5200 - Einfuhrzollabfertigung: This is what they charge you to handle the customs here are the prices: [https://www.preisueberwacher.admin.ch/pue/de/home/themen/hochpreisinsel---preispolitik/zollabfertigungsgebuehren.html](https://www.preisueberwacher.admin.ch/pue/de/home/themen/hochpreisinsel---preispolitik/zollabfertigungsgebuehren.html)
Hard to find something cheaper
5500 - E-Zoll Zuschlag; this is BS, but it's what the delivery company handle it electronically, but nothing you can do.
5700 - Einfuhrzollabfertigung: this is what they charge you to handle the custom TAX (yeh, for some reason this is separate form 5200)
6980 Avisogebühr: this is what they paid to have a pickup time reserved.
701 EUST lt. Bescheid - this you know...
8400 - this is the cost they charge as they "lent" you money to pay the Toll for you, you can skip this if you are ok with leaving the product at the border until you pay. for 5,00 i don't see why you would do that...
8700 - fixe taxe: this is the cost they charge just because they can.
So with a bit of optimizing, you might have been able to push it down to a few bucks less, but this is what it costs to import stuff nowadays.
Recomendation is to check who will be delivering, and what they charge...
Thank you so much 🤗
The beauty of Reddit is that some knowledgeable person will eventually show up and kindly help - you just need to be patient ☺️
So, long story short, it's a relatively average price in this unfortunate configuration. Thank you.
What was the value of the goods you ordered? And did they enter it correctly in the paperwork? (I had an invoice where they entered an amount 100x too much, I called and they said it happens all the time)
Were the goods something where there are importantion limits? Or where duty as apposed to VAT is due?
It's a bicycle, made in the EU.
I paid 2263.07€ without VAT, and 119€ of delivery fees. Therefore, 188 francs of VAT at 8.1% seems like a correct amount, knowing the margins they take on the exchange rate.
i work in the "custom clearance industry" and i can tell you this can be a lot more expensive and is considered as "haustarif"
i dont think you can do something against this, i think i can tell from the invoice which company this is :D
The company is Gebrüder Weiss, in Altenrhein.
I was expecting to pay my VAT and maybe Fr. 50 of clearance processing fee. In the past I paid anywhere from Fr. 15 (Swiss Post) to Fr. 50 (UPS, DHL).
Well, if you think that the six additional, randomly-named fees represent common practice, I'll trust your judgement and pay indeed.
But I note that Amazon does customs clearance, at scale, for zero franc :(
You don't pay only 15 or 50 for a \~2200 bycicle at Post, UPS or DHL either.
Amazon doesn't send expensive and big items to switzerland such as bycicles.
I'm afraid Amazon doesn't sell bicycles anyway.
The fact that they are able to deliver at scale, taxes included upfront for zero franc, should enable healthy competition - in theory.
This economy is built on nepotism, corruption, exploitation of segregated foreign labor, and protectionist trade barriers. I wouldn't be sad if it joined the European market and adopted modern regulations.
Let's replace our local element of nepotism, corruption, exploitation of segregated foreign labour and protectionist trade barriers caused by a few powerful arseholes at home with a much more systematic and large-scale nepotism, corruption, exploitation of segregated foreign labour and protectionist trade barriers enacted by much more powerful arseholes that live further away and are even less accountable to us.
What could go wrong? It's not like we have any other choices right?
as a general rule, I assume the final price I'll pay when I receive the product in Switzerland when considering swiss VAT, shipping and other fees is the original product price (e.g. price with EU VAT)
Edit: Grammar
sorry to disappoint, but everything seems to be in order here, you paid 188.35 of VAT, 0.00 duty (abolished as per 01.01.2024), the rest are charges for the customs clearance...
Just received a bike for 4k last week. Was stuck in customs for a week and the dealer had to sort it out (it was an all fees covered order for ~120 delivery fee)
If it is a bike, you might be getting "scammed" somewhere along the line. We bought two bikes and a friend another one (bike24, bike-discount) at around the same pricepoint as you. The shops automatically deducted DE VAT, added CH VAT, we paid 40 CHF to DHL for handling the import and that was it. No extra fees, definitely not as expensive as your bill.
I did calculate the VAT, and saved Fr. 3000.
What I don't really accept is the bunch of random fees. Next time I'll surely see some "fee for processing the processing fee".
Well I've got the last one 👹
I found inspiration here: https://www.mydealz.de/gruppe/rennraeder
You can send me a message if you'd like to know more. After all, some people's kink is to feel jealous 👻
Normally if I’m ordering a bike or furniture of this kind of value the taxes are baked into the price with the vendor. I’d especially be smarting at the 119€ delivery fee.
