So, anyone else buying a last haul before the exemption (“Zollfreibetrag”) gets removed? I thought it would happen at january 1st 2021 so I already bought some things, a few cheap diamond sharpening plates for $2.50 (240 and 1k grit) - they’re no good for sharpening steel but excellent for dressing hard bound sharpening stones, 1micron diamond stropping paste for $.90, a jet lighter, a taidea 240 grit stone for $12 ($2 discount atm), some suspenders…
couldn’t think of much else. already have two convoy lights, don’t know where to buy high quality paracord, assuming aliexpress/etc even has any.
If a buyer orders cheap items it shouldn’t make a huge difference. still annoying, but not a deal breaker. But I am sure there will be handling fees as well that will make life hard. like 1-2 EUR in fees per package plus the VAT/sales tax.
Like you said, the tax will be annoying but not a deal breaker. The handling fees here is the Netherlands are currently 13€ or more (depending on the courier) for parcels from outside the EU with a value more than 22€. If these costs stay the same after the 1st of July 2021 and you have to pay it for every parcel it will become expensive.
Let’s hope the Asian shippers will expand their existing logistics operations within the EU and, with slightly higher prices, will ship from within the EEA. the sellers on BG, GB, AliExpress et all are (in most cases) not small businesses.
The link is referring to the introduction of “Einfuhrumsatzsteuer” per 2021-07-01.
Einfuhrumsatzsteuer is in fact value added tax (VAT) on goods that are not bought within the EU.
In the EU the (professional) seller of an item acts as “taxcollector” on behalf of the Tax Office.
So buying outside the EU means no VAT (so far) unless you want Ali et al. take on this role.
My best guess is that the postal services become taxcollector, following the value on/of the parcel.
I can’t imagine this will be dealt with in the same manner as professional imports.
There is no way that Customs of today can handle the staggering number of low-value parcels.
Interesting to see how they pass the short straw on to PostNL. Give the mailman a PIN-machine?
Collect and pay them in a delivery point? The parcels there are already stacked to the ceilings.
In the meantime: maybe one last big groupbuy of megablasters with a declared value of $9.99?
EDIT: these new rules are not only valid for Germany, but for all countries in the EU!
The customs are 40 km away, DHL service is too expensive. It will be the end of my relationship with the chinese shops if there’s no better solution.
BG had for some time a german address, dunno if that’s still the case and how they managed doing this. There are maybe other solutions (tax payment by the seller prior to delivery). We’ll see. Oh dear, it was so nice to order from int’l outdoor or kaidomain some LEDs for a few $$, other stuff from smaller CA or US based shops that won’t be able to offer this services. Think of Montain Electronics et al. Or rngwn and Azhu with their LEDs. Too bad 
.
Don’t move to Uruguay then. 60% customs tax, with a minimum tax of $10 (i.e. everything pays at least $10 even if it costs $5), unless you use one the 3 yearly exemptions for up to $200. Some items come through unchecked but in theory every non-letter packet addresses to individuals is subject to the same.
Europeans actually have it easy.
I’m curious as to how this tax affects your buying habits. Do you think it keeps jobs in your country?
Arrow.com would be a good example for domestic operations that might fill some of the void (just an example, not saying US is in the EU).
If there were more shops like Arrow in other geographies, with reasonable shipping costs and potentially loyalty/rewards systems… then yes, some jobs would be created for that shop.
eurodk.com is an example for a business in Latvia.
It doesn’t help to manufacture anything here for sure, maybe it helps at bit the retail market if buying from overseas is not so cheap, the main effect is that the government gets some money, local prices are higher and the postal service and customs doesn’t need to work too hard to earn their salaries. Customs taxes for business can be much lower when purchasing in bulk, it defends the interest of large companies that can lobby over the individuals.
I typically send packages from China to an freight forwarder in USA and then receive the <$200 ‘consignment’ under the $200 exemption (that’s perfectly legal), but it’s annoying.
European shops like LED4Power could profit. I was a customer anyway and hope Neven will reopen.
I believe, depending on how the exact fees will look like after the law comes into effect, this would be an opportunity for new EU based resellers. People in dire need of a job or willing to start a business could order Chinese parts in bulk and resell them for a profit. With enough scale this could be a win-win.