Taxes and Duties Brazil has the highest taxes of the developed world, and that also applies for online stores. The tax on imports is
60% of the total value of the present + shipping. There are a few exceptions though:
- If the total value is at most US$50.00 and the sender and recipient are individuals, and not companies, the package is free of tax;
- Books are free of taxes;
- Software, and that include video games, are always 60% tax;
- Total value of more than US$500 (if you want to go completely crazy

) have some other special rules, and are much more expensive.
-
The tax is a little random. This means that it is not guaranteed that it will be collected. My friends and I had orders of more than US 500 which didn't have any tax on it. End of year is also good because of the volume a lot of orders go by without proper check.
Basically everyone on Brazil expect those taxes to apply, although we've been a little luck, at least on my group, with a lot of games coming with no taxes. In any case we are ready to pay for that, so,
unless your recipient says differently on their profile, don't worry about that. So if you want to go all happy given and charitable sending a lot of presents to your target, just ask him before hand if he can handle a big tax tab. I don't think anyone will mind at all
Courier ServicesAll of the rules above apply for shipping through mail service, and not courier. For courier there is the 60% tax, plus a few other fees which can make it go to more than 100%. Also, it is guaranteed that the recipient will face the tax, even if it is a gift. So avoid sending through a Courier. Again, if it is possible,
do not send through courier.
Size and weight limitsFor the "normal" import rules, the max weight is 30Kg (66 pounds) and the max size 150cm(~5feet). More than that the taxes get quite scary;
Items prohibited by Customs or Post OfficeBesides the basic prohibitions (explosives, flammable, compressed gas and etc), live or dead animals are prohibited (although I have no idea why anyone would send it, but...). Same goes for current currency and, theoretically, for porn. The last one might apply only to a few games and RPG books (or
Busen Memo). In practice, I've never seen this rule applied anywhere (after all you can buy adult toys by the mail anywhere here). But if you want to play a joke and send a blowup doll it might not get to the recipient.
Other rules and tipsEnd of year is a crazy time for the postal services all around the world, and Brazil, even though we had one of the best on the world a decade ago, has seen the postal service go down the drain. Therefore try to always send your package with a tracking number. Just avoid a buttload of problems and guarantees that if something goes wrong en route, your recipient will still get something.
Buying local or onlineThere isn't a good online store in Brazil. In fact, there is basically none, and for the few that exists, the prices are so high that is cheaper to buy on US and sent it here. There are two good ways to send to Brazil, either through the US or from Spiele-offensive. The latter has a flat and not expensive shipping&handling fee for Brazil (EU 31 up to 20kg). So for language independent games, and for the few games they do have in English is a great place. Amazon does not send Video Games or Board Games to Brazil. Amazon.de does send games, IIRC.
This year I won't be at BGG unfortunately, so I cannot be a courier for anyone. But, there is a lot of people here that bring games from abroad and sell to the gamers, at prices that although high, might be useful. If you want to check if a given game can be found in Brazil, and how much it would cost, geekmail me with the name of the game and I will check.
Good Online stores for targets in BrazilAfter searching a bit through and asking those who usually buy games online, there are some stores that are better than others to send games here:
Cool Stuff Inc - Shipping is not prohibitive there if you intend to send a single box. I used
their tool to estimate and shipping was USD 22.39 for 1 box. It jumps to around USD 43 for two, about that same amount for 3 and it hikes pretty fast above that. Mostly sites have the minimum set at around USD 40, so that is a good shipping.
Spielle Offensive - As I posted below, 31euro flat on your order, no matter how many boxes you cram in there.
Amazon.de - For products sold by Amazon.de (and not by a seller of the Marketplace) there are two types of international shipping.
Standard Shipping which costs 14 euro or
International Express Delivery which costs 40 euro. Both prices are per delivery, no matter how many items.
Express delivery sucks. It is courier service so everything I said about it do apply. Standard Shipping is the normal post office delivery which is great. Now, normally, Toys (which board games are considered in this case) would always fall under Express Delivery due to some shipping conditions. But people have ordered from them, and it was sent by Standard Shipping. So if when checking your order the shipping cost is 14 euros, it is a great deal.
Also, everything I said about spiele and games in German apply here also
Video GamesBrazil uses PAL-M and NTSC as television system. So if you intend to buy an older video game, don't buy PAL as it won't run.