Hey! so I wanna buy the l6, and I see it on amazon, but it's expensive around 82€, but 1€ shipping, free from taxes and import charges with customs. So on aliexpress and banggood I see them for 50-60€ but unsure if they will get stuck in customs and then I have to pay 24% tax over 22€. So I know ali and bg undervalue package(write a lower amount) on it. So do you think I can get away with not dealing with customs? Any experience do they undervalue it? I ordered from ali before for like 60€ and extra fees. However I'm unsure of this. How about say a haikelite? I can find the mt07s and mt01 etc for 50-100€. Do they always put lower values? I Wanna get them cheaper but not pay any extras. Or should I just pay more on amazon to be safe? Thanks!
From my experience in Denmark: no problem with customs buying from aliexpress, gearbest, t-mart. But it is important not to choose the courier or EMS options and instead use the cheapest postal method available.
The situation is the same for all of Europe, the amount of small packages from China is so large that they can not verify one by one. Only large packages are usually stopped for inspection or those EMS in which customs management is an added value service.
yeah! on aliexpress I can get free shipping! I should be safe? I think they might still inspect packages even if they are undervalued, and if they look it up you need to pay extras. I guess like you say it depends on size and weight too, customs are not dumb either, they might suspect a false value too.
In the UK:
FedEx and DHL charge tax + expensive customs brokerage fees every time. FedEx and DHL charge £11-£20. Royal mail charge £8.
The fees are not tax. The shipper keeps the fees.
DHL also make me fill out complex customs paperwork before they release the package.
I use mail because the fee is lower and paying is simpler.
My opinion:
I am against illegal tax avoidance. It is not honest to under value a parcel. It isn’t fair to importers or competition that does pay tax.
I try and keep most orders under the £15 UK tax threshold. Legal tax avoidance is ok with me.
When I shop for items over £15, I add 20% + £8 to the price. I’ll only buy if that is still a good price.
here the package goes directly to the local post office or if you get lucky in your mail box
Gearbest, try the code “cl6gift” worked for me last week there discount.
Gearbest says no shipping methods chosen, can't ship to my country any more it worked before but not anymore? How about package values from gb? Do they also set a lower value? Don't wanna get stuck in customs!
Reading this takes me back to my old company…I owned a smallish motorsports design and manufacturing business, we shipped around the world. Specifically it was a turbo kit valued around $4000.00 US. Every time I would speak to our international customers it was always a shock to see the VAT taxes they tacked on to our product, never mind the shipping charges!
One time, the fee for shipping and VAT was so outrageous, it was cheaper for the customer to fly me to his country taking the product as luggage, put me up for a couple days and fly me back home than to ship the product and pay VAT! I was young, somewhat single so heck yeah! I went so far as to pay for a few nights of my own stay and help him install the product.
I know taxes are a part of life, but I don’t know how you guys put up with such absolute robbery. What the F* are they doing with all that money! We absolutely would not put up with that here in the US. Although, it’s changing.
Anyhow…sorry for the off topic post, it was just a massive throwback for me.
gearbest usually sets down values, not sure why a flashlight wouldnt work to order to finland? try contact them. bought from them many times never had to pay for customs or had issues.
Hello Hannes! I ordered mine last year november from banggood, no troubles with customs. Hello from Kainuu!