The word around the block is that the aliexpress/dx thing is really hurting lebanese businesses, not only traders (tojjar), and importers from turkey, but also the local lebanese factories of shoes, dresses, etc... no one can compete with the super low wages of the chinese factory workers and the super low profit margins of the online sellers on aliexpress/dx.

Which is why customs are doing this (along with make more money of course...), but one thing is odd: parcels for private use are not subject to tax as per the law; so to add tax to them the law should be changed. Doesn't this require a parliamentary decision? or is it a decision of one man behind a desk...

Even Libanpost themselves are not happy, because their own employees across all levels order alot of items from aliexpress as well.
Well when you see the aliexpress items in the stores for 1000% of their price and all the retailers selling their turkey and chinese products for 1000% profit then of course everyone is going to ditch them for cheaper sources. F**kin' greed.
i agree with chosen2k, the problem is that the shops are extremely expensive, they buy a shirt for $5 and sell it for $90. I know, shops have to pay for electricity, staff etc... but the prices are ridiculous!
Man I spend an hour chatting with Aliexpress employee (via help center), I told them that they will loose all theirs customers in Lebanon because of that, and all what they say: Open dispute! I did, and sellers reply: Wait and be patient...
I don't want my items anymore, if I have to pay 200% taxes on an item, since the items I order cost less than 10$ each.
They should notify us before applying this rule, or at least applying it on new orders not on orders done 2 months ago, that's not fair at all :(
I went to the libanpost customs at the airport since my item is there. There is a lady controller who decides which parcel should be stopped or not. I have to admit mine was obvious. So they asked me what's in the parcel i told them the truth although they know what's in there since they have a scanner, they just want to see if you are sincere or not. I have asked around some of the uniforms guys (customs) why such delays in delivering, he said every item arriving from aliexpress must be scanned and determine if it is taxable or not, we are being very strict now thus the delay..I told them ok, that way i will stop ordering from outside, he goes as you wish..
There was a guy waiting to make his parcel released, he ordered educational books from Amazone and they gave him troubles for releasing them.. can't believe this..
Btw, libanpost employees back there are not happy at all about these procedures..
If i know how to post my notification from the customs in here, i would have done it..
@edwed you have all the rights to refuse to accept an item. Whenever you receive an item with illogical customs prices you can just say that you don't want this. So libanpost will ship it back to china.

Note that you are not doing something illegal or anything. The problem that remains is getting your money back from aliexp and I don't think it will be a problem.

I have a bunch of items that cost 1$, I'll be returning them all in case customs are 9.000 l.l
Louis40 wroteI went to the libanpost customs at the airport since my item is there. There is a lady controller who decides which parcel should be stopped or not. I have to admit mine was obvious. So they asked me what's in the parcel i told them the truth although they know what's in there since they have a scanner, they just want to see if you are sincere or not. I have asked around some of the uniforms guys (customs) why such delays in delivering, he said every item arriving from aliexpress must be scanned and determine if it is taxable or not, we are being very strict now thus the delay..I told them ok, that way i will stop ordering from outside, he goes as you wish..
There was a guy waiting to make his parcel released, he ordered educational books from Amazone and they gave him troubles for releasing them.. can't believe this..
Btw, libanpost employees back there are not happy at all about these procedures..
If i know how to post my notification from the customs in here, i would have done it..

You were able to get your item(s) directly from airport? if yes, what was the procedure? and you pay taxes or not?!
chosen2k wrote@edwed you have all the rights to refuse to accept an item. Whenever you receive an item with illogical customs prices you can just say that you don't want this. So libanpost will ship it back to china.

Note that you are not doing something illegal or anything. The problem that remains is getting your money back from aliexp and I don't think it will be a problem.

I have a bunch of items that cost 1$, I'll be returning them all in case customs are 9.000 l.l

Yes I also have many items costing 1$, so I will do the same in such situation.
But I'm not sure for the new rules from Libanpost if you can say "I don't want to take my items and pay for it" since they pay instead of us for customs!
@Edwed
No i didn't get it out. Plz note my item is really special unlike the others..
In general if they ask you to visit them it's for a payment and give you your stuff..
Hey! Yes anyone has new info on this?
I think internet shopping for $1 things will be over. Basically customs and libanpost can't handle such burden.
Has any body received any item through normal libanpost delivery channels recently?
One my friend received at this week, but his item was specific electronic product not available in Lebanon.
There is some rumour (but not confirmed at all) that any product that can be bought in Lebanon will be stuck in customs, but sure there will be mistakes. It was a decision, because people avoiding paying taxes and import fees by buying stuff on aliexpress.
nuclearcat wroteOne my friend received at this week, but his item was specific electronic product not available in Lebanon.
There is some rumour (but not confirmed at all) that any product that can be bought in Lebanon will be stuck in customs, but sure there will be mistakes. It was a decision, because people avoiding paying taxes and import fees by buying stuff on aliexpress.
I think the Open Trade Agreements we have with the west forbid us from collecting tax on personal use items coming in by mail. I'm not completely sure about the technicalities though. I just think that they can not just out of thin air add tax to personal items just because they don't have the manpower to sort through all the packages... You can't just create an extra (unallocated) income for the government by the decision of one man behind a desk. (unless ma 7adan se2len in the official channels, as usual ...)
Can anybody twitter to any concerned authorities, such as a minister or somebody......
This is what happened today but please note that the item was bought from a chinese website but NOT aliexpress.

I check the status today and it was:
2014-08-07 14:29, Item sent to Distribution Office, LEBANON-Parcels unit
2014-08-07 13:38, Item received back from Customs, LEBANON-Parcels unit
2014-07-25 09:34, Item handed over to Customs for clearance, LEBANON-Parcels unit

I directly called libanpost and i was informed that the item is in the jdeide office & they gave me some sort of tracking number that when given to the employees they will be able to find the package.

So i went to jdeide branch and waited an hour for my turn. When it was finally my turn I had to pay:
Custom duties: 10,000
Custom VAT: 21, 000
Revenue Stamp Duty: 5,000
Administrative Fees: 9,000
Administrative Charge: 900

Sa a total of 46,000 LBP

Now the thing is the item price as per the package is $66 (The price the seller put on the package). However the customs priced the item for 210,000 since they took VAT 21,000

So let's say for any regular package the minimum is:
Custom duties + Revenue Stamp Duty + Administrative Fees+Administrative Charge = 24,900 + VAT

I hope I'm mistaken for the 24,900 as minimum for any package.

Anyways from what I understood from the lady there, aliexpress packages are still blocked. Maybe my package was released from customs simply because it is not from aliexpress. (@nuclear did your friend receive a aliexpress package??? If yes then this assumption is wrong)

Another thing usually my packages get delivered to my home however with customs now in action we personally need to go to the libanpost offices to collect our items and pay the fees.

If I waited instead of going directly to jdeide I should have received some sort of letter that mentions that i need to go to libanpost to collect my item.
if am not mistaken aliexpress are a set of Sellers all around China. So a person ships the shipment on his name not Aliexpress. So technically there is no way they can tell if it has been bought from Aliexpress or not.

25,000 L.L minimum, ok i have like 4 items that cost around $10 each, i guess i will let them be.