Uruguay Expat Forum

Expat91364
Joined 2016
Posts: 352

6 years ago

Shipping packages to Uruguay

6 years ago

Having just gone through this thought some of you might be interested. It was rather a surprise for me.

First when you send a package internationally usually you are charged by weight and size through some formula I can never understand. However there is a company in Florida called MYUS.COM that makes things much easier. 1 you can order several different things from different vendors and they will repackage them all into one box for you. Even helpful with Amazon which often sends 5 boxes for 5 items.

You can pick how you want it shipped, company, time etc which impacts the price. This is more important than I realized. They also have a Tax free zip code so purchases shipped directly to them should avoid sales tax.

Now in Uruguay it is another story..... Customs page says you can purchase and ship to Uruguay 3x per year provided the purchase is under $200 USD... Here is the trick though, they consider the shipping part of the cost of the things you are sending. So I paid for expedited shipping for some parts I desperately needed and that put me over $200. and so I owed import duties.

If Customs determines you owe import duties you pay 60% of the cost of the items in tax. Let me say that again 60% in import duties But not on the shipping that triggered the tax in the first place.
Then you will have to pay about $1200 pesos in a processing fee. Then you have to pay a storage and handling fee. I paid $14USD for the one day from when FedEx delivered me the papers on the package to picking it up.

You must do this i person and have to go to Montevideo to the old Airport now called TCU to do this. It is a few minutes from Carrasco Airport but you need a car. If you live in the Interior or Punta del Este this is going to take a day!

At TCU, you will have to go through no less then 7 stations or desks to get your stuff.
1. A Check in where they call up the file, Called Client relations or some such.
2. then back to the storage area for a customs check where they will open the box and compare it against everything on the order. Be preprepared to prove what you paid and explain what things are.
3. Then go to the Internet Purchases desk for the duty calculation.
4 then you go to the cashier to pay the import duty, in Cash, Amex or Visa (no Mastercard).
5. Then you go to the office of the company that shipped it for you. FedEx is outside in another building of the same parking lot for example and pay them the "processing fee". And that has nothing to do with what you paid to ship it in the first place.
6. Then back to the same desk where you started and he checks your papers and receipts and you pay the $14USD storage fee. You get some more papers and

7 go back to the storage area where you where they opened the package earlier on . Check in there and they will point you to other counters until you land at the right one and they go retrieve your box.

It is a typical Uruguayan process, lots of steps, lots of people employed but also efficient, computerized, pleasant and courteous. The whole process took maybe 90 minutes including any waiting time to speak to people or on lines.

That really isn't bad all things considered.

The first time I ordered something it was small and inexpensive and lightweight so it came directly to the house. But if you cross that $200 threshold it gets complicated.

Still for some things what you pay on Amazon particularly if you have Prime is so much less than what an imported item may be here it might just be worth it. There are also simply things we can't get here.

Of course when ever I travel to the states there is a 2nd suitcase that comes back full of things I just can't get here. Mostly related to cooking actually but that is just me!

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