That is really sad about all the duties you have to pay. It concerns me too because my 78 year old father lives in Switzerland and has never even seen one of my ornithopters first hand. I've really wanted to send him a complete ready to fly Slow Hawk as a genuine GIFT but I'm afraid he would get stung paying customs and duties just as you mention.

that is really sad i myself living in Australia have never paid a cent ohhhhhh one exception when i imported antique auto parts for a modified 1953 chev i built. that was around 10%. cheers Brian

Europe is unbelievably expensive from my American point of view. I lived a total of 6 years of my life there..Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy. Maybe it's different now, but restarants were incredibly expensive and you simply don't see things there like what we have in the states. When Europeans come to the states and go to say a Golden Corral buffet restaurant I bet they are in a ( gleeful) state of disbelief. It's like $10-$12.00 for all you can eat anything and everything... steaks, seafood, a huge salad buffet, desserts, etc.
The USA and the EU are both "western democracies" but apparently have very different economic systems. I don't know how people make it over there actually. When I was stationed there thank God I had military gas coupons because gas in Europe was like 4 times what it was in the states.
If I had to pay the duties that Europeans have to pay on imported goods I don't think I could stay in business.

In 1987 I bought a Hirobo Shuttle RC helicopter at a local Belgian hobby shop. They were advertised around $229.00 in the American model magazines at the time but I paid $369.00 there in Belgium.

Originally Posted by Kinkade

Europe is unbelievably expensive from my American point of view. I lived a total of 6 years of my life there..Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy. Maybe it's different now, but restarants were incredibly expensive and you simply don't see things there like what we have in the states. When Europeans come to the states and go to say a Golden Corral buffet restaurant I bet they are in a ( gleeful) state of disbelief. It's like $10-$12.00 for all you can eat anything and everything... steaks, seafood, a huge salad buffet, desserts, etc.
The USA and the EU are both "western democracies" but apparently have very different economic systems. I don't know how people make it over there actually. When I was stationed there thank God I had military gas coupons because gas in Europe was like 4 times what it was in the states.
If I had to pay the duties that Europeans have to pay on imported goods I don't think I could stay in business.

In 1987 I bought a Hirobo Shuttle RC helicopter at a local Belgian hobby shop. They were advertised around $229.00 in the American model magazines at the time but I paid $369.00 there in Belgium.

Yes that pretty much summs it up but in addition imported stuff in here that pass the borders (anything outside EU) are sometimes "forgotten" or in other words kept for the ppl who work there for their own personal usage, most of the times u must complain to them after 1 month of wasted time so your package is finally "processed"... how the system works in portugal regarding this matter is almost a robbery