So what part would you be saving? Just wondering. Thought you paid shipping and VAT no matter what?
Brain cells. That's about it, other than that it's mostly what Xondat said - you pay a little more than just VAT because you pay extra to DHL and you pay customs handling/storage (at least in Portugal).
I paid 60€ extra for the HD650 headphones I got off of Massdrop for example, they're an easy one to work with because their price was exactly $200 shipped - 23% (our VAT) of 200 is 46, so I should've paid 46 dollars (45€), the extra 15€ (so $20~) are the courier handling/storage fees.
Doesn't exactly break the bank and definitely does not warrant the outcry it gets 90% of the time but as said, it still saves me brain cells. It's a quality of life thing, every single time I get a shipment from MD I need to wait to receive the request for the documentation needed (ID and proof of purchase) which usually takes about a week after its arrival in the country, I then have to email it to them and THEN half the time they deem it unacceptable for whatever outworldly reason and I have to drive 45 minutes to the customs HQ and wait 3 hours in line to handle it myself.
It's a hassle but it's not MD's fault, it's my (and many others') country's fault.