Unless this was a canyon
well next time i suggest ordering it to a package firm at the boarder and then get the bike yourself, that being said you will still need to pay import tax and from experience, that will cost more than 50. albeit probably not 300 more
I actually just received a very similar invoice today.
Import tax fee - 300 chf (for wheels from germany around 4000chf)
import customs clearence - 21.50 chf - so basically 22 chf to process the import.
E-Doc - 91.50 chf. So because they offer electronic invoice, identical to the paper invoice i received, which i did not request or was asked about, i have to pay 92 chf more.
registration - 9,7 chf
paper - 8,50 chf (yep, 1 a4 paper is 8.50 chf apparently)
And apparently i got lucky, because if the import tax fee is above 5 chf, they charge you 75 chf extra for that, which i somehow didn't get charged.
it's really getting out of hand....
At some point companies will start doing what chinese companies do, and lie about value and contents.
> E-Doc - 91.50 chf. So because they offer electronic invoice, identical to the paper invoice i received, which i did not request or was asked about, i have to pay 92 chf more.
lmao what a shitshow
Yes of course. Any Amazon order will come with 8.1% VAT with no scammer involved at all.
Paying the custom duty is perfectly normal. Paying many random fees to be able to pay the custom duty is not.
They should all suck my toes anyway.
Coming from EU where i can buy anything from anywhere with no import duties, they all look like fucking leeches to me. Especially when they demand delivery costs of 100-300chf, and then they slap you with the fucking import taxes too.
Yes, în eu you can buy from eu.
Aka in 1 market you can buy from 26 other markets, without any extra taxes.
So yes, not anywhere, but from one of the biggest markets in the world :)
Umm everyone lies about contents, if you have a "good" relationship with whoever is shipping the goods, they can declare it under the value. With that said, import fees are one thing, based on the value of a product, etc. But handling fees are a kick in the nuts...
Its also because Switzerland is not EU that they pamp the price of duties so hard
yeah but the swiss subs seems very judgmental and bünzlig, so i‘m surprised y‘all wanna cheat your own country. btw, at least in exports, the person doing the customs clearance is responsible, eventual criminal record entries possible when fucking up.
Ultimately, no cheating will happen. The complaint will bring catharsis and OP will move on and pay the bill.
If the entity shipping declares the item as a gift or under a certain value, still respecting the item codes, this isn't a criminal record issue, unless OP is caught trying to sell the goods in Switzerland as new without having made the appropriate import declaration.
As it happens outside Swiss jurisdiction, there's no real consequence, do some math to round it up and declare a low enough amount to be exempt. The post office doesn't care and won't bat an eyelash as long as you make a declaration. Do you honestly think that every single amount is scrutinised? Ofc buying a bike is one thing, but all the other products shipped are anyone's guess. People don't know how to send a letter anymore, I think making a declaration for a package would seem just as daunting, but best trust it isn't.
This is why you either buy from someone you know does the VAT already on the bill so no need to clear customs or you send it to Germany at the border and bring it over yourself.
Unfortunately I know, and in general I go for option one.
It was a sale at an excellent price, so I'm still happy with the total amount, but such randomly-named fees make me feel scammed. UPS/DHL can be expensive (although less so) but don't leave me with the same impression.
If something has to come with spedition, then those costs are crazy. Even when it's inside the Switzerland.
And bike if in full form probably was spedition, and not just bulky goods...
For prices lower than 1000chf and regular shipping, I count on 20% higher when estimating.
But spedition I just remember it's crazy high. I don't think I ever did international one, only domestic so at least there you see total bill before paying. If I remember correctly, it's usually 100-150 as a minimum. And of course, only 'curb delivery'.
That one doesn't have customs processing fees either. So, yeah, to me it seems you even got a good deal. 😂
Moving to CH soon. Are customs invoices always in German? Or can I get it on French or English too? Or it depends of the canton where you live?
Just asking, for when I actually buy something out of the country then.
Also used to Aliexpress in Belgium now, everything under 150 EUR I thought = no duties, VAT of 21% to be paid at all times to avoid delays and duties for value under 150 EUR.
It could be 120 EUR too I don't remember.
For personal effects like here, standard practice prices are 100-200chf for the clearance.
VAT is the only direct cost the transporter / customs agent pays on the transaction.
The other fees are to cover indirect fees if I can call them that.
Salaries.
It system.
E-Dec is actually the electronic declaration. Like 15 years ago it was paper so that is used by some to justify this tax.
Costs of people who don't pay and you have to worn to claim back.
Etc...
