Grim Fandango, does the VAT differ per country? That might be some cool info to add if it does. I'm not sure exactly how hit works.
Yes, this is part of the reason why people are often so surprised when they find out how much extra they have to pay.
Different countries have different percentages for their value added tax or sales tax. Here in Holland, on top of the tax that you paid purchasing the item (for example, US VAT) you have to pay the tax that you would have paid on the product if it were purchased locally. Meaning
you have to pay an additional 19% on the original price of the product excluding VAT. What is also included in the price over which they calculate the tax (in theory at least) are any extra costs made like shipping-fee, insurance-fee and packaging. Based on the type of product you are trying to import, additional taxes might apply (we have an additional consumer tax on some products that have to be paid whether you purchase locally or purchase abroad).
But that is not all. There are also several customs fees that need to be paid. There is a thing called import-rights that we have over here. Basically, there is a list of goods that contains the additional percentage that needs to be paid for every type of good. On top of that, if they have to find your package and process it through customs, then they also charge an additional fee for that (administration costs).
The good thing is that sometimes packages somehow do not get noticed and you just get them delivered no questions asked. Other times, you just have to pay an enormous extra amount. I imported some O-rings and stabilizer inserts from WASD a few months ago. The original price was something like 20 US dollar. I ended up paying an additional 18 euros, which means I ended up paying over 100% more than I was hoping. Of course, part of the reason for this was that it was a fairly cheap item and the administration costs are a fixed fee.
This is the reason why shops like WASDkeyboards and Elitekeyboards are pretty much inaccessible to us. The best option for buying items not available in the EU is to buy them second hand and have them sent as a gift with a customs-form attached. From countries within the EU you can ignore all of this. You just pay for the item, pay for shipping and that is it.