I dunno, but my local postal service and/or their customs clearance procedures have a tendency to add a week or more of latency to delivery so I'm hoping that paying the extra $19 lets me avoid that...
Oh god. Just had a quick Google, looks like the EU has decided to make VAT payment mandatory without the previous up to 22€ exception (https://www.paketda.de/news-zollfreigrenze-22-euro-abgeschaf...). That's gonna be one of a nightmare, international shipping already takes ages...