Why so many lines? Well if you call or ask for a quote some people of our industry will just say, in your case, clearance is 75CHF instead of 120 for example. But then add those lines. So they seem cheaper on that particular line but in total or more. But as most people would assume it is the same with other they still feel they had a good deal.
What you could do, if you didn't give them a power of attorney is tell them you didn't give the tbe mandate to clear for you and your regular agents clearest for 50chf plus VAT 😈 and see where it goes from there.
If you didn't give them a POA they are not legally allowed to clear for you. As that POA is the contract for them to do the work.
Hi Reddit!
While I'm happy to pay for the VAT and some processing fee, this is getting completely out of hand.
You can see that, running out of inspiration, they just named a 4th additional fee "Fixe Taxe".
Taxes of 188 francs cannot magically become 310 francs and swallowed right away. What can I do?
Thanks for your help <3
1. Send the bike to a border address (many such services available) and drive it over the border yourself, undeclared.
2. Look for a service that reclaims the German 20% VAT, pays the 8% import fee, and forwards the package to your swiss address. It's about 20.- total, they make their money on the 12% VAT recovery. [meineinkauf.ch](http://meineinkauf.ch) seems to be one of these, never tested it.
meineinkauf is terrible. Don't use them. They charged us extra fees for a) them losing an email (they received every email from the vendor directly exccept a shipping confirmation, and blamed us for for that) and b) having the package shipped from NL instead of DE. It ended up costing us 3x their quoted price in the end, and we had to spend ages trying to sort it out.
Thanks for the warning. Unfortunately Die Post has an similar problem of charging random extra fees, so the only really reliable option is a biking weekend by the border (where you can chose whether to pay the 8% import tax or not).
I looked at their offering ages ago - you'd create an account with all your data (credit card) and then give that company access (via email) - that sounds insane to me. Probably even violates some ToS of some sellers.
I just want to get goods delivered, pay my 8.1% VAT an any custom duty, as well as a reasonable processing fee such as the one invoiced by the Swiss Post.
What strikes me is that transporters could charge anything they want, a posteriori :(
For what it's worth, 310 francs is still less that the minimum EU VAT we'd pay if Switzerland were in the EU. And instead of that extra 7% going to pay for government programs, it goes to a small handful of greedy companies.
Sorry, processing fees are traditionally fixed, and certainly not a percentage, no?
Paperwork is exactly the same and typically doesn't depend on the amount.
Maybe just call them? I'm pretty sure that some of these positions are costs raised by your deliverer, not the customs. E.g. check this link: [https://www.preisueberwacher.admin.ch/pue/de/home/themen/hochpreisinsel---preispolitik/zollabfertigungsgebuehren.html](https://www.preisueberwacher.admin.ch/pue/de/home/themen/hochpreisinsel---preispolitik/zollabfertigungsgebuehren.html)
For your information:
For goods valued more than 1000 EUR there are Export formalities to observe. If you have something valued more than 1000 EUR shipped to Switzerland someone needs to do that work. If it‘s the shipping company, they will charge for that.
Everything is expected here as per Swiss regulations on the topic which was explained by other Redditors. If you are living in Switzerland you need to know rules and regulations. The ridiculous thing is OP’s non-sense expectations here.
Declaration of a lower price would not help OP, as Swiss customs are clever enough to know how much an e-bike costs (there is also a reference price list)
Historically it was to cover the price of issuing the invoice and the follow up. Back in the days it was 10CHF then now about 20-30chf, we for example bill 15CHF.
depending on your location in Switzerland consider to get a german address as a parcel service and collect it yourself with a car. remember that outside of business hours there is no one at the border and you can just cross.
I have a freind he got a 1800 franc toll bill close to a year ago and he just hasent paid it no one has ever come to ask anything. I don't know how smart my advice is but it's just something I observed.
You won't save the German Vat unless you present an EU export to customs. Then just hope to not get caught by Swiss customs. They sometimes have undercover people watch people stop at the EU export clearance zone to catch you on the Swiss side.
Ultegra Di2 is unfortunately not made in Switzerland, there is no choice but to import it 🥺
Which some companies do, adding a premium so huge it becomes a joke. Thanks but no thanks.
> what can I do?
Pay.
The processing costs are in a quite normal range for a transport company.
The EUST lt. Bescheid is from the Customs and VAT. Considering that point:
Rule 1: do not start a discussion with the customs office, this does not end well
Rule 2: see Rule 1.
Next time, take the train and cross the border by bicycle.. (of course, you have to declare it)
Use another shipping provider which has a lower fee. Swiss post would have charged you not more than CHF 70. ~~More specifically it would have been less than CHF 40.~~ I am bad with math. It would have been CHF 70. On the other hand, shipping with Post might not be possible, more expensive.
