Exorbitant export P2 cost on EU
![Ltech](https://forums.parallax.com/uploads/userpics/558/nW8ACQS5VZZWK.jpg)
in Propeller 2
If I want to buy a P2, I only can get them @Parallax
In Europe for a P2 ESb and the IO set 250$, we have to pay 100$ on custom, handling and taxes extra.
If we can get them from Digikey or other local distribution we can avoid it like standard Parallax stuf.
But they don't have it.
Somebody a solution ?
Thank-you
In Europe for a P2 ESb and the IO set 250$, we have to pay 100$ on custom, handling and taxes extra.
If we can get them from Digikey or other local distribution we can avoid it like standard Parallax stuf.
But they don't have it.
Somebody a solution ?
Thank-you
Comments
Seriously though, I have had friends in the US make purchases on my behalf and mail to me as a "gift" and declared a lower value.
That will change once P2 enters production, and the distributors are able to stock the product line. (Yeah- you knew that, I know).
The main part of the import fee is usually the VAT, right? We pay 27% here, so I'm with you... it bites!
Usually when I order stuff from outside Europe, I do that via a tax registered business, so over time I can claim back that 27%. Still got to pay the 5-10% fees though. Seems there's lots of costs and shipment delays introduced with handling the paperwork to charge and then refund tax for European businesses. The goods-delay and additional paperwork taking up my time being the things that cause me most pain, as I'm not generating income to pay more taxes!. A future trade agreement with the USA could bring some long overdue improvements, but sadly that's not really the "solution" you were hoping for today.
Is there any special treatment for such things where the final assembly takes place inside EU?
Edit: There must be a process around the taxes though, as both Digi and Mouser "cover the tax and shipping" when ordering goods over 50 Euro. Perhaps they have subsidiaries registered in Europe, which have been granted the import exemption; or maybe they just middle-man the transaction and handle re-claiming of the tax. I've not checked the invoices that closely... maybe they include a Europe registered tax code.
I have to admit I have no idea what the incremental effort is involved to list new products. But clearly the EU market matters
Over a $324.97 of subtotal order with $47.80 of shipping, for a total of $372.77, the customs was 95.69€ (including a €7.00 of post-office handling ?!? that I don't know what it is because I thought the shipping was already paid at order checkout)
If so, maybe that would avoid customs?
In sweden you even pay VAT on the shipping cost, guess that's the same in the rest of the EU.
So I decide to get/charity the evaluation board.
I make the shopping basket.
The shipping is around 130$ .... so in Europe we have to pay 230$ extra for a basket of 250$
I decide not to buy the P2 eval board that way!
I want to give charity to Parallax but not on this cost.
Time for different shopping path .
I will ask Ken what we need to do to get it into Digi-Key. I agree that so much money for customs and shipping is a non-starter.
Bean
When I have received samples from Maxim, TI, ST, SiLabs ... the parts, in the transport document (bill of lading), was declared as samples with 0 value thus I haven't paid any custom or other fee nor the shipping. The parts was really gifted.
In the US, you just pay sales tax, which typically runs ~8%.
In the US I do not have to pay state sales tax, (yet), because Parallax does not have a physical store in my state. On the other hand, any thing I buy from Amazon has a sales tax because their presence is everywhere.
I don't want to pay twice the price.
From digikey i get propeller mini for 22 Euro, flip 30E = 33$.
I pay the same price as from Parallax shop.
If I buy more than 50 euro, shipping is free
But no P2 or SIM33EAU GPS on Digikek or Antratek.be
It is our plan that Digi-Key would be the primary stocking distributor for the P2. I was holding off putting any chips and boards into their lineup until we knew the engineering samples were the production parts. And now, they are equivalent. From a distribution standpoint, it's quite easy to put some inventory into Digi-Key.
The remaining concern with putting P2 into Digi-Key is customer expectations. Forum members know what they're getting in to when they buy a P2. But a Digi-Key browser or new engineer would expect a lot more support than we can currently offer. Programming is primarily in ASM with some BASIC, Spin1 and C with flexgui. There is no Spin2 or amazing code-and-go objects to speed application development, something we claim is a benefit of the P2. These are all reasons to hold off putting the P2 into Digi-Key distribution.
I may meet with Digi-Key and see if they have a management approach that achieves the goal of (a) reaching the Euro customers, and (b) proper presentation format with an early release concept where expectations can be met.
Do you see this as a solution? Another alternative is that we partner with one of our smaller EU distributors and make them the outlet for P2 parts and bring in Digi-Key later.
Ken Gracey
https://ask.fedex.com/help/en-gb/something-went-wrong/Samples-Import
It's a welcome idea and a real possibility, but also impractical for a couple of reasons. One might point out "semiconductor companies are supposed to do this" but we are not funded, are fabless, do not have FAE/sales staff to validate the business potential of requests - and a very small player. In short, we can't give away products and stay in business. Chip designed the P2 in his garage, after all.
Could we ship samples for free and handle charging on the side? No, it's an ethical issue. I've been around tariffs/VAT for 23 years at Parallax and there aren't comfortable ways around this issue [at least if we want to sleep at night]. Samples are free; that's why there's no VAT on them.
Our EU customers have it easy compared to those in South America and India. Those customers have it much worse, I assure you. There's only a 50% chance we can successfully ship to Brazil or Argentina unless they accept DHL, and we better have a wealthy customer to pay the import duties.
It still seems to me that Digi-Key (or RS Components?) might be the best way to get these products to our EU customers.
Ken Gracey
I don't understand all the rules...
Mike
I didn't think of that. It's a great idea but it's still not ethical.
Ken Gracey
Rosco_pc was saying they still charge VAT on shipping
I'm pretty sure we've bought Altera chips from digikey that have been engineering samples, before. I could look into this if important