Actually, this is not true everywhere. I think at least in Brazil one has to pay import tolls even for second-hand private imports. And in Turkey one needs to pay extra tolls for devices that are not-for-sale-officially there normally.
There might well be other countrries with special things to consider.

Regarding courier costs; maybe about two years or something I was going to transport a Jolla sbj1 from Finland to Hong Kong, and I contacted several agencies. The cheapest offer I got was 105 euros which is pretty outrageous!
I'd expect to get a package that size to L2 point with that prize!