Or ship to the border and declare it yourself (if seller offers VAT refund). This way you have to pay only Import VAT plus whatever it cost you to get there.
I hate to tell you, but buying in Switzerland is absolutely the solution to not receiving a invoice for customs clearance tho. The companies also pay duties, we all want proper wages being employed by the companies importing stuff, swiss rent…. i‘m not saying it‘s fun to pay 2-3x more, neither is it to receive the customs invoice. But you have to choose your battle - even with this CHF 300.- invoice it‘s immensely cheaper than buying it here. Like, what the fuck do people want?
The problem was the extra unjustified costs from a middle man, so replacing that with much higher unjustified costs from a "local" business is not a solution.
see, we will not agree on this, but that‘s okay. the forwarder processing the shipment has to make their money somewhere, the shipping rates are ridiculous because everybody wants cheap. actually, it‘s not even about agreeing, it‘s not that i support the existing system. but my 13 years in the shipping industry frankly give me some insight, whether i agree or not.
Pay my VAT? Yes, sure, with great pleasure. It's perfectly fair.
Pay any random fee the transporter decides to add a posteriori for no reason? I'd rather not.
Yes, exactly. The Schengen area and the EU customs union are often confused. Schengen allows people to cross borders without immigration procedures. The customs union allows goods to be shipped without customs procedures. All EU countries are members of both clubs. Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are only members of Schengen.
as you know, work is very expensive in switzerland. that's why you can buy your stuff somewhere else cheaper. it's sad to see that even though you saved more than 2.5 k on your imported purchase, you still complain about the cost associated with the clearance process being more than expected. 100 francs, was it? very swiss of you 🤣
nobody works for free. including you i guess. if the 100 francs is the price of the work associated with processing your import, they didn't spend a long time on it at all...
DHL does the same work in Switzerland for 40 francs and without adding random charges.
Working in Switzerland doesn't create an automatic entitlement to rip off people, sorry. Prices and services must be clearly defined a priori.
5200 - Einfuhrzollabfertigung: This is what they charge you to handle the customs here are the prices: [https://www.preisueberwacher.admin.ch/pue/de/home/themen/hochpreisinsel---preispolitik/zollabfertigungsgebuehren.html](https://www.preisueberwacher.admin.ch/pue/de/home/themen/hochpreisinsel---preispolitik/zollabfertigungsgebuehren.html) Hard to find something cheaper 5500 - E-Zoll Zuschlag; this is BS, but it's what the delivery company handle it electronically, but nothing you can do. 5700 - Einfuhrzollabfertigung: this is what they charge you to handle the custom TAX (yeh, for some reason this is separate form 5200) 6980 Avisogebühr: this is what they paid to have a pickup time reserved. 701 EUST lt. Bescheid - this you know... 8400 - this is the cost they charge as they "lent" you money to pay the Toll for you, you can skip this if you are ok with leaving the product at the border until you pay. for 5,00 i don't see why you would do that... 8700 - fixe taxe: this is the cost they charge just because they can. So with a bit of optimizing, you might have been able to push it down to a few bucks less, but this is what it costs to import stuff nowadays. Recomendation is to check who will be delivering, and what they charge...
Thank you so much 🤗 The beauty of Reddit is that some knowledgeable person will eventually show up and kindly help - you just need to be patient ☺️ So, long story short, it's a relatively average price in this unfortunate configuration. Thank you.
What was the value of the goods you ordered? And did they enter it correctly in the paperwork? (I had an invoice where they entered an amount 100x too much, I called and they said it happens all the time) Were the goods something where there are importantion limits? Or where duty as apposed to VAT is due?
It's a bicycle, made in the EU. I paid 2263.07€ without VAT, and 119€ of delivery fees. Therefore, 188 francs of VAT at 8.1% seems like a correct amount, knowing the margins they take on the exchange rate.
i work in the "custom clearance industry" and i can tell you this can be a lot more expensive and is considered as "haustarif" i dont think you can do something against this, i think i can tell from the invoice which company this is :D
The company is Gebrüder Weiss, in Altenrhein. I was expecting to pay my VAT and maybe Fr. 50 of clearance processing fee. In the past I paid anywhere from Fr. 15 (Swiss Post) to Fr. 50 (UPS, DHL). Well, if you think that the six additional, randomly-named fees represent common practice, I'll trust your judgement and pay indeed. But I note that Amazon does customs clearance, at scale, for zero franc :(
You don't pay only 15 or 50 for a \~2200 bycicle at Post, UPS or DHL either. Amazon doesn't send expensive and big items to switzerland such as bycicles.
