I've had both getting stung and getting away with it. Bought a few CD & DVDs from the States a while back, and the (single box) shipment doubled in price. Definitely not fair that postage charges are included in the tax & duty calculations.
WTO rulez innit.
There are companies that deal with all the shit as part of the process, or at least claim to.
Oddly Mum got note of a parcel with a 37 quid VAT (27) + Handling (10) charge with origin of "Germany"
I tried to see if I could work out where it had really come from but the tracking number only turned up on the RM site after various messing about
So all we know is it arrived at some RM international arrivals lounge end of November
I did suggest it could be any of her friends or family in: Oz, Saffa, Croatia, Canadia or possibly even USAnia; but apparently they always say somethings on its way.
She wasn't expecting anything from anywhere so has ignored it.
hm...