Where did you have to pay the import fees? At your door, customs office,...? And did you have to pay the mailman for collecting your fees?
Direct orders from Europe - more information is needed for new customers
- Thread starter Perimeter
- Start date
I paid only once via internet banking. Customs emailed me an invoice with VAT and customs costs.
Well, I just tried that. I went as far as logging into Paypal but they still wanted authorization over the full amount listed. I didn't want to go further.
As I have recently made my first purchase from Ireland through Andy directly.
I paid the couriers a fee (Vat + 15 Euro FedEx handling fee), and the transaction went smoothly.
FedEx sends a text message, and you pay online before delivery.
Custom duties were not listed on the receipt, but the tracking info showed it was available for customs clearance.
I recommend you make a test purchase from Andy, and you will have your answers about the additional overhead costs.
I paid the couriers a fee (Vat + 15 Euro FedEx handling fee), and the transaction went smoothly.
FedEx sends a text message, and you pay online before delivery.
Custom duties were not listed on the receipt, but the tracking info showed it was available for customs clearance.
I recommend you make a test purchase from Andy, and you will have your answers about the additional overhead costs.
Aliexpress and IOSS is complicated.
I think it only works if the seller uses shipping method with alibaba/aliexpress label (slow shipping).
here the shipping company sees if taxes are already paid inside the shipping/tracking number. they only forward if paid.
so in theory it is possible to pay 2 times. if so, aliexpress will give you the vat back, but its complicated with their support.
not sure what andy does. to my knowledge he uses only express shipping. if he cannot use IOSS then you have to pay not only VAT. express companies charge an extra handling fee for custom clearance. its around 15€. so you pay VAT+15€ to them.
there is another option.. just ask for fedex. they will use the price which is on the invoice and dont ask any questions (no proof of payment needed). if vat is under 50€ they only charge 30% of the VAT as fees. minimum 5€ , if 50-600€ they will charge 15€.
for me the extra 15€ is ok, because it is alot faster when they do customs. never had any delay with fedex.
dhl express always want proof of payment before delivery. you receive an email when shipped and have to upload it on their website. if everything is ok there is no delay. if they have questions (in their opinion the value is too low) can be delayed 2 weeks or longer.
hope you understand
i would suggest to buy from him directly. most products from andy are over 150€ so aliexpress will not charge anything.
only when buying one camera under 150€ (like 5442tm-as) they charge vat
so if vat is 20% and camera 100€
you have to pay
100€ + 20€ (VAT) + 6€ handling fees
26€ is collected by fedex. sometimes after, sometimes before, sometimes on delivery.
Never understand why.
I think it only works if the seller uses shipping method with alibaba/aliexpress label (slow shipping).
here the shipping company sees if taxes are already paid inside the shipping/tracking number. they only forward if paid.
so in theory it is possible to pay 2 times. if so, aliexpress will give you the vat back, but its complicated with their support.
not sure what andy does. to my knowledge he uses only express shipping. if he cannot use IOSS then you have to pay not only VAT. express companies charge an extra handling fee for custom clearance. its around 15€. so you pay VAT+15€ to them.
there is another option.. just ask for fedex. they will use the price which is on the invoice and dont ask any questions (no proof of payment needed). if vat is under 50€ they only charge 30% of the VAT as fees. minimum 5€ , if 50-600€ they will charge 15€.
for me the extra 15€ is ok, because it is alot faster when they do customs. never had any delay with fedex.
dhl express always want proof of payment before delivery. you receive an email when shipped and have to upload it on their website. if everything is ok there is no delay. if they have questions (in their opinion the value is too low) can be delayed 2 weeks or longer.
hope you understand
i would suggest to buy from him directly. most products from andy are over 150€ so aliexpress will not charge anything.
only when buying one camera under 150€ (like 5442tm-as) they charge vat
so if vat is 20% and camera 100€
you have to pay
100€ + 20€ (VAT) + 6€ handling fees
26€ is collected by fedex. sometimes after, sometimes before, sometimes on delivery.
Never understand why.
