As a teacher I end up doing this a lot with books for classes. Amazon doesn't give you a choice on delivery methods to Russia--they automatically send it via Fed Ex or DHL. As long as the total cost of the order is under 5000 rubles in one calendar week, to a consignee who is an individual rather than a company, you are in good shape as there is no clearance procedure and no customs duty. If your order exceeds 5000 rubles arriving in Russia in one week then the books have to be formally cleared and you have to pay duty. So the trick is to order a few books in one week and a few books the next until you have the 20 you need.
The tricky part comes when the cost of the order is under 5000 rubles but the shipping costs bring it up above 5000 rubles. For some reason Fed Ex seems to be able to clear it with no problem, but if Amazon sends by DHL, DHL sometimes starts to make a fuss and wants a whole lot of documentation and even asks you to wire them extra money (as if the almost $100 in shipping costs aren't enough). You will need to stick to your guns and insist that since the cost of the goods is under 5000 rubles a week you don't need to pay extra. This might delay your delivery a few days but eventually you will get them without paying more. Marian > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:expat- > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Olaf Koens > Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 9:55 PM > To: The Moscow Expat List > Subject: Expat List Shipping books > > Hello Expatniki, > > I'm about to order around 20 books at Amazon.com and wonder about the > best way to ship it to Russia. I'm afraid the simple postal-services > will deliver it by the time I'm supposed to have read most of it. I > hear that even DHL and UPS don't always come through and might take up > months for delivery. > > Anybody has experience in bulk-shipping books? Any tips? Or might I be > better off having the books delivered somewhere in Europe and picking > it up? > > Thanks! > > > > > // Olaf > > -- > Olaf Koens _journalist > > _mobile Russia +79057315337 _ http://olafkoens.nl > _______________________________________________ > Expat mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat > http://www.expat.ru/forum/ _______________________________________________ Expat mailing list [email protected] http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat http://www.expat.ru/forum/
