I decided to buy an expensive lens off Ebay at the beginning of November, oh no i hear you say, No!

It’s the Spanish customs, they have eaten it!

The lady that sold me the lens sent it with USPS the service that she used is called “Priority Mail International Parcels” what ever you do don’t use this service! USPS send the parcel to Spain it then gets given to Correos, oh joy!

At the same time I ordered a Camera, this was also sent using USPS but the service was called “Global Express Guaranteed” this turns into Fedex but then to local Spanish company, it took three day to get to Spain, and then a week in customs and as the seller did not mark it as a gift, so I had to pay duty on it, she also managed to incorrectly write my telephone number on the shipping note, but me calling Fedex daily sorted that out!

Back to the lens, have you ever tried calling customs, here in Spain? If you haven’t don’t bother, they don’t answer the telephone, I’m not joking! They do answer the telephone in Seville, but they don’t know anything.

Now according the USPS web site they have tried to deliver it, two weeks ago. The sender has contacted USPS and has asked what has happened to the lens and is waiting for an answer. I have contacted Correos, asking what has happened, they have sent me a letter telling me to contact customs, here in Seville, they didn’t know anything. So I contacted Correos again and they said they would check it and send me a letter and it would take….. “A MONTH”

The correct procedure is that customs will send me a letter telling me that I have to pay duty on the lens, I then pay it and they release it, give it to Correos and it arrives!

Question, if anyone has an idea of how to speed this process up, without resorting to physical violence please let me know?

Also the sender has only insured it for 650 USD and it’s worth a 900, so if I never receive the lens, she will have to claim and lose the difference and give me a full refund? Should I make a claim on Ebay now?

Useful Info.

Customs Seville
954 99 84 84
954 44 91 34

USPS
001 800 222 1811

Correos (customer services, in Spanish)
902 197 197

USPS Tracking No. are in the format of Cxxx-xxxx-xxxU-S

Correos tracking No. are in the format of EGxxxxxxxxxES

That was 5 years ago.  Things have changed.  I buy 2-3 things / month on eBay and have them sent to Spain by UNINSURED 1st class international mail which carries a free tracking number.  I also purchase many vitamins and health care products on eBay (only what can fit into 1 padded envelope) and have them sent to me here in Spain.  I also purchase many vitamins and health care products on eBay and have them sent to me here in Spain.  So far the only problem I ever had was when I purchased from a company that sent the package via a courier rather than by normal postal mail. I bought something from Novica (company) that cost $55 + $12 shipping.  Ended up paying an extra 29 euros in customs duties and local courier delivery charges. However, there are several companies in the US that will now ship via regular mail, thus avoiding customs, delays and couriers.

If you buy something valuable that needs to be insured, then almost certainly the parcel will go to customs and they charge 22% of the total value including shipping, plus local courier delivery and sometimes a ‘handling charge’.

That is really interesting, and i need to think about that

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Very useful information. Thank you