When I left the US to come to Switzerland a few years back, I left some boxes of my belongings at home. Now I'd like to have my parents send some of that stuff to me.
Is there anything they should do or indicate on the boxes to make sure I don't have to pay any customs fees or duties? The items I want to be sent to me were all purchased at least 5+ years ago and are my personal belongings, so I'd like to to hope there wouldn't be any fees besides the shipping costs.
Thanks for any help!
There is (was) a relatively easy way for a household move, if it was not that long ago (less than 24 months to be precise). Take a loof at the Federal Customs Administration portal (in particular the Form 18.44).
After a longer time spent in CH as a resident (as far as I know, and I'm not a pro in that), the only option is to get those items declared as personal used goods or a gift. Lately I simply asked my friends to send me something similar (2 separate USPS Large boxes) and indicated "no merchandise: personal belongings, used toys, used books, used golden color paperweights in a form of trapezoidal prism (no)" with low value (each box below US$ 25). Got them without much hassle. AFAIK, CH customs have no interest in your old stuff, unless it contains some really valuable or prohibited items (like art, precious metals, gemstones, ivory, cocain etc.)
I suppose I will try to just get them declared as personal goods and gifts though. It will mostly be books and some of my old game systems that I'll be shipping over here.
Is it ok for me to label boxes that contain video games and a video game system as less than $25 value though?