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It is very possible that those individuals ended up using Private Messaging or email to finish the conversation, rather than continuing to go back and forth in a thread.
hmm, not make to complicated, aliexpress sill open to sell for the members, or you send me email for order directly via paypal, pay in Euros, and we ship out the orders. And will think out some way to help for the VAT. Right now any shipment out off EU will pay tax.
It must have been decreased.
Customs should be 0€. The TARIC number should be 85176990 or 85176100. Its listed as 0,000% for import.
Cannot be exported to iran, russia, noth korea, venezuela or belarus.
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My camera has been sent via FedEx and customs did not use the price from the invoice. Why? This camera does not look cheap compared to the many other cameras arriving at customs.
That's why I wrote that the intelligence of customs officers has increased.
So how did they figure out the true price? Did they request you to show a payment document?
Was this item above or below 150€ incl shipment? I assume you are in "european" ireland?
This is the information I found in various european forums too.
Yes again, this is what I read. But careful, you often find only the failure reports in the net. But I found several sources to this end. Not sure if it involves the 150€ boundary you mention too.
Again, you confirm the statements about FedEx doing it differently.
I am also reading comments that this has become common practice. So there is simply no use for Andy to fudge the tax certificate if DHL is involved. It seems to be an automatic.
If my ALIexpress price exceeds 150€, Aliexpress will not charge me "anything"? You mean VAT? If there is no duty for the item, this seems bad to me. Because now, I have to pay the VAT through the postal service, which charges me again. And as Dadoxy pointed out, the price of the cam should be lowered at some point during checkout. Ali posts prices with the "VAT included" sticker. If they don't collect VAT, they should drop the price by the VAT amount at some stage. Dadoxy said they did. I went as far as paypal authorization, and I had to autorize the price incl. vat. I didn't go further. But given Dadoxy's account, it might happen later in the process.
If the postal service is settling for just 6€, I think you would be right. And even if there is duty involved, staying under 150€ should keep you duty-free.
What irritated me was the fact that Dadoxy had to pay ~17% duty on the item. As you have written:
That was my guess too. I assume you have tried it in practice before?
Andy also offered to ship selected stuff from his warehouse in europe to me. Now there are two options: The stuff in that warehouse is already taxed and all, and what Andy lists for cam & delivery will be the final amount. No extra fees involved at the door. Like buying from amazon but not feeding their shareholders. Or it could be located in a duty free zone (port storage), and will technically still be imported from Hong Kong, but be delivered in a day. This used to be possible in the past, but may have changed in recent years.
He can deliver his european stuff the next day, this I have tried (using Amazon). Worked like clockwork for me.
Did anyone here order stuff from Andy directly, which was already stored in europe? Is that price the final price? Do you get a regular invoice from an "Andy-company"?
He can deliver his european stuff the next day, this I have tried (using Amazon). Worked like clockwork for me.
Did anyone here order stuff from Andy directly, which was already stored in europe? Is that price the final price? Do you get a regular invoice from an "Andy-company"?
1.Europe DIRECT（Via paypal）order(Stock in DE ones) ship from DE warehouse, will be no VAT invoice, price a little higher than ship from China, but door to door price, some guys use this way, very happy.
2. Ship from HONGKONG, normally i declare a cheaper value, can't be too low, like 40% value, ship to most EU Countries will not be a problem.
3. Buy on amazon they will get you a VAT invoice.
4. Buy on aliexpress, order <150euros, aliexpress will precharge the tax. >150Euros they will not charge tax.
5. If you want VAT invoice from overseas purchasing, just declare the real value to the customs .
Hope this is clear to all of you.
2. Ship from HONGKONG, normally i declare a cheaper value, can't be too low, like 40% value, ship to most EU Countries will not be a problem.
3. Buy on amazon they will get you a VAT invoice.
4. Buy on aliexpress, order <150euros, aliexpress will precharge the tax. >150Euros they will not charge tax.
5. If you want VAT invoice from overseas purchasing, just declare the real value to the customs .
Hope this is clear to all of you.
Many thanks for your reply!
Great! I'll try that next. Do you have a list of the stuff you have here in Europe?
OK, I'll just try a test baloon and see how it flies.
Did that, worked great.
