alt Hacker News> This is why in some European countries, that $1 item from China with free shipping can end up costing $10, because you're paying $0.25 in VAT or import taxes, and $10 to the shipping courier for doing the paperwork.
Not the big China exporters, not any more. They all include taxes in the price on your country specific web site, ship to their warehouses inside the EU, handle taxes and your local courier just delivers.
Now if you're talking DHL yes, they have you fill forms upon forms and charge you for the forms you didn't ask for. But if that happens, no one will have time to process all the forms so private imports from China will simply ... halt for a while. Until Temu/AliExpress/etc sort out for the US the same system they use in the EU.
If in the US, I'd hold on any direct purchases from China for 3-6 months.
> So it is even worse, you either pay $25 per shipment, or 30% - whichever is higher. Then later it moves up to $50 per shipment, or 30% - whichever is higher.
Hah. That's DHL commission territory :) Definitely hold from direct purchases until Temu sorts it out for you.
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If I buy something from amazon.co.jp or Apple and it arrives from Japan or China with DHL/UPS, I don't do anything at all in Poland. It's all transparent, I just get the package for the price on the website.
> Until Temu/AliExpress/etc sort out for the US the same system they use in the EU.
The thing is, the EU specifically set up a structure to make this easier for sellers and transparent for customers (the "import one-stop shop") and I don't see the US government doing any effort to make importations more seamless.