Sending and receiving packages in Turkey

Hi there

I live in Istanbul (an expat migrated to Istanbul with two kids).

My sister is in New Zealand and looking to send us some winter gears and presents for the kids for Christmas.

Their national courier works directly with Turkey post service; PTT.

My question is that PTT or Custom charge would be applicable in this case? If so, any direction on how much that could be?

I do appreciate your help.

Thanks ,

Feriba

I believe it would because my mother sent me a birthday present and I had to pay customs. I'm not sure how much they will charge. You should ask Ptt. Also, they only accept cash, at least that was the case last time I had to pay.

Connie

Thanks for your response @conniewhelan .

I hope someone here can help with more insights to the % that PTT may apply.

I am not fluent in Turkish language and couldn’t get a good response from PTT office.

Hello,

my experience is really bad when it comes to ordering things from the UK. We have made few orders and we haven't received any of the items. They disappeared in thin air.

Fortunately, we received the refund and were told the items 'got lost' at the Turkish borders... 🙄

Needless to say we have never made another order. It's really sad because here in Turkiye prices are crazy high for very cheap quality things. I could get much better in the UK with much better prices...

I tried to order some items (Blair Sauce) through Amazon Germany ( i have active account) but no success (Blairs Sauce not available through Amazon Turkey btw)

Rules change rapidly (I do not care too much on additional taxes, it is more availability)

@Fedy23

A colleague of mine moved back to the UK and subsequently passed away. His mother sent me a gift of some of his belongings, but they never reached me. I don't know if PTT staff are stealing things or if they are just incompeten! Either way, his belongs did not reach me, nor did they make their way back to his mother. I  don't trust PTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@conniewhelan

I am not sure about the way they operate. The main issue in Turkiye, I feel, it is the lack of quality assurance. There isn't any! No checks at all. Everything it is done ' just because'.....I don't know if you understand what I mean.

For example, on our roads we have many holes. The council sent out workers who used rudimental equipment to repair those holes. When I say 'rudimental' I mean it. We saw one worker using a stone to flatten up the pebbles he threw into the hole to close it! A stone...pebbles....not concrete or tar!

We experience this every day: from restaurant service to grocery shopping to the immigration office...everything is a bit strange. Not sure how to describe it all. It's a shock to my system that's for sure!

Sorry Fedy, I have to strongly disagree, service can be good (by the way I have no car (we take bus or taxi)).

Service in restaurants and shops are in my view excellent (and prices reasonable), a few times per day the city takes the garbage.

Internet is fine, billing is fine (water/electricty automatic)

Bottom line, pay service provider and you will get service (this includes Ikamet. local taxes, ..)

@Priscilla

Been living in Fethiye for a few months, here's my experience: I use UPS for important stuff - it's pricier but reliable and delivers to your door. Takes about 7-10 days from Ireland. PTT (Turkish post) is cheaper but can be hit or miss, and you sometimes need to collect from the local office.

For taxes, anything valued over €150 usually gets charged. My last package had about 20% in import fees. Always worth checking the current limits before shipping.

Quick tip: have your Turkish phone number clearly written on packages - makes delivery much smoother!

@cdw057

That's your personal experience. Where I live the internet is extremely slow, the services are almost non existent, the place is extremely dirty and Antalya is very expensive. We purchase 3 kitchen blender since we arrived because the quality is so low. The common brands we have in Europe like Philips, Bosch, Samsung, Microsoft, Apple, LG....are extremely expensive sometimes triple the price! I have had to purchase my running shoes from the UK and have a friend bring them over as they were too expensive here in Antalya.

Maybe the area you live is nice. But where we are isn't. We have been here over one year and we are still not registered with a doctor because there aren't any where we live or nearby. We have to travel 45 minutes to see a doctor.

Unfortunately it has not been a nice experience for us.