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Let’s say I were to order a special protein powder from a company in the states. What would be the process to get it to me and how much would duties cost? Thanks so much for your help in advance.
You are less likely to have to pay duty on a parcel using regular US postal service/Costa Rica mail service, than a private company. We have received many parcels and have never had to pay anything.
I think the first question you must ask is whether or not the company from whom you propose to buy this (or any) merchandise will ship outside the U.S. Many will not. We have not tried using the U.S. Postal Service/Costa Rican Correo route and so cannot comment on it.
We do, however, use Aerocasillas which gives us both a Post Office Box number in Miami and a street address in Doral, Florida. That way, the U.S. shipper thinks he’s shipping within the U.S. Aerocasillas then gets our merchandise through Costa Rican Customs and delivers it to their office in Grecia where we live.
Aerocasillas charges ($5.00US, I think) for processing a package through Costa Rican Customs and Customs charges whatever Customs charges.
Each person, citizen, resident, tourist, has a right to one $500US exemption from Costa Rican Customs duty every six months. That is, you can get an exemption on the importation of $500 worth of goods. If you use Aerocasillas, as soon as you order something you must e-mail them with the tracking number to be expecting and they can get you your duty exemption. There may be a charge for that additional service.
There are other mail and freight forwarders who serve Costa Rica . . . Mail Boxes, Etc. and JetBox come to mind.
Before you decide to import this protein powder, it would be well to find out what the shipping will cost. Otherwise, you may be in for a nasty surprise. We’ve found it fairly expensive to order books from Amazon, for example, have them shipped to Doral, FL, and then have Aerocasillas forward them to us here in Costa Rica. Everything’s done by weight, and I think I know that your protein powder isn’t light.
Have you looked at GNC in the MultiPlaza for this stuff? It may be less expensive to buy it there than to ship it in.
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