Well, I'm used to delays in shipping to me in the Netherlands...
I can tell if I'm likely to have to pay the mailman VAT+handling charges by how long the package took to get to me:
- Rightstuf packages take about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks to get to the Netherlands
- after that it's a coinflip if I get my package right away without extra bill or it takes the second route:
the package disappears into some black hole warehouse for about
2 weeks and then gets delivered with the extra bill.
That 2 weeks seems to have been constant over the years, so they seem to have no intention at all of streamlining that process.
(almost makes me wish customs hadn't outsourced that work to the mail company...)
(in the past all Rightstuf packages used to slip by through the quick route, since Rightstuf used to list $5 per item on the package, which kept the "value" below a treshold...
Now that Rightstuf lists the real value, it's a coinflip)