Hey all!

I have some good friends in Finland whom I am preparing to send packages to. I just finished filling out the online customs form only to see THIS at the end! This is absurd! That’s 100$ over the combined cost of all the items in the box plus what I’m paying for shipping. My friends can not afford to pay that to pick up their packages. What can I do to lower this? Is it even possible? If it can’t be lowered I’m going to have to just cancel sending the packages or take out 3/4ths of what is in there so they can afford it. 😭

by Equivalent-Star-9783

4 comments

  1. What service is this? Even with Finnish VAT (24 %) an outside EU shipment shouldn’t be anywhere near that much.

    I recommend sending the items with as basic mail as possible, without any “we will pay the VAT/custom fees for you!” services from the courier company. They rip you off.

    Label it as “gift” with a low value like 20€. Have your friend do customs declaration in Finland.

    A warning (don’t do this): when declaring customs items in Finland, the process is automated. One can declare the package in any amount and get automated decision to pay the VAT/customs based on the amount given. Customs has no resources to check if the amount is correct. Not legal, but easy way to save on customs fees / VAT when declaring a shipment that came to Finland. I can’t stress this enough: one shouldn’t do this.

  2. Import duties vary depending on item category. Generally they are around 24% unless you are shipping alcohol or tobacco or some other specific goods. Taxes and such are also paid on the total shipping cost (yes ridiculous I know)

    So the import fees should not really exceed 25% of total item + shipping cost.

    What are you sending?

  3. You can declare the package as a gift and set the value as under 45 euros I believe

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