Last week I had an interesting discussion with my old friend Greg Torosyan, who runs Ageo and helps Russian companies import from China.

I took notes about some interesting things Greg told me.

The issue of the standard price 

Customs offices have a “standard price” for each type of product. It is the average of prices from Europe, China, and other places.

Here is how it works: even if some products are purchased from China and cost 30% of that standard price, the importer still needs to pay the import duties that would be applied if the goods were costing the standard price.

There is a way to dispute the standard price, but it takes a lot of time. It is only a viable option if the amount at stake is large and repeat orders of the same products will follow.

It also seems like Customs offices in different ports are more or less lenient. In Vladivostok, close to the Chinese border, the standard price is lower than in the Western ports.

Difficulties to get packages through Russian Customs (for small quantities)

Russian Customs often require high duties and waste a lot of time. Even for small quantities, or for pre-production samples sent from China to Russia.

So the international (and non-Russian) express courriers such as Fedex, DHL, or UPS are not always the best option for sending small, time-sensitive parcels.

Has anybody got some tips to avoid this problem?