Sending Gifts to Lima, Peru

[bobargenis 0]

Have a question to all in the Peru Portal: from everyones experience; sending from the United States a parcel; like a gift or box what services have been utilized and whats been the experiences? SerPost, DHL Fedex. I've heard many negative stories and with Valentines so soon; how do you send something.. Thanks

[yachachiq12 43]

We've found FedEx and DHL to be too costly unless there's an emergency. Sending a small box or large envelope to Peru (USPS and Serpost) has usually cost us around $30-60, if I remember correctly. I've had trouble with small envelopes of documents being lost; packages of goods have always arrived. USPS makes you use Priority shipping by the way, so go for the Flat Rate envelopes/boxes that are also Priority specific.

Remember the customs implications for when things arrive in Peru. If the value of the package is $100 or more or if too much value is sent to any one person in too short a period in various packages, they will be liable for high tax rates on the goods. We make the customs forms very detailed and are sure not to send too much value at once. I wouldn't send anything like jewelry or money via Serpost/USPS, as I think it more likely for something to disappear (think about the Peruvian custom of putting more tape than necessary on every package as everyone's had something stolen from one).

If sending jewelry or the like, I'd go for DHL or FedEx.

Our USPS/SerPost packages always arrive within two weeks, even during holidays. In our experience, FedEx will show up at the door, DHL and SerPost will only leave a note to pick up in their offices.

[yachachiq12 43]

Also, if you do a keyword search for SerPost or the others on this forum, you'll get access to a lot of people's experiences: http://www.expatperu.com/expatforums/index.php

See here too: http://forum.livinginperu.com/

Those should give you more experiences than just my non-scientific sampling of personal anecdotes.

[El Cachalote 12]

I've sent a gift to my wife in Peru...a brand new camera I got for a good deal on Amazon.com. It arrived at my house in USA, then I went to the post office (USPS) to send it. To send cost approx. $30 plus insurance. However; when she went to pick it up at the local Correo...my wife had to pay taxes on the cost (what I paid Amazon!) on it. It was another $20 bucks. I had to send her a bill of sale from Amazon before they would give it to her.

It is cheaper to send flowers and chocolates!

Sincerely,

Magnus

[Dante & Geor 36]

Hi Magnus, your problem was that the camera was brand new, and probably you specified that on the insurance paper, that's why. I've received some packages my hun sent to me before, and he used Express Service of USPS with no problems! But just play safe and go to some web page from here who does delivery for Valentine's presents!