Ordering medication from overseas

Does anyone know the deal with importing meds or vitamin supplements from the USA? I'm mostly looking at specific vitamin stuff, but I need to know what the rules are for bringing them in and how the whole customs and tax situation works once they hit the border.

I’m not entirely sure how the rules work for prescription medications, but for everything else, you’re looking at taxes and customs duties.
For instance, when I ordered items worth $160, I ended up paying $67 in fees.

So, there's no issue with importing meds? I always assumed you needed some kind of green light from the FDA first. And what's the deal with customs and taxes?

wanderingcrane97 said:So, there's no issue with importing meds? I always assumed you needed some kind of green light from the FDA first. And what's the deal with customs and taxes?

I ordered contact lenses online once and had to deal with customs and taxes myself. Basically, you head to a customs broker to get the paperwork drawn up, then trek over to the USPS to pay the sales tax and duties. After that, you hit the customs office, pay the USPS their processing fee, and finally get your package. My experience: three hours of pure headache, $50 the broker, $33 customs and tax, plus $6.00 the USPS for their middleman fees.

So, from what I gather, you get hit with a bill for customs and taxes once the package actually shows up? And where am I supposed to go to pick the thing up?

wanderingcrane97 said:So, from what I gather, you get hit with a bill for customs and taxes once the package actually shows up? And where am I supposed to go to pick the thing up?

Nope. You don't get a package; you get a letter from the USPS telling you to show up so they can clear the items through customs. Then comes all the fun paperwork. You only actually get your hands on the shipment after the duties are paid.

It doesn't seem like there’s any kind of standard procedure here. In my case, the supplements were delivered straight to my doorstep, and I just settled up the cash plus sales tax right when they arrived.
I REALLY NEED TO REITERATE THIS: if you're trying to buy something that requires an actual prescription from a doctor, this might not even be an option for you!!!!

What really bugs me is whether an imported vitamin supplement like that actually has to clear the FDA first.

I wouldn't count on this passing through any kind of inspection without scrutiny. If you're ordering something online, there is always a slim chance it might slip through without being flagged by Customs, but one shouldn't hold their breath. Should the package happen to get stuck at the border, if an invoice was included with the shipment, the officials will simply calculate the duty and sales tax themselves, which you’ll then settle with the delivery driver when they arrive at your doorstep. However, if the sender neglected to include an invoice with the goods, you'll likely receive a notification from Customs stating that you need to provide the necessary documentation. In that scenario, it's usually quite simple—you can just fax them or bring over a copy of the receipt (even just a printout of your order confirmation email) so they have a basis to determine the taxes and duties. I can't say for certain, but I believe the duty rate for dietary supplements, including vitamins, sits around 5%. 😉

Thanks a ton for the heads-up, Steven Green2

Lion Alert
If there’s any legitimate reason to suspect we're dealing with ingredients that aren't cleared for easy import—you know, things like prescription meds, medical supplements, or hormones—the whole situation could spiral. We might end up stuck in a loop trying to secure import permits from the FDA and...

So I checked with the FDA. Turns out they don't actually handle this since we're talking about dietary supplements (vitamins). Apparently, that falls under the CDC's jurisdiction instead. Guess I still need to double-check that though.

Hey everyone, I could really use a little hand here. I need to order some vitamins from the USA pretty urgently, but I'm feeling a bit lost. Does anyone know which website is actually reliable and safe to use? Any suggestions would be a huge help...🙂

I ended up ordering everything from http://www.swansonvitamins.com/

On their site, you can grab the Twinlab mega Twin ep 13 for just about $23, whereas if you try to find it locally here, you’re looking at over $45. I just paid with my credit card and the whole thing showed up via USPS in about a week. Of course, you have to factor in the shipping costs and customs fees—for a six-bottle order, I ended up paying an extra $50 for delivery and $67 in duties. Even with those added costs, it's still a massive steal compared to the local prices; on average, each bottle worked out to roughly $42.

From what I gather, if you want to order meds from the USA, you're stuck unless you have a prescription from an American doctor. On the flip side, people all over the world can snag drugs from the USA via the internet—usually through those sketchy spam emails you probably see constantly (which is obviously illegal).

He’s talking about vitamins—you know, those everyday supplements you can just pick up off the shelf without needing a prescription from your doctor...

Yeah, you're totally right, we're just talking about vitamins and dietary supplements here...

We grab our vitamins from Canada through a buddy...

I reckon that's the safest bet if you can pull it off...🙂

If there were a way to ask this elsewhere, I probably wouldn't be bothering everyone here...

There are plenty of online supplement retailers out there, like Swanson, and you can find them in a heartbeat just by using Google. You basically just scan through them until you find whichever one offers the best deal—once you factor in the shipping costs, of course.

I could use a little help here. Does anyone know if there's a pharmacy that handles international orders from overseas, specifically from Italy? I need to track down some "Brunac" eye drops for my wife. They're manufactured in Italy, and they've completely vanished from the shelves here in the States. She used to pick them up at a pharmacy over on Pokoran Street in Chicago, but they're totally out of stock now.
The condition she’s dealing with is pretty specific, and those drops are a necessity... no clue why they just stopped carrying them.
Thanks in advance.