Need some advice :)

[DanielT]

Hi guys,

I posting in English because this might be useful also for other users otherwise I would have posted in German
So, long story short I'm moving to Germany/München starting next week. I need some info regarding on how the Deutsche Post works. I mean how do you get international packages for example can you give your work address or home address (the place you have rented)? For international packages you get a notice and you go to the Post Office or these get delivered to you ? Do you need the payment proof for the Customs Office ?
The same goes also for EU/German packages bar the Customs part

Also if you want to send stuff some tips would be good
I'm an expert in Romanian Post stuff, know all the tricks so I feel naked in Germany from this point of view. At least I don't have to worry about the language barrier

Thanks!

[Nuum]

I'm not exactly sure I get the problem with the work/home address.
International packages normally will be delivered directly to the address given on the package, unless you aren't available. Then it will be delivered to the next post office/DHL station, where you can fetch it for the next 7 days. If the package gets delivered by Hermes, DPD, etc. they will usually make several delivery attempts of even make an appointment with you if the first delivery fails.
If customs catch your package you'll be noticed and need to provide a proof of payment, e.g. from PayPal or simply a copy of the wire transfer. You can simply do this by mail or go tho the customs office in person, but usually the customs offices in Germany are very far outside the city, especially in Munich.

[DanielT]

i have asked about work and home address because in Romania the Post only deliveres to your registered address, if you give another address you are doomed
Thanks for the info, now it's clear for me
Anyway I will learn soon how it works i have some packages that are on hold until I get settled over there.

[Madhias]

I'm not exactly sure I get the problem with the work/home address.

I think the question was if it is OK to use your work address instead of your home address for international packages. That is absolutely OK, but I am speaking for Austria. I always use my office address, because it has many advantages: I get packages faster (at least one day) because of business delivery times, all the time people are in the office, so no package is sent back, and the best of it: my wife does not know about all packages!

[seebart]

In Germany you can have anything delivered anywhere you want Daniel. Recipient just needs to be a valid German address. It's not of relevance if it's personal or business. DHL is the daughter of Deutsche Post which is the actual German postal service. Deutsche Post carries all postal mail by law. Packages on the other hand can be sent by all kinds of private carriers. Customs only apply when you are recieving a package from outside the EU. Then the Zoll looks at it and they decide. Der Zoll is an seperate federal government agency. Of course international packages will be delivered to you once Zoll is done with it. There are DHL Packstationen which you can register for online and have your packages sent to and pick them up yourself.

https://www.deutschepost.de/de.html

https://www.dhl.de/de/paket/pakete-empf ... ation.html

http://www.zoll.de/DE/Home/home_node.html

https://www.test.de/Paketdienste-Schnel ... 1-4781131/


Welcome to Germany Daniel.

[DanielT]

Thank you all for the help. Here in Romania is a little more complicated. It's nice that I can use also the office address, because I will be most of the time there I think I have also a DHL Packstation next to my office, so it will come in handy.
I'm trying to get all the info in advance, there are a lot of things to solve and this was one of them. This hobby brought me a lot of fun and it's something I'm taking with me
I'm very excited about this change in my life !
Das war sehr hilfreich

[Halvar]

If you get something sent to your work address, you should put the name of the company in the address, too. You would normally write someting like

Daniel T****
Heuschreck & Co. KG
Industriestraße 12
69198 Heidelberg

If you work in a larger company, the order is important! if you write the company name first:

Heuschreck & Co. KG
Daniel T****
Industriestraße 12
69198 Heidelberg

the mail department of the company will probably open the shipment and stamp it with the incoming date.

Depending on where you work, you should maybe ask your boss if it's ok to have stuff sent to the work address. Where I work, it might be a problem if everyone does it...

[DanielT]

Yep, it's common sense to ask before doing something like this. Some might get bothered by this and it's not something I want to ...
Heuschreck... das ist ja Lustig

[wlhlm]

If customs catch your package you'll be noticed and need to provide a proof of payment, e.g. from PayPal or simply a copy of the wire transfer. You can simply do this by mail or go tho the customs office in person, but usually the customs offices in Germany are very far outside the city, especially in Munich.

Is it possible to remotely pay the customs fees as well? I have the same problem here in Dresden where the customs office is pretty far out. I prefer not to have to visit it and transport my packages through trams since I don't have a car.

[Nuum]

Yes it is! They'll send you a letter when they have got a package for you with instructions how to "free" the package, then you send them the proof of payment. After a while they'll send you a letter with the outstanding fees and you can simply transfer the money. They'll then send you the package pretty quick.

[hypkx]

Its strange some years ago I must drive every time to the zollstation to pay the fee and get my package, but last year I ordered something from massdrop and then I had to pay the zoll fee at my housedoor to DHL.

[Nuum]

The later way is how it's supposed to happen, but it never happened to me, even with perfectly declared packages. Maybe the people in Stuttgart's customs office are just to lazy/ignorant to read the declaration of customs.

[OleVoip]

I've never heard so. In my experience, the customs office wants you or a representative to show up in person. However, if the customs declaration provided by the sender makes sense to them and delivery is by DHL / Deutsche Post, they don't ask you to come and tax & customs can be paid to the postman on delivery. Hence, it is important that the declaration is correct and includes printouts of the eBay transaction / order confirmation and of the payment. It's no use to declare an item bought at eBay as a "gift" or with a value lower than what you paid, because they have internet access at the customs office and they do use it to look up items where something smells fishy about them.

You'll have to pay "Einfuhrumsatzsteuer" (VAT) on goods from outside the EU worth more than 22 Euro including postage. On goods worth more than 150 Euro, you'll have to pay customs in addition. The major international postal service companies like DHL offer also all-inclusive packages where tax and customs are already paid by the sender.

Ah, and I forgot to mention that you can register with DHL and obtain a code that the sender needs to add to your address. This code enables the package to be rerouted on-line if you need it to be delivered to another place than initially planned.

[DanielT]

Good to know about "remote" pay. I won't have a car for a while and travelling long distances in München can get expensive, not to mention I need to get away from work in order to go there, and I'd rather not do that.

[TDub]

Actually with DHL you get even more options, you can designate a "favorite" neighbor to leave the package with if you are not there, you can have the package sent to a package station near year or there are often small businesses that also accept DHL packages, so you can have it send there directly if you know you will be at work. They are pretty flexible.