https://www.independent.ie/business/irish-business/irish-shoppers-to-face-customs-charge-on-any-item-worth-150-or-less-posted-from-outside-the-eu/a/153774021.html
I imagine most people won't be bothered with the extra charges being imposed?
Unless they have European warehouses. A lot of Amazon stuff, even from Amazon.ie ships from UK so that's what I'll find most annoying as I've a UK prime subscription and find it very easy just to order bits and bops as I need them. Hopefully it's worth Amazon's while to use EU warehouses, they've had months to prepare!
Even with the charges the stuff I bought off temu recently would be significantly cheaper than Amazon
Temu etc will have to ship from European warehouses or find some way around this
I can’t find any buying websites within the EU that compare to them or Ali Express etc.
3e per item is massive increase for us consumers.
It's a very illogical tarrif.
Extreme and basic example but take €1 value items as an example, I can get €150 worth of an identical item and pay €3 total tarrif for a €153 total, but if I get 150 different €1 items, it's €3 tarrif per item so I pay €450 total tarrif on the same €150 spend to get a €600 total.
na, they ll be grand, work arounds will be found, and fines wont change a thing, tis all good, rock on!
Its clearly designed to allow retailers to order from outside the EU and discourage consumers ordering directly from china.
TBH, the amount of shite people order and never use or use once and throw away is a disgrace.
Most of the Chinese sites are already shipping from the EU. There is no way they are paying airmail for the stuff they ship and there is no way a boat can get from China to the EU in the 2 weeks delivery takes.
It's not all disposable tat. I needed pressure washer fittings so went into the local supplier. By the time he had finished building what I needed we were at €45. Went home and looked at AliExpress: €6. For small bits and odd electronic items a local supplier will absolutely rinse you because 1. they can and 2. the volume of trade they're doing is small.
The likes of AliExpress only exist because policymakers thought it was a great idea to outsource manufacturing to china. It's a consequence of the lack of global competitiveness of Europe. A tariff isn't going to fix this.
outsourcing is largely due to the decisions made by western corporate leaders, not just public legislators, local businesses simply cannot compete with china, due to a multitude of reasons
What happens if you order something now and it doesn't arrive until after the 1st of July?
Yes, you do. I'm surprised that nobody answered your question sooner.
Thanks. Such insight.
Really? What amount? How much are we talking about? Give us a ballpark figure there, even a percentage out of their total online purchases that are used max 1 or 2 times before being binned will do.
What's that? You've no idea how much people buy or how many uses they get out of something? And you're just making stuff up because you think it sounds good and reinforces your own, in-built, snobbery as justification for taking a giant dump on other people? That's mad Ted.
Pretty much every item sold by Shein and the like..
Cheap tat outfit bought for 5 or 10 euro , worn once or twice then binned.
I went looking on Temu recently for something and the item I was interested in was selling for about €5 euro (outdoor string lights) I added it to my cart , just to keep track of it but never bought , now a few days later TEMU are offering my another 5 free items from a massive list of random crap , if I complete my 5 euro order. These are all cheap house hold stuff like bottle openers and very cheap screwdrivers and the like.
None of that would get used or if it does it probably won't last more than a few uses - a drill bit from a pack of 5 that cost a euro isn't going to last very long at all..
How do you know any of this? You don't, you're just assuming that's the case. How many people bought those imaginary drill bits and dumped them after one use? You simply cannot say, and the poster I was replying to brought it up as a way of denigrating others, which isn't very fair. Sounds like projection, to me.
My missus has bought stuff from Shein and been wearing it for over a year at this stage. I've bought some excellent stuff from Temu that's lasted forever also. I got a toothbrush timer for the wee fella when he was first old enough to brush his teeth, around 10-11 months old. Cost €3 and turns green when you hit 'start'. Then goes orange after 2 mins, then red after 3. He's used it every day since, only had to change the batteries once. He's turning 5 in the Autumn.
I can't believe there isn't more chat about this, unless I've missed a thread somewhere else?
It's not just the Chinese shops affected, it's everywhere outside the EU. That includes Northern Ireland.
This also won't be like the VAT thing where they can just streamline it and add it at the checkout. It's a customs charge so it can't be done through the current IOSS system. That means ridiculous amounts of extra parcels going through the customs office and there will be the processing fees for the end customer to pay on top of the €3 per item type.
This is a complete disaster and will mostly only cause huge problems for artisans and other small businesses in places like Northern Ireland, Aus, NZ, etc. you name it. The Chinese shops will find a way around it. In the meantime, it's just more business for Amazon.
Temu (Ireland) CHAT thread
Northern Ireland has a separate agreement to trade with the Republic. This would be contrary to that agreement.
€3 plus VAT, no less on each distinct item. I think its was the charities that highlighted the amount of waste on cheap Chinese imports, particularly clothing. That lead to an investigation where it seems there was a serious amount of dumping as well. It was a couple of years back, from what I can recollect.
That's good to hear if that's true. It's still a disastrous situation for the small businesses in other places.
Article in the indo today about Shein, the first & last paragraphs below.
I thought that these warehouses would get around the new charges but according to the last paragraph it would seem not..
"Online fashion retailer Shein has opened a new logistics facility in Dublin that is set to support up to 30 jobs.
The Chinese company said the new 16,000 sq ft e-commerce hub in Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, Co Dublin, is now fully operational and will include warehouse and office roles."
"Revenue warned that a new €3 customs duty charge will apply to each individual item in a parcel bought online from non-EU countries, including the UK.
However, due to Shein's products still being mainly produced outside of the EU this charge will still apply to consumers buying products from the retailer despite its new facilities in Ireland and Poland."
Might require the creation of a "www.shein.ie" and the associated legal entities to avoid the charge.
Stopping off briefly in a distribution centre in Ireland probably won't cut it.
Wonder what will happen with Amazon.co.uk ?
I haven't moved to the Amazon.ie version so far as the overall choice and usually pricingwas better on the UK site , but if the €3 charge starts being applied , it might make a difference.
That won't matter, they are still importing from China.
I have found recently that it's worth comparing Amazon.ie with co.uk as some of the prices are better now.
It's per product category, so as I understand it x1 item is €3, but 10k of that same item is still €3? So they'll just import tons of the best selling stuff into warehouses, and distribute them from within the EU and only ever pay €3 per product line, not per item.
No. When they import in bulk through normal channels you pay the duty rate on each particular product. If the duty rate on razor blades is 8%, then they pay 8% of the total value in duty, then add VAT. The €3 is a temporary measure to collect duty that should be liable if it shipped in bulk
So will probably depend how Shein (and others) bring in their goods. If they just tranship small parcels from China through an Irish distribution hub likely be €3 per distinct product but if they import a batch and repackage here for sending then would be at the appropriate duty rate.
Ah, makes sense.
I really think this tax or levy makes no sense especially with goods from the UK.
The made their bed. You can’t give them favourable treatment really, although NI was a fudge.
The revenue they have been missing out on is enormous. From RTE
It also reported that 4.6 billion such small packages entered the EU in 2024, more than 145 per second, with 91% originating in China.
Amazon Uk has a better range than Amazon.ie.
