How To Avoid Customs

1. Intro Revised

Ok this may be the most important part of my Guide. How to avoid customs – especially when you are living in Europe (s/o to Germany). Not everything changed, but there are some IMPORTANT steps that I added to the checklist. DHL is the way to go for Germany, Austria and many more European countries. Do not use EMS in Germany or Austria.

If you live in the US or Canada you can choose EMS, DHL or GD-Sal. Customs are pretty relaxed in these countries. For the US and Canada, shipping hauls up to 10kg generally isn’t a problem. Some people even do more. Do so at your own risk. For the USA, the declaration value doesn’t matter much, as you are unlikely to be taxed. For Canada, declare the package 10-14USD. Also, If you live in Canada, it is advised that you use EMS or GD-SAL. If you use DHL, you will be taxed upon package arrival.

2. Checklist For Europe

You may have to look up laws for any import fees or regulations. These numbers are an example for PandaBuy shipping to Germany, it should work for any country though.

1. Stay within .9 of a KG. Read here for more information
2. [ ] Try to stay at a maximum of 4kg. Do not go over this for the safest rate.
3. [ ] If possible ask for no cardboard wrapping, let them package in DHL plastic bag
4. [ ] Ask for vacuum sealing (Possible in the fewest cases)
5. [ ] Ask them to wrap up your whole package with tape, a lot of tape.
6. [ ] Let them put a Commercial invoice on the outside (!)! of your package
7. [ ] The commercial invoice should have a value UNDER $24 including shipping costs
8. [ ] The commercial invoice has to be readable, if it has printing errors it has to be printed again
9. [ ] The commercial invoice has to state the shipping costs with a value >$0
10. [ ] The commercial invoice has to have a sender address
11. [ ] Your telephone number has to be stated on the commercial invoice
12. [ ] Let them send you a copy of the commercial invoice to your email (Will come back to this)
13. It is strongly advised that you go to Google and type in “[Your country] customs fashionreps”.

    By doing this, you will get a good grasp of what others have done. Trust me, your situation is not unique.