'Shipping Candy to Uruguay' Montevideo

• EXPAT LUNCH: Sunday, May 27, 2012
  May 27 special: 15% discount (cash)!
• Now in Asuncion, Paraguay too!
• EXPAT DINNER: Thursday, May 24, 2012

Shipping Candy to Uruguay

Thank you for your help!

Use a handwritten label and a personal name (not a business) for the return address. Maybe sure the presentation is as unprofessional as possible.

Worst case you have to pay 60% of the value including shipping cost. Best case it shows up at your door. Keep it small for a better change of the best case.

Use FedEx, DHL or the like and you'll probably be looking at the worst case PLUS customs broker and storage fees.

Thanks for your reply... just to clarify, you are saying that I should NOT use Fed Ex, DHL, etc? I should just use the USPS?

Joe

Go for the cheapest service possible. If you are sending documents then FedEx, DHL, etc is fine.

For Candy, why not just have them send some money and then buy something locally?

Expert Page: Quick Tips for Getting Settled in Uruguay

If the latter happens, the procedure is to turn up in Missiones with your summons and your ID at 10.00am in the morning when the office opens. You go inside, show the summons to a postal worker who will eventually bring it to the counter. A customs official will then appear from a side office and will ask you for the invoice. If the packet is a present and you lack an invoice, he will reluctantly open it for inspection while muttering that there should have been an invoice.

Having inspected the contents the customs officer will tell you (a) if you can have it at all, (b) if you can have it tax free and (c) whether it is liable to import duties or not (different officers will hold different views on this.) The postage is also taxed at approx 60%.

If it is deemed to be taxable and you agree to pay the tax, you will be ushered into the customs officers office where the tax is calculated. You have the option of refusing to pay the tax at which point the officer will either return the item to sender or will shrug and give it to you anyway.

In the customs officers office, calculations will be made and an amount of duty payable will be determined but of course, you aren't allowed to just pay it :-)

Until a few months ago, the next step was to make your way to customs HQ down by the docks where many papers were stamped in different offices, some papers were kept, new papers were issued and you finally got to pay a bloke behind a little trap door on the 3rd floor... but only if you had the exact change.

In a recent burst of modernisation, I'm told that there is now a new customs payment office close to the post office but I have yet to experience what actually happens there.

Anyway, having paid the duty, you return to the post office, present the papers to the customs official who will provide you with yet another paper which you present (with your ID) to a postal worker. Your packet is then relocated and you have to fill in another form (c/w 6 signatures.) Once the postal worker is satisfied, you can have your packet.

The first time I undertook the adventure I got rather cross about it but nowadays I take along my "funcionario" kit (a folding chair, a picnic, an mp3 player and a good book) and view the encounter as a bit of improvised theatre. You also get to meet interesting people amongst your fellow sufferers.

So long as you think of it as absurdist and sometimes surreal performance art, the whole process can be quite entertaining.

Another time I got a wood object that had no invoice and they were about to let me out tax free until someone noticed the return address was a company name. Grudgingly they used the amount on the customs declaration.

Another time I got a camera memory chip and battery. The package came completely wet. The customs declaration was for the value of the memory and battery. However, the invoice was for a number of other items too that weren't sent to me and was barely readable because of the water.

They wanted the tax on the invoice total. I kept explaining that it was just the two items. They finally gave up and charged me the tax on only what was sent.

Vitamins can be a big hassle and they can ask you to get an import license from the ministry of salud, it's free, but requires a lot of effort and a prescription from an MD. They will also tell you can buy the same stuff locally (not true).

They are pleasant, but have their process, so just go with the flow.

On one occasion I observed a lot of active over someone else's package. It seemed the whole office was looking at it and having a discussion. The person had received a cordless phone with a second handset. There was an invoice which showed a small amount (under the exemption), but the invoice was apparently for "1 cordless phone".

I think the contents of the package was obviously well over the exemption amount, but the discussion and activity was about that it. It was trying to figure out if the invoice referred to "1 cordless phone plus extra handset" or if the extra handset was undeclared on the invoice.

In the end there was no tax and the customer left happy.

DHL Experience:

I ordered a popcorn popper (my only addiction) and it cost about US$25. I used a mail forwarding service that assured me they would use USPS. Instead they used DHL.

The result was it took about a week and a half to get to Montevideo and then DHL wanted about US$100 in fees, taxes and storage before they would deliver it to me. I told them to stuff it and they wanted around US$50 to return it to the sender.

I then ordered another one from someone on eBay and it arrived in a couple days via priority mail and at the customs office they opened it and send me on my way ready to enjoy some popcorn without paying any taxes, fees or storage.

I might also avoid using boxes that look like they have new or expensive stuff in them. If someone packs your candy in a Dell Computer box... you can be sure it will be opened for inspection!

Expert Page: Quick Tips for Getting Settled in Uruguay

We encourage everyone to share their opinions, comments, thoughts and information, please consider sharing...

Please register or login in to reply to this post:

• Login
  (Register)

• Ordering Online To Uruguay (Alternative Health)
• First Class Mail (Montevideo)
• import duty tax (Shopping)
• Import Taxes (Technology)
• More related posts for Shipping Candy to Uruguay

Related posts on other sites:

• international postal rates (Philippines Expat and Travel Forum)
• Receiving small packages and restricted items (Paraguay Forum)

Related eBooks:

• Map of Montevideo, Uruguay (Maps of Uruguay) eBook: Jack Black