I'm thinking of buying a LE fp on Ebay. The problem is that I know nothing about additional charges which I'm obliged to pay. My question:

When buying Fp on USA Ebay should I pay the seller only for the pen and shipping? Or maybe I have to add tax?

I hope my English is comprehensible to you

It depends: first of all, you have to pay for both the pen (good) and the shipping costs (service) the Value Added Tax (VAT) of your country plus the import duty on the pen into the EU ( I tnink around 2%). But if you have to pay at all dpends on the combined value. If the value is below a certain threshold for bought items (€ 20 or 25 ) or for a gift (around € 45 ) , you don't have to pay at all.
Some countries may aditionally charge some luxury taxes or even want a customs fee, like in Britain.

Well, if anything is more expensive than € 45,00 (excluding the shipping cost) the Dutch customs service charges me. I've started using this formula (for an object for which more than € 45,00 has been paid): convert the price plus the postage paid from $ into € and then add 20% (that works for me). That'll be about and around what you end up paying.

To reply to the original question:

1) To seller: you pay the price of the pen, and usually the shipping costs. You do not add any tax.

2) Once the pen enters EU (in this case Poland) - and assuming the local customs intercepts it -
i) you may have to pay a customs duty (calculated as a percentage of the price of the pen plus shipping cost);
ii) you may have to pay value added tax (calculated at your local Polish rate, as a percentage of the sum of price of pen plus shipping cost plus customs duty).

3) I am not sure whether you have to pay any extra charges for customs handling in Poland - check locally.

As regards the uncertainty of the "may" word in 2) above:
- at least in Finland, customs duty below certain threshold needs not be paid at all (but it is taken into account in determining the value added tax). I am not sure whether this minimum threshold is EU wide or only Finnish.
- I think a minimum threshold also applies to the value added tax. Again, not sure whether this applies EU wide or only in Finland.

The customs duty percentage varies from product class to product class (I think there are two classes for fountain pens - "ordinary pens" and "pens with bodies made of precious metals"). Further, if the item is manufactured in the US there may be an additional rate that is used (depending on the global trade politics).

I hope this helps.

/Tojusi

(had to edit the numbering because I kept getting a smiley I did not want)

And, quite often the customs offices are so busy, that packages "slip through". It seems that some categories get more attention than others however, clothing get's a lot of attention (perhaps because of fakes?).
I have been quite lucky a number of times (didn't have to pay the VAT on the 220$ Tibaldi I bought), but have been burnt a couple of times as well (bought guitar strap of 125$ added a poloshirt of 5$, had to pay 30% VAT over the total amount (while musical stuff doesn't get taxed as heavily as clothing)).
I think it does add to the exciting of buying abroad.

Best regards,

Jarno.

Ask the seller if they would mark the value declaration as a $20 gift. They can only say no.

Well, in the UK taxes are brutal. Unless I can come to a special arrangement with the seller, I end up paying as much as 25% extra, once the postal handling charge is added.

I view import taxes as pure legalised theft. I can understand if you are buying $20K's worth of goods for resale in your home country, but to hit consumers who just want to save a few bucks by buying in the US is just plain nasty. It's government interference at its worst. I really hope something will be done about it, because in the modern eBay age this approach to taxing imports is damaging international trade.

I believe that all items under $2,000 should not be taxed if they are for personal use.

In Holland you pay some fees for checking in which are about 17.50 + 20% customs plus sometimes tax 19%. Although I have only seen this tax percentage once on my RL Polo shirts I think.

Xerxes,

Fees for checking in? I did see some fees when using DHL or UPS, they charge you for arranging the checking in. Put I haven't seen these charges when using plain old mail (and packages).

Regards,

Jarno.

Oh, and David, you should read Joseph Stiglitz's book "making globalization work" he goes even further and says that these import duties actually hurt the developing countries as well, because it doesn't allow them to compete with companies within the EU.

@David

Grrr! Don't get me started on this!! I keep hearing about how things are being brought into line with the rest of Europe, yet we have been stuck with exactly the same levels of importable values since 1978 to my knowledge.

It really puts a downer on something when they shove a load of tax on an item coming into the UK, especially when they add the handling charge to it. Protectionism at its worst in my eyes. /Grrr Mode Off

European Union TARIC database lists two codes for fountain pens:
- 9608 39 10: "With body or cap of precious metal or rolled precious metal"
- 9608 39 90: "Other"

However, the EU customs rate is the same for both classes, being 3.70%.

I still do not know whether de minimis rules are country by country or EU wide. Well, at least in Finland, if the customs charge amounts to less than EUR 10 it needs not be paid. Also, the same applies for VAT.




To the best of my knowledge, the customs is charged at EU wide rate. However, VAT is charged nationally. Remember, once goods enter EU Customs Union area (which is not the same as the EU by the way!), no further customs are payable as goods move within the EU Customs Union area. The UK belongs to the EU Customs Union.

