no purchases from the USA for me for a while (edit: issue solved to some extend)

Buy / Sell Budget Dealer Experiences
1

Today I received my latest order from Illuminiation Supply. I know the USPS is not cheap, but the IS shipping rates are very reasonable. But the package got picked out by dutch taxes and I had to pay 18.25 euro's ( ~23 dollars) tax+handling fees for an order worth 37 dollars. From packages coming from the USA, every second package is picked out by customs, packages from China/HongKong/Singapore are never picked out. So no matter how much I do like some american suppliers, It is just too expensive for me for now :-(

EDIT: thanks for all the information below, now that I know the EU tax limits, I know better what to expect :-)

2

Wow, taht’s crazy high, I live in EU as well but in my country there are no taxes for orders below $50.

3

How much is the actual customs tax and handling fee separately?

4

orders above 22€ from VS =pay 23+$ ore more

and they calculate the sending cost include the pakkage.

allone little orders ore nothing from VS .

5

This might be an interesting thread for some: Custom fees/import taxes around the world?

Due to shipping cost, and me having to limit content value (below 32$), I dont buy too often from the US.

Its just easier to order several packages with free shipping from China.. Usually cheaper too.

I still continue to buy from US vendors, but its mostly items that are not available (from good sources) from China.

6

taxes is 5.25 euro, 'clearance costs' 13 euro's (I looked up the leaflet, so it was no handling fees, but clearance costs)

I am not sure if packages are free from customs below a certain value in Holland, and don't know how to look that up. I'll try to find out.

7

Ah, thank you, I think I missed that thread, Thomas says that the limit here is 22 euro's, so I should have kept the order below that.

8

It’s because IS was “honest”. They put the real value on the declaration form. Then with usps it’s just luck, it pass or not. With express carrier (ups, FedEx…) it’s automatic (you get caught 100%) when the value reach a certain amount (25$ by experience).
I looked on some yellow envelope from fasttech and for something that cost me 4$, they declared 0.56$. On another one with a total of 40$, they declared 6.86$. In fact I think all B2C Chinese website with free shipping does that, a package caught in custom is a reffunded order.
When I buy from us reseller, I always ask for reduced declared value, most of them refuse (I don’t know why, maybe too much control is the US) and I don’t buy.

9

For me its going to be the opposite. I am thinking of ordering only from US sellers.

10

Funny, that’s exactly what happens in Canada too. There are lots of things I’d like to buy from USA Sellers but the combination of the high USPS shipping fees and the fee the post office charges in Canada for me to pick it up makes using US based Suppliers painful. It’s too bad for US sellers that forces beyond their control have made them unable to be competative in the global economy.

11

The 22€ limit is here too(maybe it’s a EU thing…?) but above I only have to pay the standard sales tax of 19% no fees or so. Customs duty(is that the correct word for Zoll?) only above 150€…
You have to consider that the shipping costs count also to the 22€, so I always try to order below 30$ including shipping.
Sometimes I wondered what the land will earn if a customs guy has to check my parcel, put it on the shelve, notice me that I have a parcel, than I have to go there, they print some forms, fill the forms, stamp them, sign them, hand them to another customs worker which takes my money, stamps the bill, signs the bill and hand me out the catalog of documents….? I guess that is the point why you have to pay standard fees of some euros in other lands.

By the way why does IS don’t sell sell bare xml2u2 anymore?

12

We are lucky, Deutsche Post/DHL does not charge for customs handling. Since normal foreign mail (usps, hkpost etc) is handled through normal mail, no charges.
Other packet services will charge! UPS Germany for example will charge 30€ for customs handling, FedEX ~10€

I guess the Netherlands postal service is not so generous, 13€ fee sucks when you don’t expect it.

13

I can sympathize somewhat with the frustration our friends in Europe experience when buying from the states.

I’m a big fan of synthesizer/space/MOOG/Mellotron music.
One of the best shops in the world for that sort of music is in the Netherlands (http://www.grooveunlimited.nl/).
Between the poor value of the dollar vs the euro, and expensive postage across the Atlantic; a single CD costs at least $30 (sometimes close to $40).
As much as I’d like to buy more CDs from them, it’s just too expensive to do so very often (or at all).

OTOH…

If you’re a move buff (and live in the U.S.); Amazon.uk is known as a sort of bargain site to get box sets of movies that aren’t missing parts (thanks to obnoxious Hollywood editing), typically come in nicer packaging, and are often (much) cheaper than buying from Amazon.us.

14

If insured, the declared value is what they get reimbursed if it gets eaten in the mail or stolen by someone who claims it never arrived. The risk is simply greater than the reward for a sale lost.

15

The limit for EU is 22 EUR with shipping included. Every package with value above 22 EUR is taxed by 20(Czech Rep.) and orders above 150 EUR pay a duty (1 - 4), too. Handling fee for Czech Post is about 10 USD.

16

The limit is different for different countries in EU!!!!

for Denmark it is less than 11 EURO! (But without postage).

17

Not a package but you should be getting a small letter next week.

18

I have a 105C board ready for clearing

19

godverdomme Dutch customs are a bunch of klootzaks. :bigsmile:

20

you picked up some classy dutch words, farty! . (but plural of 'klootzak' is ' klootzakken' )