The article is not mentioning a really important part: the tax is per item category in the package, not per package.
So if you buy an USB cable and a piece of plastic on AliExpress, for 1€ each, the total price would be 1€ + 1€ + 3.60€ + 3.60€ = 9.2€ instead of 2€.
This is ridiculous, and will kill many hobbies. IMHO it's worse than Trump tariffs. A per-parcel charge would have made some sense at least.
yorwba•14m ago
A per-package charge would have the obvious loophole that you could put many small packages inside a bigger package, pay only once, and then split it up again to send the contents onward to individual recipients. This is already done to save on postage.
The per-item charge encourages making even bigger bundles exceeding the de minimis threshold, at which point the importer can pay the regular tariff.
So hobbyists will still be able to get small amounts of cheap components, but they will be shipped in bulk and tariffed.
nickslaughter02•30m ago
Can't compete on price? Make foreign goods more expensive! The same has happened with steel imports.
ftruzzi•1h ago
So if you buy an USB cable and a piece of plastic on AliExpress, for 1€ each, the total price would be 1€ + 1€ + 3.60€ + 3.60€ = 9.2€ instead of 2€.
This is ridiculous, and will kill many hobbies. IMHO it's worse than Trump tariffs. A per-parcel charge would have made some sense at least.
yorwba•14m ago
The per-item charge encourages making even bigger bundles exceeding the de minimis threshold, at which point the importer can pay the regular tariff.
So hobbyists will still be able to get small amounts of cheap components, but they will be shipped in bulk and tariffed.