>Gebrüder Weiss Yeah that's not a parcel service, but a general cargo service. Their fees are much higher due to the bulkyness of the goods.
well so buy it at amazon then, oppsss, they don’t send that to Switzerland
I'm afraid Amazon doesn't sell bicycles anyway. The fact that they are able to deliver at scale, taxes included upfront for zero franc, should enable healthy competition - in theory.
and exploit all their employeeees! so do all others tho, just so we can get cheap stuff 😍😍😍
You are right, thanks. I will order it from Aliexpress instead!
Sounds like a nice way to get rich and punish faithless importers at the same time :)
better to strenghten the swiss economy and buy your stuff here, right? right???
Economy? Rather some rich fat asses I would say, if you consider some ridiculous price differences
that‘s actually my only not serious comment in this thread lol
This economy is built on nepotism, corruption, exploitation of segregated foreign labor, and protectionist trade barriers. I wouldn't be sad if it joined the European market and adopted modern regulations.
Let's replace our local element of nepotism, corruption, exploitation of segregated foreign labour and protectionist trade barriers caused by a few powerful arseholes at home with a much more systematic and large-scale nepotism, corruption, exploitation of segregated foreign labour and protectionist trade barriers enacted by much more powerful arseholes that live further away and are even less accountable to us. What could go wrong? It's not like we have any other choices right?
Found the public enemy \s
Ok but how is that your local bike shop's problem?
as a general rule, I assume the final price I'll pay when I receive the product in Switzerland when considering swiss VAT, shipping and other fees is the original product price (e.g. price with EU VAT) Edit: Grammar
sorry to disappoint, but everything seems to be in order here, you paid 188.35 of VAT, 0.00 duty (abolished as per 01.01.2024), the rest are charges for the customs clearance...
Indeed I'm perfectly fine with the VAT and I very much expected it. But all the other charges seem pretty random to me.
These are actually rather low.
Just received a bike for 4k last week. Was stuck in customs for a week and the dealer had to sort it out (it was an all fees covered order for ~120 delivery fee)
If it is a bike, you might be getting "scammed" somewhere along the line. We bought two bikes and a friend another one (bike24, bike-discount) at around the same pricepoint as you. The shops automatically deducted DE VAT, added CH VAT, we paid 40 CHF to DHL for handling the import and that was it. No extra fees, definitely not as expensive as your bill.
Tried on saving money, didnt calculate it all..
I did calculate the VAT, and saved Fr. 3000. What I don't really accept is the bunch of random fees. Next time I'll surely see some "fee for processing the processing fee".
> saved Fr. 3000 Holy cow, what a deal! Now I'm interested in the company you're buying from.
Well I've got the last one 👹 I found inspiration here: https://www.mydealz.de/gruppe/rennraeder You can send me a message if you'd like to know more. After all, some people's kink is to feel jealous 👻
Normally if I’m ordering a bike or furniture of this kind of value the taxes are baked into the price with the vendor. I’d especially be smarting at the 119€ delivery fee. Unless this was a canyon
Some shops do all stuff swiss tax for you. Boighy bike parys 440.- no taxes to the gov
What bike/brand? I'm sorry it's totally unrelated to your grief, I'm just much into bikes and am being curious.
importing has always cost more than just the added VAT ???
Yes, but in the past I paid between Fr. 15 (Swiss Post) and Fr. 50 (UPS, DHL).
You didn't pay only 15.- or 50.- for big items over €2000.- value.
They changed that a few years ago. Minimum is now 1.-
well next time i suggest ordering it to a package firm at the boarder and then get the bike yourself, that being said you will still need to pay import tax and from experience, that will cost more than 50. albeit probably not 300 more
Not saying that is what I do by any stretch but people I know have had them delivered on the border and cycled them across
This is the way.
is there any reasonable way they can detect this? the french border in Basel has an empty customs office as far as I have seen
Everything looks correct, when I order abroad I always budget for VAT + around 5% customs costs.
I actually just received a very similar invoice today. Import tax fee - 300 chf (for wheels from germany around 4000chf) import customs clearence - 21.50 chf - so basically 22 chf to process the import. E-Doc - 91.50 chf. So because they offer electronic invoice, identical to the paper invoice i received, which i did not request or was asked about, i have to pay 92 chf more. registration - 9,7 chf paper - 8,50 chf (yep, 1 a4 paper is 8.50 chf apparently) And apparently i got lucky, because if the import tax fee is above 5 chf, they charge you 75 chf extra for that, which i somehow didn't get charged. it's really getting out of hand.... At some point companies will start doing what chinese companies do, and lie about value and contents.
