VAT and import fees

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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!