Does anyone have experience with shipping jewelry to France and clearing Customs, there? I am experiencing incredible difficulty in getting a necklace delivered to an individual in Chavagneux. The item is a gift and not a commercial transaction. The package got to France just fine but the French Customs officials are insisting that it did not have the proper paperwork accompanying it. Everything that the Customs officials has asked for from the recipient, she has provided them. The package was mailed from a US post office with the Customs Declaration and Dispatch Notice firmly attached. All the appropriate boxes were filled in on that form; I indicated that it was a gift and the boxes for commercial senders were left blank. The detailed contents were listed as: pearl, crystal and silver bead necklace.

Should I have shipped it by UPS International or FEDEX International instead?  Is there some magic combination of words to be entered in the description of contents which could have eliminated these difficulties? If anyone has advice on this I would greatly appreciate it.