fiscal number and original invoice.
Send that off and wait again. After paying for their services and duty and vat, I wonder why I bothered. Next time I will send things to friends in the EU and even with the extra postage I will get it cheaper and a lot quicker.

mfesharne

If it's going from one individual to another I believe it can be marked as a gift and below a set value (not sure what) it then becomes tax free however, other than that, they're entitled to charge you import tax AND 23% IVA/VAT on cost of item + cost of post + cost of packaging.

I've sometimes had to pay more in duty than cost of item when shipping car spares from the USA.

If it's an expensive item it might be worth considering looking at VAT rates for different items to different EU countries. For example, some items are rated at 23% in Portugal but only about 5% in Denmark and it might be cheaper to ship to Denmark and then road transport/courier from there to PT and the additional VAT/IVA might not be chargeable.

liveaboard

Supposedly, items under 20 euros are let through without formalities.
I often order small items from China, since they're just ridiculously cheap. Mostly tools that are unavailable locally.
Recently I ordered a thickness meter for 35 Euros, even though I know it will take a long time and likely cost 20 in taxes.
The cheapest one I could get in Europe is 150 euros.

You could trans-ship through another EU country, but then you're asking someone to receive it, re-address it, and take it to the post office for you. How much of your friend / relative's time did that take and what was that time worth?
Also, you never know if the first country will charge duty and VAT just like Portugal, as they can / should.

Generally, I keep it under 20 or order from within the EU.

sagalaut

I don't mind so much the duty etc. But when they keep the stuff for a month without even looking at it, that is out of order. Rant over.

liveaboard

I agree; but at the same time I realize there must be a mountain of post arriving daily. It's amazing that they manage to process it at all!

Ingles

At least you received yours
In 2014 I had same problem , sent in the required doc's ,waited several weeks , then contacted them yet again ,only to be informed the "goods" had been returned to the supplier , left it a couple off weeks ,contacted the supplier only to be told the goods had never arrived !!
I can only assume that they went "missing" inside the system

qianh

Once I asked my 'friend' in US order something for me, to avoid the custom charge and expensive postage, I still haven't received it, after more than 1 year and she has left US. It's not big thing but I will never do it again unless the person who's doing it is someone really close to you.

liveaboard

I did the same thing; I did receive the parcel but I had to pay the customs charges just the same. He'd removed the invoice and all.