This story is very recent and I am sharing it so that you can laugh with me on the one hand, and if a similar case were to arise, you should also think and consider before jumping into something. Don´t be me.
In one of my weekend vibezz articles, I mentioned that there was a very good opportunity for me to buy my selected cross-stitch kit that I wanted. The option pays 2, gets three.
Unfortunately, the company - Luca S - location is not part of the European Union (Moldova), but since I already ordered a small value package from England, I thought that the customs costs would not be too bad. Oh, I'm naïve 😅.
I ordered and paid for the package, I actually received the 3rd x-stitch kit for free and the postage was also free. To my surprise, the company sent it to the post office the next day and then I saw that it was coming from England, I think from one of their depots. It was already in Austria during the weekend and approx. it took 4 days at the postal customs service.
It finally got out of "captivity" last week Friday and I received it today... but I also got a bit of a shock when the post lady told me how much it would cost me to get it.
It surpassed all my expectations and I blinked like a fish in a bag - it cost 87,87 euros. I paid (bye my saved money 😭), brought it in and started laughing. I made the purchase of the century! (irony) The money I saved with my 3rd kit and postage, I now spent on customs. I calculated that if I had bought all of this in the German online store from which I am used to it, I would have achieved about the same result. After the laughter came the thought "what the hell did it cost so much", since I paid almost 50% of the value of the package for customs costs. This is complete robbery...ok, there is a 20% customs tariff... the value limit is 150 euros which I overstep... but how did they come up with this amount?
England, why did you leave the EU?
Anyway, out of curiosity, I read the Austrian customs reviews on Google (I haven't read so many bad reviews in a long time) and I am very grateful that I received my package within a relatively "short" time, unopened, undamaged and complete.
If by chance I want to open an online shop and order from outside the EU again...well, I probably wouldn't do it. Now that was a "big" lesson.
It was really a very good offer, the company was fast, orderly, reliable and I would order from them again, if only the customs tariff wouldn't be so...so high. I didn't think of that. That's why I laughed when I think how good deal I made and in reality about this tax thing - no.
But it's funny...my purchases of the decade...and the big robbery.
Now I'm praying that whatever I've invested in this hobby comes back...
These will be my next projects :
This 1st picture took my heart a long time ago, - it´s gorgeous...and this will be my biggest picture yet.
Thanks for your attention, if you order from abroad, really look into the customs costs, because an offer is useless if it's not worth it. This was the lesson - research work - but even so, sometimes the math doesn't work out.
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