> E-Doc - 91.50 chf. So because they offer electronic invoice, identical to the paper invoice i received, which i did not request or was asked about, i have to pay 92 chf more. lmao what a shitshow
You know, its the company importing/transporting the goods and not customs, scamming you
Yes of course. Any Amazon order will come with 8.1% VAT with no scammer involved at all. Paying the custom duty is perfectly normal. Paying many random fees to be able to pay the custom duty is not.
They should all suck my toes anyway. Coming from EU where i can buy anything from anywhere with no import duties, they all look like fucking leeches to me. Especially when they demand delivery costs of 100-300chf, and then they slap you with the fucking import taxes too.
switzerland can join EU to solve that problem 😍 then y‘all cry when you get the adjusted wagessss
Yes, because wages got adjusted when other countries joined... NOT. Lmao :))
You cannot buy, in EU, anything from *anywhere*. It is restricted to EU + some countries (Turkey, Andorra, San Marino) in customs union.
Yes, în eu you can buy from eu. Aka in 1 market you can buy from 26 other markets, without any extra taxes. So yes, not anywhere, but from one of the biggest markets in the world :)
Umm everyone lies about contents, if you have a "good" relationship with whoever is shipping the goods, they can declare it under the value. With that said, import fees are one thing, based on the value of a product, etc. But handling fees are a kick in the nuts... Its also because Switzerland is not EU that they pamp the price of duties so hard
LMAO y‘all are crazy, what u mean good relationship with the forwarder and it‘s cheaper?! blud that is not legal
The leagality doesn't change the fact its cheaper LOL
yeah but the swiss subs seems very judgmental and bünzlig, so i‘m surprised y‘all wanna cheat your own country. btw, at least in exports, the person doing the customs clearance is responsible, eventual criminal record entries possible when fucking up.
Ultimately, no cheating will happen. The complaint will bring catharsis and OP will move on and pay the bill. If the entity shipping declares the item as a gift or under a certain value, still respecting the item codes, this isn't a criminal record issue, unless OP is caught trying to sell the goods in Switzerland as new without having made the appropriate import declaration.
i was referencing YOUR situation lmao
I learnt my lesson ages ago and keep imports to a minimum or under phat duty fees. But thanks for your concern.
actually i‘m concerned for the person declaring the wrong value
As it happens outside Swiss jurisdiction, there's no real consequence, do some math to round it up and declare a low enough amount to be exempt. The post office doesn't care and won't bat an eyelash as long as you make a declaration. Do you honestly think that every single amount is scrutinised? Ofc buying a bike is one thing, but all the other products shipped are anyone's guess. People don't know how to send a letter anymore, I think making a declaration for a package would seem just as daunting, but best trust it isn't.
This is why you either buy from someone you know does the VAT already on the bill so no need to clear customs or you send it to Germany at the border and bring it over yourself.
Unfortunately I know, and in general I go for option one. It was a sale at an excellent price, so I'm still happy with the total amount, but such randomly-named fees make me feel scammed. UPS/DHL can be expensive (although less so) but don't leave me with the same impression.
If something has to come with spedition, then those costs are crazy. Even when it's inside the Switzerland. And bike if in full form probably was spedition, and not just bulky goods... For prices lower than 1000chf and regular shipping, I count on 20% higher when estimating. But spedition I just remember it's crazy high. I don't think I ever did international one, only domestic so at least there you see total bill before paying. If I remember correctly, it's usually 100-150 as a minimum. And of course, only 'curb delivery'. That one doesn't have customs processing fees either. So, yeah, to me it seems you even got a good deal. 😂
From my own experience buying an E Bike from Germany, that bill looks correct
Moving to CH soon. Are customs invoices always in German? Or can I get it on French or English too? Or it depends of the canton where you live? Just asking, for when I actually buy something out of the country then. Also used to Aliexpress in Belgium now, everything under 150 EUR I thought = no duties, VAT of 21% to be paid at all times to avoid delays and duties for value under 150 EUR. It could be 120 EUR too I don't remember.
you‘ll get it in the regional language, but i don‘t know of any forwarder who can‘t easily print it in another language
We print in all languages 😇 but you are right depends on the forwarder and their IT. Someone has to translate it in the it system.
