My Belizean husband and I live in Texas, but his son still lives on the Island. We have sent him gifts, clothes, etc. via FedEx, but each package costs about $250 to ship. Plus the customs folks charge about the cost of the items when it reaches Belize City.

We have heard about Onebin from an Island resident, but I am curious about any shipping from the States experiences you have had.

Info on Onebin or alternatives is appreciated.

Thanks!

if it's costing you $250 PLUS nearly 100% duty, would it not make more sense, and get a little family time in simultaneously, to buy him a r/t ticket & he brings the stuff back in himself?

Why not just use U.S. mail? Pretty reliable, though it takes longer if you are shipping to San Pedro instead of Belize City.

--Lan Sluder

Lan - I'm honored that you responded to my question!

How long does a package take to get to San Pedro? Assume we use air or whatever the quickest way is.

Thanks!

Onebin gives you an address and phone number in the US and is affliated with the same people who run Fed Ex in Belize. Contact Laura Esquival at Onebin for more info. This is a great service for Belize people who do not have US based credit cards.

And now for the follow-up...

We sent the package with about $400 worth of stuff via US Mail Express Package service. It cost $55 for the multi-pound package, we could track the package's progress, and it arrived on San Pedro in 3 days. The customs charge was $50 instead of the usual 100% charged through FedEx.

I'll be using the mail to send future packages.

I'm changing the subject slightly, but I'm curious about customs charges for packages going to San Pedro. I have mailed packages by U.S. mail to San Pedro residents and put amounts on the customs declarations (maybe $50 or $100). Do people get charged when they receive the package based on the declarations? How much would someone have to pay for a package declared to be worth $100?

Customs duty is often less when stuff comes in by mail rather than freight. Obviously it has to be small enough. Clearing customs for freight is usually expensive, always slow, and very tiresome. Although I've twice had things never arrive when I used mail - once in each direction. I used Onebin once and it was easily the least painful import experience I've had, both re efficiency and import duty charges - I'll certainly use them next time.