Questions our customers actually ask

This is not an invented FAQ. These are questions from our WhatsApp and email support, answered in full — including the ones where the answer is no. Names are placeholders.

Get my addressCalculate the cost to your country

Asked by Nadia F. · writing from Tehran

Can I use your mailbox service while living in Iran, and can you send parcels to Iran?

Parcels to Iran: no. Iran is on EU and US sanctions lists, and the restriction follows the goods rather than the sender — US-made items stay restricted even after they arrive in Germany or Spain. Routing a parcel through our address is exactly the pattern authorities treat as evasion. The same applies to Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Cuba. A purely digital mailbox whose scans you read from anywhere is a different question from physical shipping — write to us and we'll check your case before you pay anything.

If I use your address, can I receive a package sent from the United States?

Receiving it in Europe is no problem: the parcel arrives with us, you get a notification and photos on request. The question is always where it goes next. Forwarding within the EU, to the UK, Turkey, Latin America, Africa or Asia: fine. To a sanctioned country: not possible, not even split across several shipments.

Do I have to pay a customs charge for this package (about 2 kg), and how much will it be?

On arrival in Germany or Spain from the US, import VAT (19% and 21% respectively) applies, plus duty depending on the type of goods, calculated on the declared value plus freight; gifts and very low values are partly exempt. What matters is the declared value, not the weight — 2 kg tells you nothing about the charge. We advance the charges and pass them on unchanged, plus the carrier's advancement fee. If the parcel then travels on to a non-EU country, the recipient pays the local charges there as well.

Asked by Jonas R. · asking about privacy

Do you offer a forwarding service where a sender can put a customer number on a package sent to your warehouse, so you can use my real details internally and forward it to me without disclosing my full name and address to the sender?

Yes, that is exactly how we work. Every account gets a box number, so the address line reads "Box 128, Reinickendorfer Straße 3" instead of your name. The sender only sees our address and the box number; we do the matching internally. We still need your real details — we are required to identify our customers, and customs paperwork for international shipments runs in your name — but they appear in no document the sender gets to see. The same works for retailer orders: you enter the box number plus our address at checkout.

Asked by Clara M. · asking about billing

When do I have to pay for mail forwarding — at the time of processing, at the time of forwarding, or when?

Nothing upfront and no monthly fee. For letters, the €1.50 fee is incurred the moment we open and scan a letter; it goes onto your monthly invoice, which arrives at the end of the month. For parcels, we tell you the handling plus shipping cost first, you approve, we ship — and it is settled on that same monthly invoice. Only for very expensive shipping or advanced customs charges do we ask for payment before we ship, and we tell you in advance when that is the case.

Asked by Matteo B. · writing from Milan

Can I use German Mailbox to receive a smartphone returned by a repair and data-recovery lab in Germany and have it forwarded to my address in Italy?

Yes, that is a classic case. Give the lab our address with your box number as the return address. We accept the parcel, notify you, photograph it from all sides on request — which we recommend for repaired electronics — and hold it until you approve forwarding.

What is the forwarding procedure and what are the costs to Italy?

Procedure: arrival notification, photos, your approval, repacking with protective material, shipment with a tracking number. Cost: €15 handling plus shipping. A packed smartphone weighs under 2 kg, so it falls in the smallest bracket — to Italy that is roughly €17 shipping, about €32 in total. Italy is in the EU, so there is no duty and no customs paperwork. A repaired device stays tax-free on an intra-EU delivery because it is your own property. We confirm the exact carrier price before shipping.

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WhatsApp: +49 159 0104 5767