Do we need a flashlight (parts) store in the EU?

Yes, you are right. A high-performing flashlight product would need a variety of disclaimers and some form of liability exclusion, if at all possible. Just imagine you’d sell a FET triple or quad and some child gets to play with and leaves it in the trash can while switched on high…

They already have - both Banggood and Gearbest. They keep there quite limited assortment (compared to China mother store) and the prices are noticably higher. Plus shipping is quite steep. On top they only keep the stock duty free, i.e. if you order from there, the envelope comes with big yellow sticker, that VAT is not collected, so chances are if you have problems with chinese deliveries, to have similar problems with EU warehouse.

So if you draw the line, you pay more than ordrers from China, do not have warranty and VAT paid, only advantage would be (slightly) faster shipping. If they start competenig with legitimate businesses, they won’t have the price advantage.

Time to find new hobbies, I guess, since this kills both flashlights and anything with microcontrollers.

Yea no not at all they just want tax money that they feel they are missing out on.

If it realy was about jobs then they would look at transports and construction… 99% is from some none english speaking contry.

Hum, the question is if we can afford other hobbies without ordering from China where the components and final products are much cheaper than in Europe :person_facepalming:

I ordered once from NKON, 3 Sanyo 18650 with top button. The batteries costed 13€, the shipment costed 14€! And it took almost 2 weeks from Netherlands to Portugal.
For the same price I can buy 8 (at least) 18650 from BG or GB with some coupon.

The thing is, not all the big sellers have the possibility to have wharehouses in Europe (Fasttech, AliExpress stores, Intl-Outdoor, and many others), even if we buy from them a lot.

Despite I know there number of importations from abroad is getting bigger everyday, can the European market apply such laws to refrain those numbers? My country - as many other EU countries - has opened itself for the Chinese market and investors; will they close the “gates” again and cease these agreements? :expressionless: Not sure about that…

About the idea of a European store with flashlights and parts, I guess it is a brilliant and - eventually - necessary idea. At least for parts, such as drivers and other components (in my case).
But, I don’t know if the business volume will flow without being associated to some brands / sellers / wharehouses…

Let’s see! Thanks for opening the discussion :+1:

Gearbest already has a warehouse in EU.
They keep most of their labour costs in China and cover logistics + taxes here.
From Poland I can ship the cheapest package for €1.2 worldwide. 500g is €2.67 within Europe and €2.75 worldwide.

Lexel and Agro,

There are Customs limits so for example one can’t order lets say 3 flashlights that costs over 100 euro. Right?

I had so far most flashlight stuff coming through customs as they are declared below 22€

But best is to order one at a time, then i can pack multiple items and send within europe

of course bigger stuff than 500g needs a small package
10x20x20cm up to 25kg is 9.75€ tracking 500€ insured

on all those shops I had well over 100 orders last year, I payed 3 times customs 19% as it was bigger stuff with higher value declared

My friend and I ran a London based ebay store in the 2000s and we split up low value payment international ebay orders and re-shipped them from DE, NL, UK for a profit. German tax agents from Frankfurt send us a nice letter stating they will from now on combine some of our German packages due to the number of shipments and the “commercial appearance” of our operation. However, they also clarified that there potentially more efficient ways of taxation available for businesses.

Apparently European customs agencies run software that analyzes the shipping addresses (names/companies) and, if a specific frequency is triggered, several separate shipments can be combined and “taxed as one”.

I don’t think the tax agents actually believe that 99% of my shipments have “electronic components” worth 1.00$ as declared :smiley:

lately I had a flashlight over DHL Express labeled 1$ review sample no commercial value, no tax

Agree sad day if they start with declaratiom fee and VAT om every package in Sweden. It would kill most of the small private import from outside Europe.

They have already done that….

For example:

Fulfilled by Amazon

https://eu.banggood.com

Gearbest EU5

Well the good newd is that you could use DHL for everything since they “only” charge 100kr+tax… and it might be worth it since they are talking about even longer handling times now.

The stuff from China is only duty free below e20 where I live. Then I pay 21% tax + 15 handling fee.
The Chinese seem to know that so just write a low price on the package.
Today I received something with a value of $25 but on the package is $6.76

Their price level varies a lot. Sometimes expensive but quite often good. Sanyo button top is now 5.49

Yup, but the price I question here is the shipping one. The batteries, by that time were cheaper (less than 5€) but the shipping costs is “too” high. More: I ordered a package from MTN last month and the shipment was even cheaper than from NKON :expressionless: (Despite I had to pay more 27€ because of Customs… :person_facepalming: )

These are some of the reasons why it is “better” to order from China, despite the time it takes to arrive, most of the times.
Having something in Europe that could deliver good flashlights/flashlight parts at good prices would be awesome, but I guess the european market may be very picky… :zipper_mouth_face:

I think it’s silly there isn’t already an EU flashlight (and related) parts store.
Would be great to be able to order small quantities of LEDs, drivers and what not.
The same store could also sell vape stuff, or RC stuff, you name it.
I guess when importing from China will be made unattractive, someone will get the brilliant idea to set up a webshop.

Funny that you mention RC and vaping - two areas of consumers products that actually have really good (and many) webshops in Europe, in pretty much all key regions/countries.

I am not sure whether there will ever be as many people in need of a good flashlight (or parts) compared to smokers or RC folks. I could be wrong, but all my RC events are packed with people from all ages, genders, families and backgrounds. Same for vaping - I don’t smoke but all my friends who do say there are even vape bars or cafes where you can hang out? they sell ejuice, parts, atomizers, coils, …

I guess these are just two industries that are much bigger than people who need a MCPCB, wires or a new LED every other month?

That’s a pretty huge import fee. Some ideas off the top of my head:

  • Have your parcels delivered to someone else in another EU country without the import fee. Then have that friend forward them to you.
  • Is this fee only for parcels through your postal service? What about using a private carrier like Fedex or UPS?

Yeah, i guess so…