Current shipping methods to EU

[Iemand91]

If I understand correctly; @EMPIRETECANDY has 2 shipping methods to the EU.
A regular "fast' way and a slower "tax free" way.

I usually received the packages with FedEx and that must have been the 'fast' way since shipping time was mostly less than a week.
As for extra import costs; if and when I would get them (mail through post from local Dutch FedEx); the extra costs for 1 camera were always like €10 or less.

With the 10th Anniversary lottery last July I won a prize that was sent out through PostNL. That also took about a week until it arrived at Dutch customs.
It spent 5 weeks there until it was sent back on September 3. Tracking said "undeliverable item" and I haven't heard a thing since. (whether if it arrived backed with Andy)
Tracking information (when it was sent to my adress) showed it as a bulk shipment; and while it was at the Dutch customs, PostNL couldn't tell me anything since it was still in bulk form at Dutch customs.

Well, what do you know, with the last lottery I won again! Twice! Don't know how I got that lucky here.
Today I got an email that shipping through standard channels to the EU may result in signifcant customs duties and to avoid those costs, I got recommended going for the tax-free method for a fee of €40.


So now I'm lost. Fast shipping was always a great experience, extra import cost were minimal.
I'm guessing the PostNL method was the slower 'tax free' method but that experience sucked for the both of us; I got no prize and don't know whether Andy has received it back.
Even if the tax-free method works; the extra costs wouldn't make sense since import costs have always been signifcantly less.

So any people here from the EU who have experience with either shipping methods and or @EMPIRETECANDY could give us some info about the current shipping methods to Europe?
Has shipping changed recently?

 

[duplo]

This is a complex situation caused by fedex and EU laws.

You always have to pay import tax aka VAT which is 21% in NL. Then you have to pay fedex a handling fee for custom service.

First problem is that fedex is between you and customs as an agent. So you cant talk to customs yourself. Fedex uses the value which is on the package/documents.

Another problem might be that you dont have an invoice/payment. So you might end up in a situation where you cant import anything if your local customs dont believe the value on the documents. They will ask fedex to send proof. Then they will contact you to get these information. Most time they cant because they dont have your email address. Even if you dont have any payment proof, so you cant import anything.

here in germany its always possible to contact the customs which fedex uses for import and deal with them directly without these idiots from fedex.

Once they ask fedex for payment proof, i sent everything to fedex but they didnt forward it to customs in cologne. Fedex support told me that customs dont release the package. So i called customs and emailed them the missing documents directly and they released the package within 30min.

Fedex is OK if customs believe the value on documents. DHL always ask for payment proof, its much harder and slower.


"Tax free" simply means a company inside the EU import the good with a fake value + fake invoice and forward it to you. You cant import anything to EU without paying customs. This is not the US ;-).

Few years ago there was a railway from china to russia through hungary and poland. This was real tax free. German customs stopped any package from hungary after a while and start custom clearance again.