Our First Trip to the Tulli

We made our first trip to the Tulli Toimisto (Customs Office) yesterday. We received a notice through our mail slot notifying us that we had a postal package that was being held in customs. The package was sent to us by Darcia and Jon at my request and included two bottles of vanilla, one American measuring cup with the insert that slides up and down like from Pampered Chef, and 5 or 6 of our own DVDs. The package had been insured for $100. And the clerk said something about bottles being in the package. We had a slight communication problem. Anyway she opened the package in front of us. Then we had a discussion about the value of the items. Well, in America the vanilla would have cost under $3 each bottle. The DVDs were previously viewed as they say at Blockbuster. If you look at the picture of my hand, you can get an idea why we wanted to import the vanilla. The little bottle you see cost 4,40 euros. We eventually got her to understand that the bottles contained mauste (flavoring) and not alkoholi. We discussed the purpose of the measuring cup. She saw that the DVDs had already been opened. So...what did we learn. If the contents of the package are over $45 for one person or $90 if addressed to 2 people you pay 22% tax on everything. If you are planning on sending a package here always list the contents accurately and keep the value in line. It was interesting. We are trying to read the tulli rules from the internet, but they're written in multi-syllabic Finnish words so it might take awhile.