shipping back home

Hopefully someone will know for sure, but I've mailed things home from England and Paris. I've never paid an additional charge for what I mailed. In fact in Paris, they helped me to locate our equivalent of a flat rate box and i was able to load it with lots of heavy items, so we no longer needed to carry them. Went priority and made it to our place very fast. Be sure that you mail it where someone can receive it. If you are not home, they will bring it to the post office and if you don't pick it up within a certain amount of time, I thought they said 2 weeks, they ship it back to the return address, which we had put our hotel address. In the future, I'd mail it to a neighbor friend that can receive it and hold onto it until we get back. Did boat rate from England once and it took 10 weeks to get to us on West Coast!!! We thought it was lost at week 8. We were happy to see it arrive, although the box was a mess. We packed well and nothing was lost.

Do you really need to mail them back? Since you are coming back via ship, why is it a problem to just bring them with you? Won't they just sit in your luggage while you are on the ship?

When I shipped I didn't have to prove or show anything since I was shipping to myself from Spain. I don't know how long it took to get back since I was in Europe for almost 2 more months. However it was very expensive, my box weighed about 13 lbs, granted far more than what you plan on shipping but I paid over $70.00. I also received a package from Spain that weighed only a couple of pounds but still paid well over $20.00 for the service.

After buying sweaters and fabric in Ireland a friend and I decided to ship home our dirty laundry so we could bring our treasures with us. We paid a fortune to have them shipped, then we had to pay some other customs fee in order to get our dirty clothes! It was a number of years ago, and I don't know what we did wrong, but if I wanted my clothes I had to pay it. After many more trips, if I am so silly as to buy a bunch of stuff, I just buy another suitcase to bring it home.

There will be no VAT to pay. I think you are talking about avoiding duty when they are shipped back to the U.S. If you do ship, you would typically indicate that your package contains "American good returned". There is a form on the CBP website that is used for declaring American goods that you are shipping back. I've only done this when I was shipping my possessions back to the U.S. after living overseas and this went via an international moving company. I don't know exactly how it works when you are just mailing a package, but I would suggest you check the CBP.gov website. However, I think it will cost quite a bit to ship the headset home. You may want to consider just carrying it with you.

One more thing ... this is from the "Know Before You Go" brochure on the CBP website "Your personal belongings can be sent back to the United States duty-free if they are of U.S. origin and if they have not been altered or repaired while abroad. Personal belongings like worn clothing can be mailed home and will receive duty-free entry if you write the words "American Goods Returned" on the outside of
the package."

Laura... I think that is the part of it I missed...I should have written that on the package. I didn't know that, and once my clothes were here and I wanted them I just paid. I think I could have gone through some long government form to try and get my money back, but took it as a lesson and didn't bother. Travel light!

...and if you would actually like to recieve them at home, I suggest shipping via UPS, FedEx, DHL or another private carrier. The Italian Post Office is pretty notorious for losing or just taking extremely long to ship things.

I.would.NOT.mail.anything.I.ever.hoped.to.see.again.from.Italy. If it's really just 2 headsets, take them home with you. Here's a brief glimpse into your future - perhaps very DISTANT future... http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/53381/helpposte-italianewheres-my-package.html

I cannot imagine the need to mail back (from Italy no less) something as light weight and small as a pair of headsets. They will take practically no room in your suitcase. If you are worried about volume/weight, take some clothing or a pair of shoes that you can leave behind. What do you plan to do with other souvenirs/treasures that you buy in Italy or in port on the way back? I always pack a folded up expandable soft suitcase that can become my carry on or my checked dirty clothing if I buy something bulky in Europe. That said, I have traveled in Europe for months at a time with only one 22" suitcase and I shipped things home every few weeks. I used the standard POST boxes purchased at the post offices. It was very expensive and I NEVER shipped from Italy, only surrounding countries.

Paul, I don't think the Italian postal services loses things, but instead worker supplement their income and items walk away. Edwin

Thanks for all the suggestions. My husband has severe sleep problems & that is the only reason I got him the headsets: the for long plane ride. After that, they are just more flotsam & jetsom, as we will be sailing home. And re: souveniers...well, those hopefully will be stored in my memory bank.

I'll add in too just for other's reference, that the best way to ship is via UPS or Fed-Ex. Most major cities have shipping offices for Fed-Ex at least (like Mailboxes Etc.). And they have customs forms to fill out to avoid paying duties. BUT - it is VERY expensive. Charges are by weight and since most people want to ship heavy items rather than carry...