More Charges To Impede International Sales

This is even more dain bramaged than tariffs. Rather than being based upon declared value or per parcel/shipment, it is per ITEM inside each parcel.

These charges have been introduced, primarily, to make it more expensive for EU citizens to buy from Chinese websites that dump dangerous stuff on the European market.

As usual, the European Commission did not have the guts to introduce these charges for purchases from these sites. Consequently, you are charged for purchases under EUR 150, irrespective of their non-EU origin and content. The expectation is that the more reliable sellers from countries that are not dumping will charge the fee and provide appropriate documentation.

Reality, likely, is that when you buy EUR 10 worth of stamps, you get charged EUR 3 per line item plus a EUR 12 administrative fee. Or, in the case of ebay, they will provide an all-in service for EUR 25. And with a bit of luck, you pay it on every item.

Over EUR 150, charges already applied. And for many items duties were levied on every value. Every now and then, a brain-dead dummy at Tallents House does not correctly fill out the IOSS form and you pay VAT on new issue stamps through Tallents House and you, still, get charged 9% plus a minimum of EUR 12 for clearing.

The implementation was announced a few months ago and the plans were published over a year ago. The Dutch government announced such charges for the start of 2026, but postponed them when the EU stopped dragging its feet and announced them for 1 July.

I wonder if there will be an exemption for stamps like there is with HS 9704.00.0000 into the US at some point..otherwise this won't be worth shipping anything low value into EU. Super.

From what I found, stamps are subject to these charges.

According to the EU guidance notes, "The duty applies per item in a consignment, based on tariff classification (not quantity). Illustrative example showcasing how it will work in practice:"

[Five T-shirts is one item, at 3 euros duty, one T-shirt and one watch is two items, at 6 euros duty.]

Okay, so 20,000 T-shirts and 10,000 watches is two items, customs duty 6 euros. Fair enough.

No, this only applies to items under EUR 150. 20,000 T-shirts, even from China, is a tad over 150.

"Rather than being based upon declared value or per parcel/shipment, it is per ITEM inside each parcel."

I don't see that in ebay's announcement. If you mean a collection of stamps would be charged a fee for each separate stamp, does it say somewhere they would do that? Why wouldn't the shipper simply identify the shipment as one stamp collection or one stamp album and pay only the one fee? Or even "group of stamp albums"? I cannot imagine an album with 2,000 stamps is going to be assessed 2,000 individual shipping fees.

Just waiting for the political outrage like when certain US costs were announced. Not holding my breath but will check back later this month.


Edit: Now if it was (it is not) per stamp, it would certainly reduce the Chinese printed forgers entering the EU.

Per line on the declaration form. 20,000 t-shirts is one line.
How this works when someone declares
1 1970 USA stamp
2 1971 USA stamps
1 1958 Cuba stamp
remains unclear to me. I shall find out soon enough, having ordered a dozen stamp books from Royal Mail.

Agree. Stupid plan. EC will not listen. The intention to stop China dumping dangerous subsidised garbage is good. But the implementation is garbage.

Where on earth is there any threat to fair competition when buying stamps that are unavailable in the EU.

By the way, this charge is temporary until a normal duty scheme for sendings under € 150 will be implemented by 2028. We will see whether the new system will be implemented before 2035.

The Commission must report on the impact on trade in this segment by the end of 2027. My guess is either "no impact" or "we cannot measure."

I just collected a sending of stamps, presentation pack, and stamp booklets I ordered from Tallents House, earlier this week. The order had a value of less than € 150. VAT had been collected by Royal Mail under IOSS. No charge was applied. I do not know whether this was because:

- the sending slipped through customs unnoticed,
- the UK is exempted from these duties under some type of agreement between the EU and the UK. The information provided by the EU clearly stated that IOSS does not exempt sendings from the small parcels charge (the charge is a duty and IOSS allows for the sender to collect VAT on sendings to EU countries in the country of origin, on behalf of the recipient country, or
- stamps are exempt from import duties.

As far as I am aware, the charge applies to small parcels entering the EU from 1 July 2026. There should not be a grace period to allow for parcels posted before that date. My order was submitted after that date.
As the service fee has remained unchanged at £ 8 per sending, I doubt Royal Mail paid the duty.

As an EU buyer, I would be very wary of any charges added onto stamp orders by platforms such as ebay, especially on orders from European non-EU countries that are member of EFTA (iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Norway) and the UK.

According to the webpage of a UK accountancy firm, the UK-EU trade is not exempt. However, they state that the charge is per tariff heading, not per item. The examples they give are of three different items in one parcel (such as t-shirt, mobile phone, saucepan) which attracts a charge of 9 euros, because they come under three different tariff headings. I assume that a parcel of stamps valued at less than 150 euros comes under one tariff heading and therefore attracts a charge of 3 euros.