VAT and import fees

[LadySabelle]

I've got a question for everyone ordering our products (not including KS) for delivery outside the USA. We (DF) don't get any of the information on taxes and import fees that our customers are charged. This makes it extremely difficult to answer questions about the subject. So if any of you have ordered recently, please share your country and experiences. It would go a long way towards creating the information data base, and give us a better understanding of the wallet pains you all have to go through. Not to mention helping us to find better solutions!

[dice4hire]

The shipping to Japan is not fun, of course, but added taxes are not much of a problem. Most of my stuff gets here with no added tax at all, but my KSIII retail order, which was over 1k did have a 5% tax added on. It was also the only one stopped by customs that I had to assure them I was not using them to open a store and they were for my (and a friend's) personal use. Only one I remember having that happening to.

[Rabbit Burner]

In the UK we have been charged VAT on all retail orders (KS orders have involved no extra costs) and a handling charge

How its paid is dependant on the carrier, FedEx send an invoice which is paid online. If it is via Royal Mail you pay it when you pick up your parcel at the depot.

Handling charge is carrier dependant too.

So we encourage those in the UK to make on large order rather than many small ones.

[marcoreds]

Here in Italy every delivery from a non-EU location with a value higher than 22€ should be subject to:

- VAT (22% of the value of the wares AND shipping cost as of now)
- Custom charges. These are rather random. I have paid as much as the value of the item itself at times, some other times around 5% of the value.

I said “should” because this is not consistant. In particular speaking about DF, there have been times where I was charged everything as described above, other times where the items just got through customs without being controlled and charged. I think the matter is that customs have finite personnel, so they can’t check and charge everything. Sometimes you get charged, sometimes you don’t.

So I guess this is not a very useful information, since the import fees here range from zero to around 30%, depending on luck.

[Rhizom]

Germany: Got a parcel from customs, yesterday. They charge 19% taxes (always) and depending on their mood (or so it seems) they have custom fees from 0% to 4%. It may be good to categorize the DF-pieces as "Modellbau" (modelmaking) parts, rather than calling them plastic toys, because there seems to be extra fees for plastic.

Yesterday I only paid the 19%. It was a good day

For big orders it is quite likely that you have to grab them at the customs depot and pay there. For smaller orders (< 250€) it happened to me that they came to a normal post office in the neighborhood (much closer than the customs depot). Sometimes I did not even have to pay the taxes for small packages.

[LadySabelle]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to answer! It really helps.

[XarToth]

I'm in the UK and the only reason I have any DF now is that the kickstarters include the fees so I know what I'm paying up front. I've had such bad experiences with random custom charges that I won't order from the US anymore unless the costs are covered up front. One example, I once ordered a sweatshirt for $25 and got charged the equivalent of $65 in customs charges on top of $30 postage. It just isn't worth it, which sucks as I'd love to order some of the back stock I missed the kickstarters for (I'm looking at you Monster Sewers!). I'd love to see the option to order from the web store with customs calculated and covered up front!

[Lord annilhus]

Hi everyone,

Here in France we have been charged VAT on all retail orders and shipping to 20%. Customs consider that 1U$ = 1€...

Example : if you have an order of 800$ + 200 shipping, you pay 20% of 1000$, or 20% of 1000€ = 1200€ which is approximatively 1400 $

It's just a nightmare

Soon

Lord

[NiandoBG]

Just another story from Germany, to give you some more insights.

All parcel send by you via usps went through the custom clearance and I have to pick up the parcel at the custom office in my home town (happy to live in a bigger city that has one).

Parcels operated by fedex came directly to my house.
The did all the custom stuff and charged me with some extra money for their service.
I had no chance to decide upfront, if I want their service or not. They just did it.
But other wise I would have to pick the parcel up many miles away from my town.
So it seems to be the only way to get stuff with fedex.

The VAT is 19% of everything (including shipping) + custom approximately 4%.

Buying in bigger orders, my markup incl. exchange rate lies by roughly +24% compared to the original price shown in the webstore in US Dollar.

But buying in bigger quantities is dangerous too.
If I have a bigger order and everything comes at once and the price incl. shipping is over 1000€ than the custom office does not do the import declaration for me. Than I have to do it myself which is a nightmare in Germany.
The form you have to fill out is very difficult to understand. The documentation and explanations at the custom website is extensive long more than 300 pages and written in a language that someone with an PHD almost cannot understand it...

Maybe you can now appreciate every customer from Germany a little more.
The addiction has to be very strong
It’s hard to buy and get the things and many potential customers are discouraged in Germany to buy Dwarven Forge.

I would really appreciate a shop in Europe and with good marketing I would assume that you could gain a lot of new customers in good old Europe. The RPG community is at least as livid as in US.

[HeroQuestFrance]

I've stopped buying things to the USA and unfortunately to DF as I previously said.
Why ?

Here are the fees to ship a basic set are higher than the item itself :

Sci-Fi Starter Set 1x $ 59.00
Shipping $ 77.00
______________________________
Total USD $ 136.00

I cannot handle
- the original price : 59
- packaging 77 (multiplying the final price by twice)
- 20% of VAT (around 27€ on the total) + 28€ Added of the "custom file"
It gives a total of 200€ for an 59$ item.

So since buying a tiny package on DF store costs a arm, no need to imagine a bigger order.
It's over to me, I buy european trademarks (resin set painted or not) from great companies.
No VAT, a maximum of 30€ for an international package about 33 kgs.

DF was a nice adventure for almost 11 years to me and friends. But you have to understand we moved on on better offers.