I bougt some small things from Asia, where the site had promised free shipping. then, when I got the goods, I also got a bill fro UPS, containing cutoms + a fee.

The fee from UPS is partially customs, and the rest is a fee for taking care of the customs FOR YOU. UPS is obliged to give the consumer the chance to take care of the customes themselves, by providing the consumer with the proper information at arraival. This was NOT done in this instance, and not when other friends of mine had bought goods from the same site.

FYI:
On the other hand, depending on your countries laws, UPS is, in the context of being miniinthebox's delivery partner; also liable for the information posted on their partners (miniinthebox) homesite, reguarding freight cost. Miniinthebox has little opportunity to know about every rule in every country. UPS on the other hand, is a professional freigth partner, with the whole world as their office. Keeping track on fees is a no-brainer for them, but it would not be in UPS's intrest to inform any customer about this, because, clearly; UPS is making a LOT of money on NOT giving proper information to consumers, and then taking a big fee for doing a 1 minute task.

I've complained UPS and their practice to the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman, and is currently concidering making a media-case on the subject. UPS has given me a cheap exuse, that they are obliged by law to do the customs, and then is in title to give the end user a fee.
- Well, if the end user would get the chance to make this decision in his own, I would actually agree. In this case, information is held back, both by the store, AND by the UPS, and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand the barely hidden motive.

I would recommend UPS to re-evaluate their ethics. To rip off consumers like this, is the sign of how bad the ethics can possibly get.