Can't seem to find an answer to this question. I'm transiting through MUC (final EU gateway) and will get the necessary customs stamps on the VAT refund forms for goods purchased in Spain and France.

Two of the merchants gave me postage-paid envelopes (one in Spain (marked "No necesita sello. A franquear en destino"), the other in France (marked with a huge "T"). Are these valid if the envelopes are mailed from Germany or do I need to add German postage? (It's not a question of cost--I just have a fairly tight connection!)

A third merchant gave me a self-addressed envelope with no prepaid postage. Anybody know where I can buy stamps at MUC? Searching the MUC website only shows a Deutsche Post outlet in the MUC Airport Center, wherever that is.

Alternatively, is there any reason I can't simply mail the stamped forms from the US on my return?

As long as you get the customs stamps before leaving the EU you can give the USPS the business.... they need it.

Heads up though that normally you need to have your forms stamped at the time you part with your luggage. If you're only transiting through MUC, it is highly unlikely that German customs will stamp your forms without the goods present for potential inspection.

Normally EU-countries' customs will stamp your forms at your departure airport if your final and immediate destination is outside the EU.

Note that the above does not apply to carry-on. In this case, you *will* get the stamp in MUC during your transit.

Please follow the discussion as the thread moves to the Destinations->Europe forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

In my experience the majority of goods are carried as hand luggage, as such 'normally' it is at last transit point.

Do also note that customs will not 'part certify' a form, so if you are exporting goods from the same shop, it will usually be a problem if they are split between cabin and hold luggage.

However, at the sametime most shops charge and admin fee (or rather, their outsourced refund company does), therefore getting as much as possible onto 1 refund form is good for keeping down the admin fees, just note that they need to be presented together and travel either cabin or hold together.

No reason at all not to do this. Perfectly fine.

[N.b. If you are posting in MUC, I would put german stamps on.]

However, some of the refund companies do also have reclaim desks at airports, which can process the transactions there and then (either for cash - with a further fee charge, or refund to cheque (posted) or back onto credit card).
You might be near one in MUC.

Or possibly even in US.

These aviod the postal risk completly

There is no problem posting it from abroad. But as mentioned above, it must be stamped by Customs, and they will only do it in the departures area unless the goods are too bulky to carry on or otherwise prohibited (e.g. a bottle of wine).

I answered a Eurailpass questionairre (attached to the EP map), when you folded this in the right way it became a "business reply" envelope being returned to the Netherlands--I did not have to pay postage (even) if I mailed it from the USA.
Do the customs return envelopes have a similar perk?

To answer your question:

Some are prepaid, some are not.
Some are only prepaid valid in certain countries, others worldwide.

Also, some shops don't even give you an envelope, so if you are unable (or elect not) to process your refund form with a reclaim company/agent desk at the airport (after customs stamping), then you have to post it back at your own expense of an envelope too!

----

To be pedantic, the reply envelopes have nothing to do with customs.

The reclaim forms (the contents of the envelopes) should be stamped by customs before you are using the evelope. And the envelope is used to post the stamped form back to the retailer - or more likely the outsourced reclaim company the retailer is using.

[The only time you would use the evelope with customs would be in the rare case where customs have (via a courtesy phone, etc) requested that you leave your form in a box for them to stamp later - and they will post it to your refund company after stamping.

In this case, don't seal the envelope (obviously). Also it is for this reason that I would advise anyone who has a form but was not given an envelope to carry their own. While you might think "It's ok, if I can't get it processed there and then by the refund company after stamping, I'll post it back from home - I have envelopes at home", that is no use if customs ask you to leave the form with them.]