I'm located in the Netherlands, which has a 21% VAT and 6% duty rate on imported goods. If the case is $250 and shipping is $20 (just a random value) the import price would be around 304 euro ($345) according to this site: http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/saved_calculations/view_details/191080229/
The import fees are generally collected by the post office on delivery which charges additional $10. The value of the euro has been in decline with regards to the us dollar, so that doesn't help either .
A way around import fees would be to send the products to a stopover in EU (e.g. France) which just forwards the package to its end destination. This way it looks like the package is from another EU country and no import fees are applied (due to free travel of goods within EU). I believe some Chinese sellers use this tactic, though I'm not sure of its legality.