People who until now enjoyed buying inexpensive goods on eBay or other foreign e-commerce sites, will have to reconsider, after the Israel Postal Company Ltd. will, beginning in January 2011, will be required to send all incoming parcels to Customs, and will charge the addressees a $10 release fee.
When Israel Post was a government agency, parcels were not transitted through Customs, but now that Israel Post is a private company, changes have been gradually instituted at the company to enable the company to compete with international delivery companies operating in Israel, such as FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX), United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS), and DHL.
Beginning in January 2011, all parcels entering Israel will undergo an inspection by Customs, which will decide on the value of the goods and whether duty should be paid on them.
Israel Post said in response that the parcel release fee is less than half the fee charged by the international delivery companies.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 8, 2010
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