The most surprising thing is that the shipping fee was more than the price of the merchandises. Although I did not pay it but it affects the tax that I had to pay. Of course it is all about preferences, maybe other countries are not charging too much for the tax but in my country can be said as an expensive one (at least for me).
Yeah, tax on custom is the biggest hurdle on giveaway like this especially if the asset declared value is accurate. So far I don’t have any experience like this because I rarely participate on contests that reward physical reward but I remember some local member that decided not to claim the prize in custom since the tax is too much compared to the item that he will received.