Shipping boxes from US to Bulgaria

Hi everyone.

I'd like to ship a couple boxes to Bulgaria, one of work things, a larger monitor, a small scanner, some files and a couple boxes of coats/shoes/clothing.

What is the least expensive shipping service?

Will I have to pay duty on personal items?

Thanks in advance.

-lawrence

USPS is the best and the cheapest way, there is a restriction on size and weight per box (32lbs). To avoid the import tax(VAT 20% on most items) make sure you put value of less then $60 per box. It takes less than 2 weeks for items to arrive and I've had some come within a week as well so not back, expect to pay around $120-150 per box, well worth it IMO.

P.S. If you are shipping brand new clothes, shoes and electronics make sure you remove all tags and boxes to make them look used in case they make you open the package to see contents (happened to me twice).

I just had 6 boxes of personal belongings shipped here... the cheapest I found was $900- then I got caught with port fees in Germany (150e- and the company shipping tried to get me to pay an extra 'delivery' fee at that point, even though they weren't the company delivering to me) and in Bulgaria I had 50 bgn in customs/duty taxes, and another 50 to get it delivered from the port to my house in varna.

You get one duty free shipment, but they recommend you save it for a truly expensive item, like a car. You may be able to find it cheaper, but from what I can gather, shipping is a total financial mess... and once it is out of your hands, the companies you are shipping with and countries it is going through can keep adding on charges that you simply have to pay to get your stuff.

In the end, I think it might have been slightly cheaper to break things down into smaller boxes and mail them to myself over time. If the items in a shipment are less than 150 euro (I believe) then you will not owe duty, but if they are worth more, you may owe a small duty. It should not be that much though.

Hi,

I found it cheaper to buy a scanner/printer over here...

Hello .. i recommend you buy from local store in your country ... you can see products much cheaper than in America ... it costs over 4 times the price to get product (  shipping , taxes and customs )

Only buy from America in discount dates and Christmas days offers

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your replies. I have been moving clothing,shoes, small personal items a suitcase at a time and leaving them there. I can continue to do this. I can store things at my sisters and bring them over every time I go back to the US to visit.

My observation is consumer electronics are expensive in Bulgaria with limited selection. I have a nice 31" computer monitor, a Scansnap scanner, an Apple airport extreme that I'd like to bring if I could get them in a box and send them. Not the end of world to leave behind but they cost $1000 here and it seems like these things could be hard to find and expensive to replace there. So even if I spend two-three hundred dollars to ship via USPS, I am ahead.

Best,

Lawrence

You can just pay for extra luggage and bring everything when you fly. I think it's $100-$150 per suitcase over the 2 allowed. Note that it's cheaper to bring extra suitcases then to pay for extra weight (found that the hard way).

Hello,
what airline did you use?