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My first experience with Fedex was when Royal Mail contracted their Global 48 hours service to them. RM was already out of service by the time the time-sensitive documents got to Stanstead airport. Once there, Fedex put my envelope into one of theirs and incorrectly copied the address. A week or so later, l got a mail saying it had been delivered but in fact, it was traced to their hub in Montevideo. The recipient had to pick it up from the depot! Like an idiot, l gave them a second chance and sent a suitcase ahead because it would have been impossible to travel with 3 cases. I got a call from someone saying l had to pay another 拢200, so, thinking it was a scam, l hung up. When l got to MVD, l traced the suitcase back to the cargo terminal at the airport. Customs were asking for US$280 so l told them to dump it. I pointed out that if l had struggled with 3 suitcases, there would be no duty to pay. Luckily, I was approached by someone who seemed to be in charge and he released it for me saying that Fedex had scrawled something on the AirWay Bill that suggested that there was duty to pay. In Uruguay, you pay something like 63% on personal imports which includes the cost of postage/carriage.

DHL seem to be a bit more clued up and can deliver from the UK to Uruguay in about 3 days. Items then typically take a week to clear customs. DHL in Uruguay request a copy of an invoice as well as evidence that the amount has actually shown a debit on whatever account you used to pay. Every time l use the service, l say never again but needs must.

@ColoniaMan That is incredibly helpful, thank you so much!

I have since discovered that one can sign up with the Correo Uruguayo to receive three fairly low value packages each year with little or no import duty which is good news. When a 拢5 item on ebay checks out at 拢100 using their Global Chipping Program it is a clear winner.

Barry, since you mentioned wanting to receive medications, it's worth noting that receiving any medications by mail (or UPS, FedEx, etc.) from outside the country requires the written approval of a Uruguayan physician.聽 Here, "medications" includes nutritional supplements (even such substances as Vitamin C, for example).聽 I have not gone through this process myself, but I am told that such approval is harder to obtain if the drug/supplement can be purchased within Uruguay (even if only at a much higher price).

You should certainly check the price and availability in Uruguay.

As an indication, I had to buy a pack of 14 Amoxycillin (875mg) with clavulanic acid (125mg) for 1.105 pesos which is a little less than US$30. They are made in uruguay.

I have had two packages sent to me from the UK by Royal Mail, one in December and the other in January. Neither has arrived and I have given up on ever seeing them. Couriers may be costly but at least they arrive. It just irks me that I have to pay 拢100 for an item costing 拢5 because the item is not available here.

Continuing the Royal Mail postal service to Uruguay saga, I returned from vacation this week to find a letter posted from my UK bank last March. There were also two notes delivered by hand from Uruguay customs for items post last January and December. I had already paid the administration fee on one of the items but they wanted me to pay again and a higher rate. I went to the post office and told them I had already paid but they were adamant that I had to pay again. It was the same post office that insisted I had to pay postage on an international postage paid reply envelope. I haven't received the two packages yet. Only time will tell.

They arrived today.

My sister moved to Uruguay 15 years ago. The number of packages large and small that have been seized, turned up missing, or taken so much time to arrive, I assume the UY postal service is delivered via capybara, is astounding. Christmas packages mailed in November, marked 鈥滳hristmas聽 presents聽 worth under $100鈥� in Spanish聽 and English,聽 have been returned to the states 6 months after they were mailed via USPS at great cost ($45). My daughter painted a portrait and shipped via DHL because we no longer trusted the PO. UY customs wanted $300 for the pleasure of receiving it, bc she had valued it at $250, naturally, since it took her 20 hours + to paint. It was likely destroyed or is hanging in a聽 customs agent鈥檚 living room now. The shipping cost of that fiasco was 200$. Most recently I mailed a pair of hand-knit wool socks in a 5x7 envelope. It cost me $18 to mail A PAIR OF SOCKS WEIGHING THREE OUNCES. Three weeks have elapsed without sign of them. I鈥檓 officially done. F UY.聽 Thousands of dollars and countless hours wasted. I鈥檒l simply send my sister my kindest regards and nothing else. Definitely no interest in moving there.

Just as I was beginning to think that DHL could do the business... I bought an item online which was delivered by Global e 'smart cross-border' who contracted the delivery to DHL. To be fair, DHL delivered to MVD and asked for images of my cedula, bank card and invoice, all of which I provided. I was then advised that deliver would take place the following Monday. It didn't. They seem to expect me to travel 200km to MVD to collect it.

I'm beginning to learn from my mistakes but not all of them.

When receiving a shipment from DHL, they will send an email requesting information which must be submitted by 5pm the same day. Not a problem is you spend all day at your computer, but not so easy if you are out on that day. There is a choice to pay 60% import duty or use a 'franchise' - one of the 3 duty free allowances one gets each year. The link for the franchise has to be copied to the browser to continue the process. Clicking on the live (blue) link results in having to go to the airport to collect the parcel.

The 60% import duty + US$10 administration payable at the post office, is only available for goods worth less than US$200 (including postage). For goods goods over that amount, it is necessary to engage a customs broker. When registering an import of more than $200, a message will appear advising the need of a broker, with a tick box offering a quote from a broker. This tick box doesn't seem to do anything. Meanwhile, the private company which operates the bonded warehouse will charge storage, eg $23 for a pair of shoes sitting on a shelf for a week.

Lessons learned: If a consignment of multiple items exceeds US$200, split it into parcels so they are all under $200. You can then pay the duty at the post office.

Aduanas will want to see the invoice and a debit on whatever account you used to pay for the goods. They obviously have experience of people undervaluing their consignments. Be prepared; download the invoice and statement and convert to pdf if necessary. You will also need an image of both sides of your cedula, which you will need to resize as there is a limit to file sizes that may be attached.聽

Either the rules have changed since late last year or the person who redesigned the aduana website doesn't understand them. Last week I had the usual email from DHL advising that a parcel was on its way, so I went to the form to register it for a duty free import. Where it had previously asked for C.I. number, there was a choice of two radio buttons for Uruguay Citizen or Foreigner. Foreigners, i.e. legal residents, cannot enter their C.I. numbers, only passports and that causes the franchise to be rejected.