In the most common case for personal import (like buying retro stuff, unlike getting dozens of iPhones and selling them), in Poland we pay duty for things over 150 Euro but i think it is 2.5%, so it's not much. VAT is painful (23%) and they will apply it to purchases from 22 Euro up, but from my personal experience I can tell you, that they will often skip it, if the package is less than 100 Euro worth.

You've been spoiled, and you're still in a pretty good spot. They do this so local webshops gets to be more attractive.

Free VAT and duty limit in Norway is 200 NOK = 33 dollar or 24 euro per shipment (but if you have 5 shipments valued at 20 euros each received the same day it is free, but if they came packaged together you'd be in deep shit). If the package is marked as gift and meets certain criteria the limit is 1000 NOK, or 5 times as much. If you go over that you need to pay 25% VAT on the whole value and a customs handling fee of 20 dollars. There are no duty fee on electronics and general personal stuff, only VAT. I don't mind the VAT so much, but the fee is pissing me off. I've only paid this fee once and VAT twice (some carriers like UPS and EMS have the fee embedded inside their shipping price). I know almost all the tricks in the book to avoid paying.

Anyway, it can be even worse. In Denmark the limit is 80 DKK (15 USD) and they even have a higher customs handling fee! (They get to send as much as they want inside the EU though).

It can be a little weird here in Canada. Typically, when going through Canada Post, if something is valued over $20, you're supposed to be charged sales taxes and about $5 in handling fees, but this doesn't always happen because most people sending stuff from other countries label things as a "gift", not as retail merchandise, so the customs agencies need to check if something is coming from a suspected retailer or not and decide whether to add taxes and handling fees or not. I've sometimes gotten things worth over $100 with no fees at all, and other times I've gotten things just over the $20 mark and had to pay $10+ in fees at the door.

It gets MUCH worse though with very specific kinds of goods. Sporting/Exercise products are ones where you typically get hit with massive taxes, the thinking being that since it's one of our main industries, there should be no reason to import them from elsewhere. Obviously we don't make everything though. I once bought some exercise stuff from the US that I couldn't find from a Canadian store and when it reached my door I paid about 40% of its cost in unexpected taxes far beyond the normal sales tax rates of 7% + 8%. x_x;

Going with other shipping agencies like FedEx and UPS for international shipments to Canada is usually even more expensive as they charge extra for handling, but they're typically faster and sometimes have cheaper initial shipping rates, so it kinda balances out.

we're in the same boat as GL1zdA and vetz on limits, it's 25-30eur or something...
IF a parcel goes to customs you are charged with VAT (23%) and the most annoying: a flat rate import fee: if a clerk does the work for you then it's ~120eur , if you do it yourself (applies only to people in Athens basically) then is ~40e.
Luckily only expensive items pass this process... or unlucky people... 🙁

I don't mind customs surcharges as much as I mind the fact that everything is searched these days because of morons who do stupid crap like mail out anthrax spores or letter bombs. It delays everything too much, especially packages being shipped in from overseas. I waited over 2 months for an Atari Mega STE keyboard to arrive from Germany when it should have arrived in two weeks at the most. I had the tracking info that showed where it was, but it was stalled at the point of entry to the United States for an extended period, presumably to be searched before sending it on. 😠

Never had any issues in the US with regards to levies / taxes. Items sometimes take a long time to arrive after they are already in the US though. Usually @ JFK which is ironic since I live very close to it.

I have to pay 22% VAT on anything over 33€ (this includes the item's price+postage)... they don't check all the packages so it's more of a hit and miss. Sometimes you can get away with not paying anything, if you're lucky 😁

The UK is the same - 20% VAT (or whatever the rate is for the item being imported) for items imported from outside the EU, plus release fees / clearance charges for the delivery company to pay the VAT 'on your behalf' ... of course if customs and excise gave you the option of paying the VAT directly you wouldn't get stuck with the fees. Bit of a racket they've got going on.

Then there's customs duty on top of that if the value of the goods + postage is over a certain threshold.