This is where I have to ask back. Member Dadoxy told us above, that the ALI price shown will be reduced during last step of checkout if there is no VAT charged by ALI. (The initial price shown at ALI is listed to be incl VAT, so this reduction step makes sense). I was looking at the IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED S2 in your ALIstore. It is listed for over 150 Euros. So if I would proceed through checkout, I would pay less (VAT part removed) to ALI and then pay that VAT later to customs when the package gets here? Is that correct?
Yes, makes sense. Will do!
I am in the EU.
The written details of a personal transaction don't belong on a public forum,
You will have to infer the answer to your question.
If you are addressing me, I don't know how you get the impression that I am obsessed buying on ALIexpress.
ALI has an Andystore, where I can see what he can offer and what his stuff will cost. That is where I look for Andy's product portfolio. There I found the IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED S2, which is a relabeled 5449 dahua. If I look into Amazon.de, there are just 5 cams.
As you have described yourself, if an item costs under 150€ including VAT and postage, if you buy it through ALI with an IOSS number, it should travel to your door with no extra fees charged. No fuzz. (At least that is the theory atm). Now to me this does sound convenient. (But if Andy closes the store to europe, then he is no more option at ALI anyway.)
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Sorry, didn't want to intrude on your privacy. I understand your position. I had only asked because 150€ is the duty free boundary. If you order for less, you would not have to pay duty, even if the item is subject to it. The reports from Crotia and Germany are somewhat contradictory.
Yes, they did and I showed to them a payment document.
I was a little irritated at first, but when I received and unpacked my camera I forgot this 17%.
At the moment, I ran a direct order from Hongkong to Europe, value of the item & shipping clearly under 150€, I expect to pay VAT upon arrival as well as an administration fee but no customs duty. I'll update with the exact figures once I know the result. Anticipation is half the fun...
I still have one question to Andy or anyone else here: When I order a product located in China for OVER 150€ through Aliexpress from a EU country, I will be told the actual price including VAT on the ALI web page (say 170€ incl. VAT). According to the user Dadoxy, just before you finalize the order, the VAT will be subtracted from the price, as no IOSS form will be created for Orders over 150€ and VAT will not be collected through ALIexpress:
Could Andy or someone else please confirm this? When I tried, Paypal asks me to authorise the full price. So I am not quite sure as to what will happen in case I click to accept.
Edit: I found this in the ALIexpress help pages:
Q: Why the price at check-out is different from the price on products details pages?
A: Prices may be updated at check-out due several factors, including seller’s changes of product price, change of currency, exchange rate, the ship-from location, the actual delivery address (country), the delivery model selected, promotion, discounts or coupons applicable. VAT calculation will be updated accordingly upon check-out.
I still have one question to Andy or anyone else here: When I order a product located in China for OVER 150€ through Aliexpress from a EU country, I will be told the actual price including VAT on the ALI web page (say 170€ incl. VAT). According to the user Dadoxy, just before you finalize the order, the VAT will be subtracted from the price, as no IOSS form will be created for Orders over 150€ and VAT will not be collected through ALIexpress:
This would mean that with VAT being 20%, I would only be charged with 141.67€ instead of 170€? I will have to pay the VAT myself at the door (or somehow).
Could Andy or someone else please confirm this? When I tried, Paypal asks me to authorise the full price. So I am not quite sure as to what will happen in case I click to accept.
Edit: I found this in the ALIexpress help pages:
Q: Why the price at check-out is different from the price on products details pages?
A: Prices may be updated at check-out due several factors, including seller’s changes of product price, change of currency, exchange rate, the ship-from location, the actual delivery address (country), the delivery model selected, promotion, discounts or coupons applicable. VAT calculation will be updated accordingly upon check-out.
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I placed a regular order directly from Andy in China last friday. Now it is tuesday and FedEx pulled up to my door to hand me that parcel. That was fast! They just handed me the parcel, they didn't ask for any money (yet). So I'll keep you updated if/once the customs office gets active. Haven't tried the camera yet, I am busy with work.
In any case, compliment to Andy for that speedy delivery.
In any case, compliment to Andy for that speedy delivery.