What you currently have to pay particular attention to

Since July 1st, those who buy from Amazon have to be very careful which retailer they order from. There was an important change in Germany that affects additional costs that arise when ordering from China. You don’t see the problem at first glance.

Amazon: Ordering from China can be expensive

Anyone who orders something from China has already been doing so since July 1st Checkout from the first cent of purchase value. There is no tax exemption up to 26.28 euros and you have to pay an import sales tax of 19 percent on everything. Basically, you can say that all orders from China will be more expensive. Basically it doesn’t matter if you know that. When ordering on Amazon, however, it is not always clear from which country the product is being shipped, as I quickly noticed from my own example.

I wanted to order a nice LED lamp for my garden (look at Amazon). Since I have a Prime membership, I usually always make sure that I order with Prime Delivery anyway. But especially for products such as LED lamps, there are a lot of retailers on Amazon who do not offer Prime, but where shipping is still free. And that’s exactly where you have to look very carefully. These Deliveries mostly come from China and you have to pay import sales tax for it. The problem is that you don’t see that on the overview page.

As a buyer, I don’t know that the 22.99 euros additional import fees would come. The price advantage of around 7 euros compared to a similar product with delivery from Germany would be almost completely consumed and I would have additional work if I still have to go to customs to pick up the order.

In this Video we explain the most important facts about returns on Amazon:

What should you watch out for with Amazon orders?

Even if Amazon does not directly indicate that a delivery is taking place from China, there are several clues that can be used to recognize this:

• Long delivery time: If a delivery of a product in stock takes several weeks, there is a very high probability that the delivery will come from China.
• Dealer details: Always click on the dealer before buying. CN is the abbreviation for China. And the other address data also shows that this dealer does not come from Germany.

Chinese merchants with Prime Delivery on Amazon

The fact that a Chinese retailer sells his goods via Amazon is basically not a problem. Many have their goods already imported to Europe and offer delivery with Prime from Germany. You don’t have to fear any additional fees. Only with direct delivery from China is there the risk of being asked to check out and the bargain suddenly no longer being a bargain. As long as Amazon does not indicate this more clearly, you have to be on your guard not to experience a nasty surprise.