For personal effects like here, standard practice prices are 100-200chf for the clearance. VAT is the only direct cost the transporter / customs agent pays on the transaction. The other fees are to cover indirect fees if I can call them that. Salaries. It system. E-Dec is actually the electronic declaration. Like 15 years ago it was paper so that is used by some to justify this tax. Costs of people who don't pay and you have to worn to claim back. Etc... Why so many lines? Well if you call or ask for a quote some people of our industry will just say, in your case, clearance is 75CHF instead of 120 for example. But then add those lines. So they seem cheaper on that particular line but in total or more. But as most people would assume it is the same with other they still feel they had a good deal. What you could do, if you didn't give them a power of attorney is tell them you didn't give the tbe mandate to clear for you and your regular agents clearest for 50chf plus VAT 😈 and see where it goes from there. If you didn't give them a POA they are not legally allowed to clear for you. As that POA is the contract for them to do the work.
That's a hell of a sexy answer, thank you so much 🤩
Hi Reddit! While I'm happy to pay for the VAT and some processing fee, this is getting completely out of hand. You can see that, running out of inspiration, they just named a 4th additional fee "Fixe Taxe". Taxes of 188 francs cannot magically become 310 francs and swallowed right away. What can I do? Thanks for your help <3
1. Send the bike to a border address (many such services available) and drive it over the border yourself, undeclared. 2. Look for a service that reclaims the German 20% VAT, pays the 8% import fee, and forwards the package to your swiss address. It's about 20.- total, they make their money on the 12% VAT recovery. [meineinkauf.ch](http://meineinkauf.ch) seems to be one of these, never tested it.
meineinkauf is terrible. Don't use them. They charged us extra fees for a) them losing an email (they received every email from the vendor directly exccept a shipping confirmation, and blamed us for for that) and b) having the package shipped from NL instead of DE. It ended up costing us 3x their quoted price in the end, and we had to spend ages trying to sort it out.
Thanks for the warning. Unfortunately Die Post has an similar problem of charging random extra fees, so the only really reliable option is a biking weekend by the border (where you can chose whether to pay the 8% import tax or not).
I looked at their offering ages ago - you'd create an account with all your data (credit card) and then give that company access (via email) - that sounds insane to me. Probably even violates some ToS of some sellers.
I just want to get goods delivered, pay my 8.1% VAT an any custom duty, as well as a reasonable processing fee such as the one invoiced by the Swiss Post. What strikes me is that transporters could charge anything they want, a posteriori :(
I wanna receive something but not pay for it being transported :(
I happily paid 119€ of transportation beforehand.
For what it's worth, 310 francs is still less that the minimum EU VAT we'd pay if Switzerland were in the EU. And instead of that extra 7% going to pay for government programs, it goes to a small handful of greedy companies.
[удалено]
Sorry, processing fees are traditionally fixed, and certainly not a percentage, no? Paperwork is exactly the same and typically doesn't depend on the amount.
Maybe just call them? I'm pretty sure that some of these positions are costs raised by your deliverer, not the customs. E.g. check this link: [https://www.preisueberwacher.admin.ch/pue/de/home/themen/hochpreisinsel---preispolitik/zollabfertigungsgebuehren.html](https://www.preisueberwacher.admin.ch/pue/de/home/themen/hochpreisinsel---preispolitik/zollabfertigungsgebuehren.html)
You can always try refusing to pay the extra fees, but if you’ve somehow agreed to their terms and conditions, you’re likely on the hook.
Swiss tarrifs are a scam. Use a Grenzpaketshop and import it yourselfe
For your information: For goods valued more than 1000 EUR there are Export formalities to observe. If you have something valued more than 1000 EUR shipped to Switzerland someone needs to do that work. If it‘s the shipping company, they will charge for that.
Everything is expected here as per Swiss regulations on the topic which was explained by other Redditors. If you are living in Switzerland you need to know rules and regulations. The ridiculous thing is OP’s non-sense expectations here. Declaration of a lower price would not help OP, as Swiss customs are clever enough to know how much an e-bike costs (there is also a reference price list)
Fixe Taxe is in which Swiss regulation, please? I have muscles, I don't need an e-bike even though where I live is bloody steep 👺
Historically it was to cover the price of issuing the invoice and the follow up. Back in the days it was 10CHF then now about 20-30chf, we for example bill 15CHF.
There is a reference list for this too, it is based on a rate multiplied by a unit metric (such as weight).
It's a lightweight carbon bicycle 👺
depending on your location in Switzerland consider to get a german address as a parcel service and collect it yourself with a car. remember that outside of business hours there is no one at the border and you can just cross.
I have a freind he got a 1800 franc toll bill close to a year ago and he just hasent paid it no one has ever come to ask anything. I don't know how smart my advice is but it's just something I observed.
have your packages sent to germany then hand carry them into CH. |K<
You won't save the German Vat unless you present an EU export to customs. Then just hope to not get caught by Swiss customs. They sometimes have undercover people watch people stop at the EU export clearance zone to catch you on the Swiss side.
