Customs

A while back I had a similar question as I wanted to bring a couple of electronic items from the USA; and back then I was told that if declared, I would have to pay 20% VAT of what the belgian price of the article is. Somebody else said to make sure the item didn't look like new, and that way if singled out by customs, you could say it was a used item. Not sure what is true or not, but I did bring a food processor from the usa, and didn't declare it; price in belgium for that item is around 100+ euros; the same item in the USA cost me around 40 dollars. I did make sure that the box was open, and that it didn't look like new, but went right through customs with it, without problems.