Ebay...

[French jurist]

Clarification : Taxes are 50% of the value + the shipping fees (which are included to calculate the tax).

I have been receiving about 50-100 packages since 2003 in various places :
- Make sure the package is sent registered (meaning it means to have this type of number on it : AB1234567CD where CD is the sender's country code). Otherwise you can kiss goodbye your sunglasses
- If the package is small there is a chance it skips the CPI and be delivered straight to you.
- If you live in non-centrical barrios (i.e. Nunez : I have probed only for Nunez) many packages, even big ones, don't end up in the CPI. I don't know why.
- If you live in a centrical barrio (Recoleta, Palermo,...) then it's more likely you will have to go to the CPI.


If you go to the CPI, they will ask you what's inside. If you say they are sunglasses maybe the agent will think they are expensive ones, I don't know.
But if the value is so small, there are good chances that you pay nothing.

If you were born around august/september/october, you can say you don't know what's inside and it's a birthday gift (with a big warm smile) and maybe they'll let you go.

 

[katti]

The other day I received a thick envelope, delivered at my door, with only my adress (no labels/prices/what's inside/whatever), when I opened it, it contained a book and a cd. No tax, no fuss, nothing...
It was send by ordinary mail, the cheapest that exists. Not registered.

 

[French jurist]

The other day I received a thick envelope, delivered at my door, with only my adress (no labels/prices/what's inside/whatever), when I opened it, it contained a book and a cd. No tax, no fuss, nothing...
It was send by ordinary mail, the cheapest that exists. Not registered.

Lucky you

 

[azure]

I've never had a problem with receiving a book from the UK, chapstick from the US, and electronics/video game items from China and Singapore. The worst that happened once was having to wait in line at the post office to pick up a few hundred dollars worth of video game stuff (but most of the time they were able to send it directly to my apartment).

 

[nledec]

In the last year I've bought things via Ebay and had them shipped to my house here in BA with no problem. They came from the UK, Thailand, and USA. I asked the seller to wrap them well for protection and use an envelope (the padded manila mailers can hold fairly good size items/boxes & boxes are what usually seem to get caught up in customs). I also asked them to not mark the value above $20 US. Maybe it is a fluke, but each time they were delivered right to my house within one to two weeks with no problem at all. Good luck!

 

[nledec]

Also, my mother sends large envelopes a couple of times a month with things like boxes of new lego sets, jeans, even b-day party supplies. This has been going on for a year and everything has arrived to my house inn Recoleta no problem. Again, maybe just a fluke...

 

[orwellian]

Envelopes with no declared contents or value there are no import duties on. It's not a fluke.

 

[nledec]

No, their contents and value were always declared (never more that U$D 20 as I said), and the contents description was always accurate: toys, etc.