Chinese phones & UK warehouses

Am I right in thinking that the EU warehouses are disappearing? When I bought my last phone, there were lots of providers like dealextreme with well stocked EU warehouses. Now dealextreme seems to have no phones or very little else in its EU warehouses, and there are fewer trustworthy offerings. On Aliexpress, there used to be a number of providers who would ship buy courier cover import duties, and there's no sign of those either.

I'm also hearing of people getting caught for import duties when buying inside the EU - customs are saying that the duties weren't paid at point of entry. Surelt the importer should be liable in that case?

Where's the best place to legitimately buy Chinese these days? I don't mind paying import fees, but I'd prefer not waiting 6 weeks+ so courier rather than regular mail and import duties already paid would be ideal.

punisher5112

Amazon.

GBX

Amazon have some for sale - but with some of these they are only fulfilling the shipment so you would still have to deal with the end user should an issue arrive and have to ship it to their location.

Honorbuy have an EU section. Quick delivery (2 days last order I placed)

rob316

geekbuying. I ordered a phone Thursday ups have it for delivery today

NATLOR

Hongkong Goldway and Mi Global store (both on aliexpress) both offer customs free DHL delivery for around €20

Geekbuying have Spanish,Italian and German warehouse options

Gearbest give 3/4 EU options on most of their phones

NATLOR

NATLOR wrote: »

Hongkong Goldway and Mi Global store (both on aliexpress) both offer customs free DHL delivery for around €20

Geekbuying have Spanish,Italian and German warehouse options

Gearbest give 3/4 EU options on most of their phones

Thanks. Looks like Hongkong Goldway take no responsibility for customs though...

"1.I need pay for customs duty?
You may be charged customs duties and taxes for something purchased online. Buyers are responsible for custom taxes."

GBX

Deleted User wrote: »

Thanks. Looks like Hongkong Goldway take no responsibility for customs though...

"1.I need pay for customs duty?
You may be charged customs duties and taxes for something purchased online. Buyers are responsible for custom taxes."

They used to guarantee this but it has changed in recent times.

NATLOR

Deleted User wrote: »

Thanks. Looks like Hongkong Goldway take no responsibility for customs though...

"1.I need pay for customs duty?
You may be charged customs duties and taxes for something purchased online. Buyers are responsible for custom taxes."

I bought from them a few times they ship to the UK first then to here so as far as Irish customs are concerned its of EU origin. Never been a problem

loyatemu

I ordered a phone from eglobalcentral.eu last Friday and it arrived on Tuesday. No indication on the courier packaging where it had originated from but presumably in the EU, there was no customs payable.

I also ordered a phone from GeekBuying before Xmas and it was despatched from Italy, so there are still some options available.