I found this article about delivery of Registered Mail parcels to Europe via railway. It only mentions Gearbest, not sure if other sellers use this shipping method.

(German/Deutsch) http://techkou.net/news/gearbest-germany-express-eingestellt/

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GearBest: What is Europe Railway Priority Mail?
New shipping method for bulky and heavy products?
Von Maxi Last update on October 16,2017

In the whole Germany Express Drama a new shipping method has been secretly added. Some products that were previously ordered with Germany Express and have not yet left the warehouse were changed to this new method without request.

What exactly is this about? Which products are affected and will they reach me duty-free afterwards?

Exact details are not yet known, but I have collected all important information for you here.

Railway Priority Mail only for certain products

It is particularly striking that only certain product groups are affected. For most products between 8-10kg the shipping method can be selected optionally. For products from 10kg upwards, such as the Xiaomi Scooter, there is no other alternative.

So far, only the following product groups have been affected:

Scooter & Hoverboards
3D printer

With a delivery time of 35-40 days, the shipping method is considerably slower than Germany Express and has not been tracked so far. Since tracking is not possible, the intermediate steps are not visible. At the moment, however, I doubt whether it really is a freight train shipment.

Old shoe in a new outfit?

It is suspicious that the previous product groups also previously had their own shipping method. Scooters and hoverboards have been subject to strict controls on their import into the EU since the scandal of burning batteries.

Since it is quite difficult to overlook these 10kg+ heavy and bulky gadgets as soon as they get into a customs check, GearBest has come up with an alternative. How exactly this works and which customs authorities are not fulfilling their responsibilities cannot be understood due to the lack of persecution.

The same applies to other electronic products with a higher weight or larger dimensions. The probability that they will pass through customs is significantly lower. Therefore, methods must be found to avoid this import.

Thus, the customer can be resold and the customer is not upset.

Is Railway Express duty-free?

Until now, the specific shipping method for Scooter and other products has always been duty-free. However, GearBest points out that customs duties are always the responsibility of the customer.

However, experience to date has shown that there are no customs problems with this shipping method. Only the long shipping time of more than one month and the missing tracking have to be accepted.

Have you already ordered similar products and can you share your experiences with us?