Hi Steve,

Any item of value below CHF 62 fr. (including shipping) should not be taxed, whether VAT or duties. The value needs to be indicated however on the parcel. If it is not, there is a chance that the carrier will have it processed which means you pay at least these costs (e.g. in your case, the Swiis Post would ask around CHF 12.- for this service).

Something went wrong with your parcel, unless the shipping costs were really high.

Pawel

To expand on Pawel's point: couriers / carriers typically charge 20 to 40 CHF for customs processing even if there is no duty to pay.  In some cases this is not mentioned at the time of delivery and is invoiced later.  (In the case of DHL; several weeks later, immediately followed by legal demands for late payment.  Still, it often takes them a week to do a "next day" delivery, so I guess the delay is proportional.)

I went through the process as it is done by Poste Suisse - as long as you declare correctly - below the value of more or less 62 francs  - there should be no problem. I import various small marchandise from EU so had to give clear instructions to the sender in EU.

As to other carriers, it indeed tends to be more expensive. I am not sure whether they always ask for the fee, even when there was no need to process (low value, preferential country of origin). No sufficient experience in such case. Anyhow, if they had and I knew there was no need, I would not pay and argue my point.