Shipping from europe

[pocock]

@csete

@mikos You would have to pay the 20% tax in either case, unless it would be manufactured 100% inside EU, in which case it would probably be 10x more expensive.

This is really misleading, it is not just about taxes, there are actually three things the EU / UK buyers get stung with:

• the taxes (which would apply anyway)

• Crowd Supply punishes non-US buyers with an extra $35 fee, that is way more than the cost of postage from an EU-based warehouse to an EU customer

• in most EU countries, the postal service and private companies like Fedex add extra fees, for example, 10% of the declared value with some minimum like EUR 30

Example:

1. LimeSDR $299 = EUR 255
2. Crowd Supply non-US buyer penalty = $35 = EUR 29
3. Customs processing fee = EUR 20
4. Customs duties (e.g. 3%) = EUR 8
5. Taxes (20% VAT) = EUR 51

Some important things to note:

• the cost of (2) + (3) = EUR 49 = an extra 19%
• the customs duty (point (4)) would be lower if a bulk shipment was brought into an EU warehouse as it is only charged on the wholesale price in that case
• if the product is defective, all those costs (29 + 20 + 8 + 51 = EUR 108) are either non-refundable or require more paperwork to get a refund and there might be another tax to pay when a replacement is received. For hobbyists in particular, after waiting to receive their product all that paperwork or double-taxes adds insult to injury, they would be better off spending their time and money on things they enjoy.

@andrewback

Crowd Supply do far more than simply host crowdfunding campaigns and also take care of things such as packaging orders and fulfilment etc. Which might sound simple enough, but the reality is far from it and they are set up for handling all the logistics. As such it won’t be possible at this point to ship orders out of the UK.

This is true, but there are also many logistics companies in the EU who do all the same things far more efficiently for the 500 million people who live in the EU single market. The EU single market is actually bigger than the US market (and it will still be bigger even if the UK really Brexits and becomes a US colony like Puerto Rico). So if Crowd Supply is not willing to operate an EU-based warehouse without that $35 penalty charge, why can’t another company be appointed to service all the EU customers in a friendly way?