/Tojusi

In Sweden the biggest problem is that the custom want a fixed $20 administrative fee (obviosiously I need to pay for the pleasure of paying tax), which is a problem when importing cheap stuff.

OTOH our customs people does not allways know what they are looking at, I got a Visconti Wall Street and a OMAS Emotica with a note from customs saying 'Curly hair irons' and a a value of $30

By way of comparison, here in Canada, we theoretically get taxed if over $20 (and the part over $60 if a gift). We're talking 6% federal sales tax, plus provincial taxes depending on the destination and if the relevant province has an agreement with customs to collect.

In practice, however most things come through regular mail (unlike couriers) without hassles, sometimes prodded along by helpful sellers who mark packages as "Gift - $35", "Repaired item, re-exported" and the like. Even without that, most things seem not to get taxed, I assume due to general laziness.

I'd say about 70-80% come through without taxes regardless of what's written, about half the rest get taxed on the declared value, and the other half get opened and not taxed. I've yet to have anything opened and THEN taxed, curiously. Customs generally seem to be unconcerned about fountain pens when they do find them. I had one package, with a high declared value, that did get opened, resulting in a customs officer scrawling on it "fountain pens" (in French, which is why I know it wasn't the sender), but that was as much as I heard of it, thankfully!

Yes they are handling costs. I get them everytime I get mail with USPS.

The rates in the UK are up to £18 no charge (or up to £36 if marked as a gift). Above that there is a 17.5% tax to be paid on the whole amount including postage plus a handling charge of £8.

This can vary. FedEx charge £6.80, Parcel Force (cough, spit) a whopping £13.50.

Thanks for help

Doesn't it feel great, though, when the customs miss a parcel they should have charged!

Andy

Don't know (cough cough)

That seems to be most often the case with Royal Mail, IME. Since my postman always shoves recorded items through my letter box without getting a signature, this is hardly surprising, and serves them right.

Reverting to this old thread. It appears that due to a trade dispute between the EU and the US, the EU is imposing a "penalty tariff" customs rate on certain products. Based on my recent experience, this applies at least to fountain pens made in the US. The penalty customs rate is 15%. I found out as I was picking up a Pelikan purchased from the US. After some argumentation and them checking it from their legal helpdesk, this applies only to pens actually made in the US. It does not apply if the pen is made somewhere else but only acquired through/shipped from the US.

/Tojusi

19% VAT + 3,7% tariff + 15% penalty =

Killing the exchange rate advantage for Sheaffers & Co.

For some reason I'm getting hit with an Import Duty as well as VAT and Handling Charge.

I must just be lucky that way...

Tojusi, are you sure they applied the regulations correctly? I've checked the relevant Commission Regulations (EC) No 409/2007 , 1024/2007 and 673/2005, and the only TARIC code they mention for penalizing from the writing instruments range (9608 ...) is the 96081010, which are "Ballpoint pens - - With liquid ink (rolling ball pens)". No fountain pens, IMHO.

The background of the penalties is this:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUri...0016:01:EN:HTML

"Commission Regulation (EC) No 409/2007of 16 April 2007

replacing Annexes I and II to Council Regulation (EC) No 673/2005 establishing additional customs duties on imports of certain products originating in the United States of America

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 673/2005 of 25 April 2005 establishing additional customs duties on imports of certain products originating in the United States of America [1], and in particular Article 3 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) As a result of the United States' failure to bring the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA) in compliance with its obligations under the WTO agreements, Regulation (EC) No 673/2005 imposed a 15 % ad valorem additional customs duty on imports of certain products originating in the United States of America as from 1 May 2005. In conformity with the WTO authorisation to suspend the application of concessions to the United States, the Commission shall adjust the level of suspension annually to the level of nullification or impairment caused by the CDSOA to the Community at that time.

(2) The CDSOA disbursements for the most recent year for which data are available relate to the distribution of anti-dumping and countervailing duties collected during the Fiscal Year 2006 ( 1 October 2005- 30 September 2006). On the basis of the data published by the United States' Customs and Border Protection, the level of nullification or impairment caused to the Community is calculated at USD 81.19 million.

(3) Since the level of nullification or impairment and consequently of suspension has increased, the first 32 products of the list in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 673/2005 as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 632/2006 should be added to the list in Annex I to that Regulation.

(4) The effect of a 15 % ad valorem additional import duty on imports from the United States of the products in the amended Annex I represents, over one year, a value of trade that does not exceed USD 81.19 million.

...

It shall apply from 1 May 2007.This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 16 April 2007.

For the Commission

Peter Mandelson

Member of the Commission"

While the handling charge is no EU thing, I think your officers apply the regulation propperly (see post above).

Dear saintsimon,

Thank you for this! No, I was not sure whether they were applying it correctly (or rather, trying to apply - I did not get the 15% customs hit as I was able to explain that Pelikan is made in Germany, not the USA, as the box/pen then proved). I have been meaning to dig up the actual basis but you have now saved me the trouble.

Now I have additional information to contest them next time.

Cheers,

Tojusi