Ordering from outside the EU

When you place an order from outside the European Union, you naturally want to know which tax rate (VAT) you are dealing with and what possible costs apply. You can read all about that on this page.

  1. Which countries belong to the EU?
  2. What costs should I take into account?
    2a. Import duties
    2b. VAT
    2c. Other costs
  3. How are import duties calculated?
  4. Where can I find information about import duties?
  5. On which value do I have to pay VAT?
  6. How do I pay import duties, VAT and other costs?
  7. Which carriers do you work with?
  8. Orders from the United Kingdom
  9. Returns from outside the EU

1.       Which countries belong to the EU?

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Cyprus, Spain, Sweden.

All other countries are non-EU countries.

2.       What costs should I take into account?

If you order from a country outside the EU, you will receive an invoice from us stating the price of the products you ordered and the transport costs. There is no VAT (0% rate) on the invoice itself.

Your order goes through customs and upon arrival in the destination country your order must be cleared. The costs are at your expense. Only after you have paid these costs can your order be delivered.

You must take the following costs into account:

2a.       Import duties

Import duties vary per product and per country. As a rule of thumb you can use a percentage of 2 to 4.5%.

2b.      VAT

You pay the VAT percentage that applies in your country.

2c.       Other costs

You pay handling costs to the carrier to clear your order. Depending on the carrier, this is either a fixed amount or a percentage (approx.2-3%) of the import duties and VAT you have to pay.

3.       How are import duties calculated?

You can calculate the import duties by adding the price of the products and the shipping costs and multiplying by the percentage of import duties. So: Import duties amount = (price of the products + shipping costs) * the percentage of import duties that applies to the country of destination. Example: Suppose the product price is €1000, the shipping costs are €30, and the percentage of import duties in your country is 8.5%. You can then calculate the amount of import duties you have to pay with this sum: (€1000 + €30) * 0.085 = €87.55. Please note, this is an example!

4.       Where can I find information about import duties?

Import duties vary per product and per country. The transport company can give you more information about the import duties you have to pay. You can also find more information on government websites. For the most common countries we give you a link to such a website:

5.       On which value do I have to pay VAT?

You pay VAT on the value of the products, the shipping costs and import duties. The VAT rate in the country of destination applies. So:

VAT payable = (price of the products + shipping costs + import duties) * the percentage of VAT applicable in the destination country. Example: Suppose the product price is €1000, the shipping costs are €30, and the import duty in the destination country is 8.5%, and the VAT percentage in the destination country is 25%. The import duties have been calculated using the same example figures Step 3, so €87.55. You then calculate the VAT to be paid as follows: (€1000 + €30 + €87.55) * 0.25 = €279.39 in VAT. Please note, this is an example!

6.       How do I pay import duties, VAT and other costs?

Your carrier will take care of the customs clearance of your order. He will inform you of the total costs and will ask you to pay them. He will only deliver the order to you once the costs have been paid. You can usually pay via the track-and-trace code.

7.       Which carriers do you work with?

We have agreements with various carriers. Which one we use depends on the order and the country of destination. You can track your order via a track-and-trace code.

The couriers we use most are:

  • GLS
  • UPS
  • DHL
  • PostNL
  • Parcelforce

8.       Orders from the United Kingdom

We ship orders to the UK via PostNL. You pay the import duties, VAT and handling costs to Parcelforce. You can use the track-and-trace code that you received via PostNL for this. So:

Orders destined for the United Kingdom = pay costs to Parcelforce with the PostNL track-and-trace code.

9. Returns from outside the EU

We have created a special page with all necessary information about returns outside the EU. View the page Returns from outside the EU.