IOSS SYSTEM

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spain_gongfucha
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Tue Nov 22, 2022 1:36 am

Hi there.
I'm not finding to much info about tea shops out of Europe (CEE) with the great IOSS system. Since 1st of July 2021 everything we buy from out of Europe has to be stopped on custom and pay for taxes and manipulation (proceeds) even for items under 22 euros.
And IOSS system It is an invention through which the shop or their taxes bureau pay the taxes of your items to the destination country, and your order arrives directly at home without any problem at customs.
I only know one tea shop with this system that source good stuff from China (amoyteas) and I would like to know about more tea shops with this system.
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teatray
Posts: 259
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2021 4:46 am
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:08 pm

Not many tea sellers make it easy for EU customers (or you could say the EU makes it hard for its own citizens to buy stuff from abroad). I've found home delivery without any customs hassle is never guaranteed, as they may always select your package for further inspection--in what should be a random manner, but there were reports of (what would be illegal) targeting of source countries in some EU members (e.g. Germany targeting China).

If you want to maximize the chance of getting stuff delivered without further involvement (and without extra costs), you have two options:
  • IOSS -- only orders below €150 (value without shipping) qualify, these are duty-free (but not VAT-free) imports, and the seller prepays VAT via the scheme
  • Courier brokerage -- the seller/courier (DHL, FedEx) take care of both VAT and any duties owed -- also usable on orders above €150 (though in that case you may have to deal with some customs work, though you should not be paying extra fees)
Teavivre is another seller than can use IOSS. Sazen and Taiwan Tea Crafts offer brokerage (TTC even requires it for EU orders; for Sazen, choose their FedEx or DHL "DDP" option--delivery & duty paid).

Importing without these services is also not too hard, though it depends on the seller. If they declare the items, include a proper invoice, HS codes and ingredients of the products, you will likely encounter few problems--though for my country it also depends on the courier company and I've learned to avoid some (in my case: prefer [Japan|China|Chunghwa] Post/EMS, then FedEx, DHL as a last resort as they really like asking for further documentation, avoid UPS/Kuroneko as they charge a lot for customs processing).

If the seller declares just "500g of tea" on a single line, you may have to answer a lot of questions and the seller could be asked to provide additional info which wastes time and may incur storage charges. These sorts of declarations apparently work for small private packages to the US and other markets, and it seems even some EU members. My country (which is generally pretty strict) often leaves small shipments, declared below €150 & sent via non-express air mail, alone.

When not using the above schemes, most sellers in China & Taiwan and a good share of those in Japan, underdeclare shipments which can lead to you paying less VAT/fees and getting the easier import procedure below €150, even if the order doesn't qualify. This rarely happens in my country as I am usually asked to provide payment documentation, but my impression is that larger EU economies have a more off-hands approach, at least for small private packages. This is one incentive not to implement any of the schemes: the important EU customer groups would prefer not to use them (though things change all the time and I might be wrong; would be interesting to hear from buyers in Germany/France/etc.).
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