USA - Europe Duties

Doug28450, with all due respect, duties and VAT in the European Union are NOT "a relatively small portion of the total cost". They can easily reach 25-30% of the price declared (it's happened to me..). That's probably what Tejo@lisboa.pt is referring to. I wholeheartedly agree with you if it were for a few $.
Regards

Not having any experience on this;I do have curiosity. Does this duty thing work both ways? I'm sure everybody is familiar with the speaked dealer from Italy. Are extra duties placed on speakers shipped to this country?

Gregm, my apologies. I am not familiar with the European duties and VAT other than what I hear "through the grapevine". I did nto realize that the fees could go that high.

Avguygeorge, anything that is imported into a country has duties and taxes applied to it that are collected by the government. The rates vary and are country and item specific. The rates are a percentage and based on the declared value. In most cases the declared value is also the selling price. As an example, a cd player brought into a country may have a 5% duty, yet loudspeakers may have a 3% duty. A different country may have different rates applied to these same products. There some other fees and taxes that can also be added. If you buy an imported product from your local dealer the import duties and taxes have already been paid by the importer. Keep in mind you still pay it. It just gets included in the price you pay. A call to Customs can get you the duties, fees and taxes on any item you want to import. Just tell them the exact item and the country of origin (where it is being shipped from). This is a very basic explanation. I'm sure there is much more to it than this, particularily for our friends in Europe as they have the VAT. Thanks, Doug

Hi Doug, no problem... A word of caution regarding declarations: packages are INSURED on declared price. If (God forbid!) a package is lost, claims apply on declared price only!
Risk....

One thing to remember if shipping items from the US to Europe (well, the UK at least but assume it is the same for the rest) is that once the small personal value limit per item(s)/shipment is exceeded then the whole shipment (item(s) plus shipping) becomes liable for duty and tax (VAT). For example the UK allows any item under $27 approx brought in for personal use to be delivered free of duty and tax (I also think double this limit is allowed for a gift). So an item(s) costing $25 and $10 to mail will be delivered without any further charge. If the item(s) cost $30 and $10 to mail then duty and tax will be applied to the full $40 before delivery. Also whoever is delivering the item will also apply a fee of their own. In the end it roughly equates to having to allow approx 30% of the total cost of the item (inc shipping) for extra charges this end. The UK has 17.5% tax (VAT) and some other European countries have 22%, so it all gets pretty expensive over here! Regards, Richard.