Simon,
Carla shipped it from Plainesville, Illinois to Brussels Int Airport for $210.00...that is for 2. One would have been $175.00. No problem there, that is a great price. The problem occures when it gets to Belgium. The shipping for $210.00 is NOT door to door. It is door to port. The Belgian portion of the shipping coutry added Euro140,00 ($168.00) to carry them 45 minutes down the road and process the customs paper. Belgium authorities then added taxes to the purchase of Euro303,00 (+-$360.00). I think that they used a 1:1 rate when figuring taxes or import taxes far exceed the 21% VAT. Go figure, I can't get any more information on these issues.

Basically, I imported 2 DVs for just a bit as it cost for 1 DPM Ultimate. That was $400.00 for the airplane and $480.00 for shipping and customs.

Now, remember, this is Belgium and they tighten down the screws harder on the customer than most other European countries, taxing both the little customer and retailer to death (and then they wonder why off-books labor is sooooo popular, heck, it is a national sport). Check with your local import office and see what duty taxes are for hobby goods. Then check with your end of the shipping company and find out what you local costs will be. Door to door shipping does not include final leg delivery in most cases and DOES include very high costs for processing. It takes lots of research to really understand end costs for importing good for private use. This time I was fairly close. I figured about Euro350,00 for local costs.

Lastly, on the issue of costs. I learned long ago that if I wanted something to just deal with the costs and move on. I'm certain that when I take my DV out on a nice day with the DA50 turning nicely that the cost issues will quickly wash themselves away.

Regards,
Mark