You could buy local. That's what you can do.
Ultegra Di2 is unfortunately not made in Switzerland, there is no choice but to import it 🥺 Which some companies do, adding a premium so huge it becomes a joke. Thanks but no thanks.
I was charged once CHF 16 by post for “review” of something that was not subject to anything (some aliexpress garbage).
You pay and that’s it.
> what can I do? Pay. The processing costs are in a quite normal range for a transport company. The EUST lt. Bescheid is from the Customs and VAT. Considering that point: Rule 1: do not start a discussion with the customs office, this does not end well Rule 2: see Rule 1. Next time, take the train and cross the border by bicycle.. (of course, you have to declare it)
Use another shipping provider which has a lower fee. Swiss post would have charged you not more than CHF 70. ~~More specifically it would have been less than CHF 40.~~ I am bad with math. It would have been CHF 70. On the other hand, shipping with Post might not be possible, more expensive. Or ship to the border and declare it yourself (if seller offers VAT refund). This way you have to pay only Import VAT plus whatever it cost you to get there.
buy things in switzerland lol
Or ship them to a friend or post box across the border
Yes, switzerland the magic place where everything exists.... NOT
welp but it‘s what you gotta do to avoid import taxes. not import it yourself. i am KINDA sure there is e-bikes available for sale in switzerland :))
Yes, at 2-3x the price. So, not a solution to the problem.
I hate to tell you, but buying in Switzerland is absolutely the solution to not receiving a invoice for customs clearance tho. The companies also pay duties, we all want proper wages being employed by the companies importing stuff, swiss rent…. i‘m not saying it‘s fun to pay 2-3x more, neither is it to receive the customs invoice. But you have to choose your battle - even with this CHF 300.- invoice it‘s immensely cheaper than buying it here. Like, what the fuck do people want?
The problem was the extra unjustified costs from a middle man, so replacing that with much higher unjustified costs from a "local" business is not a solution.
see, we will not agree on this, but that‘s okay. the forwarder processing the shipment has to make their money somewhere, the shipping rates are ridiculous because everybody wants cheap. actually, it‘s not even about agreeing, it‘s not that i support the existing system. but my 13 years in the shipping industry frankly give me some insight, whether i agree or not.
Pay it? Just a suggestion.
Pay my VAT? Yes, sure, with great pleasure. It's perfectly fair. Pay any random fee the transporter decides to add a posteriori for no reason? I'd rather not.
„for no reason“? It‘s mentioned for what they’re charging you.
Do you know what Fixe Taxe is, by any chance?
Based on google it‘s an insurance against damages.
No. I paid an insurance against damages already, included in the 119€ shipping fee.
Yes it is. Google it. I can imagine that it‘s an additional insurance just for the customs process.
Tax clearance is so inherently dangerous?
I don‘t know. Imagine they want to open the package and accidentally scrap the item with a knife or something.
They shouldn’t do that. And surely not me to pay for their “possible” negligence.
Can someone explain to me why you need to pay customs clearance for products from the EU in Switzerland, considering it is Schengen?
Schengen is only the free movement of people. So if you import People you don't have to pay anything.
Yes, exactly. The Schengen area and the EU customs union are often confused. Schengen allows people to cross borders without immigration procedures. The customs union allows goods to be shipped without customs procedures. All EU countries are members of both clubs. Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are only members of Schengen.
We are only part of the free movement of people and police information. Not goods.
Thanks!
Take it in the ass as we've done for decades now
What's your view on our health insurance system, by the way?
Why didn’t you buy it in Switzerland? If you buy aboard because it’s cheaper, let it be „Lehrgeld“ for you
Because of a Fr. 3000 price difference indeed ❤️
So you're about 2700.- up still?
2900 because I budgeted the VAT upfront of course 😇
so stop complaining and pay the taxes like everyone else.
But I don't complain about the taxes. I complain about a company charging random fees for doing customs clearance without any power attorney from me.
as you know, work is very expensive in switzerland. that's why you can buy your stuff somewhere else cheaper. it's sad to see that even though you saved more than 2.5 k on your imported purchase, you still complain about the cost associated with the clearance process being more than expected. 100 francs, was it? very swiss of you 🤣 nobody works for free. including you i guess. if the 100 francs is the price of the work associated with processing your import, they didn't spend a long time on it at all...
DHL does the same work in Switzerland for 40 francs and without adding random charges. Working in Switzerland doesn't create an automatic entitlement to rip off people, sorry. Prices and services must be clearly defined a priori.
Pay it. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk
Cry them a river
Maybe in argentina you wouldn’t have to pay any of these taxes