Import & Custom?s per country

Dear readers,

I'm living in a 3world country. Our government told us we are on our own for electricity from November on (no joke)....welcome to Belgium.

So I'm working hard on projects to foresee my own supply.

Now, one more big issue with our great country is customs. We can only import 22EUR/25$, if it's above we have to pay import tax, with minimum 15EUR handling fee.
So if you buy an item for 22.5 EUR, you pay 22.5 + 15 + tax, real bummer isn't it? This means Ican't import 10 PCBs for building the Jehu battery project without sponsoring those white collar criminals.

So instead of throwing money into a big black hole of nothing I'm looking for an intermediatesolution, a country where I can deliver hardware in EU and they can forward items into the EU. Can you please post the max. amount of hardware you can import for you country? Goal is to make a summary, can be useful for many buyers.

Thanks guys.

F.

Wow!! That's ridiculous! Good thing you're gaining knowledge here to help out your power needs.

Could you potentially have a mail box outside of Belgium that either you or a friend has access to that you receive the large quantities from? And then either pick them up and drive them across the border, or the friend could repackage them into smaller quantity packages so the totals aren't so high?
Or is this a cumulative import cost (if you purchase over the course of a week a total of 22EUR, not in one order/delivery)?

Oooor, is that what you're trying to do in getting it shipped outside and drive it across the border?

What a bunch of crap you guys gotta go through. Makes my troubles seem like ant sized problems

Its same as Sweden and common in many EU countries. Nothing new im afraid.

Many china vendors do pre-ship to germany and holland to bypass above. Have you looked at that? For instance Banggood does that with the expedited shipping method.

But on other hand. Staying on the legal you should pay tax and vat but I agree the extra fee hurts. I always order big sets directly and from same vendor = the fee itself is small compare to total value

FrankyBeuselinck said:

Dear readers,

I'm living in a 3world country. Our government told us we are on our own for electricity from November on (no joke)....welcome to Belgium.

So I'm working hard on projects to foresee my own supply.

Now, one more big issue with our great country is customs. We can only import 22EUR/25$, if it's above we have to pay import tax, with minimum 15EUR handling fee.
So if you buy an item for 22.5 EUR, you pay 22.5 + 15 + tax, real bummer isn't it? This means Ican't import 10 PCBs for building the Jehu battery project without sponsoring those white collar criminals.

So instead of throwing money into a big black hole of nothing I'm looking for an intermediatesolution, a country where I can deliver hardware in EU and they can forward items into the EU. Can you please post the max. amount of hardware you can import for you country? Goal is to make a summary, can be useful for many buyers.

Thanks guys.

F.

Click to expand...

In UK you can import 135 worth items before any duty in incurred.

In the UK imported goods are subject to duty and VAT, which is payable on the sum of the goods+postage+duty.

Here is the government website.

VAT allowance is different from Customs allowance
All detailed herehttps://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

hermitdave said:

VAT allowance is different from Customs allowance.

Click to expand...

Could you explain what you mean, specifically your use of the word "allowance" ?

Sean said:

hermitdave said:

VAT allowance is different from Customs allowance.

Click to expand...

Could you explain what you mean, specifically your use of the word "allowance" ?

Click to expand...

VAT
You payVATon goods sent from non-European Union(EU) countries andEUspecial territories(eg the Canary Islands) if theyre:

• giftsworth more than 39
  
• other goods worth more than 15
  
• alcohol, tobacco products and fragrances (eg perfume, eau de toilette and cologne) of any value

Guys, thanks for the answers so far.
Hope to receive some feedback from southern countries like Italy, Spain & Portugal.

Will check the banggood route too.
Already bought several items via german shipping, some solar panels via spain too....

Frank

Belgium must have a short run PCB house ?

Here in Spain the same european law, above 22 you must pay VAT, plus some customs but usually electronic devices have no customs. That's the theory but really I buy usually at aliexpress and his Aliexpress Standard Shipping has an aggrement with our postal service, I receive often shippings of 100 and more with no aditional cost. Of course if you use DHL, UPS or similar you will pay all taxes plus handling cost.

The majority of the time low value Chinese goods are exported as a "gift" and a low value because they then also avoid export issues/licenses.

The Duty and VAT ruling is across the whole of the EU and partly standardised (VAT) to prevent the previous circular export frauds within Europe. This means that anyone bringing items in would have no advantage shipping them on. Duty is usually very small (1%-3%) so country variations would be too small to make the difference up for forward posting.

Normally, if you bring something in and it is liable for VAT the postal/courier service collectes the VAT on behalf of the government. That is with small items (i.e. your not bringing in a pallet via ship yourself) and if the labeled value is "low" then it passes through... I have not had any postal item with Duty liable. I have had several pallets over the years that had various duty rates.. (duty rate is per item and varies so not a single rate for a pallet if the pallet is mixed) and that is a whole separate set of issues....

That's my experience in the UK..

@Franky,

Didn't you know they have been saying this the previous 2yrs as well ?

Don't panic, there will be power. Don't you think it's strange they come with that news just before local and government elections?
All propaganda to try and influence people.

Relax.

FrankyBeuselinck said:

Now, one more big issue with our great country is customs. We can only import 22EUR/25$, if it's above we have to pay import tax, with minimum 15EUR handling fee.
So if you buy an item for 22.5 EUR, you pay 22.5 + 15 + tax, real bummer isn't it? This means Ican't import 10 PCBs for building the Jehu battery project without sponsoring those white collar criminals.

Click to expand...

Dont be sad.
I live in Denmark and here the limit is 80 DKK or 11 EUR before we are punished with 25% VAT + a 21 EURHandling fee.
ChrisD