I am from Croatia and i order lots of stuff from China as well as USA.
I haven't seen laws in Italy but i searched for Uk and Croatian laws and since we're all in EU there is much things similiar. I think Italy should have somethi g like that as well. Anyway, if the item is sent by a private person not a company everything below 45 EUR (maybe little more i cannot remember) is not taxable or possible to apply customs to it. Also, everything above that but below 160 EUR can be only taxed (IVA in Italy) not customed. Chinese companies, at least those on eBay often send items as a private person.
I have never seen they open or ask for invoice for stuff from China cause it's all small values. Even if they do open it and ask you to provide the invoice you bring them the paypal payment or whatever proof of payment and the value on it is so small it cannot be taxed. They cannot estimate the value on it. But from expereince with over 100 items from China they don't open those small low value packages.
Trust me on this. It's not like you are ordering a feather shavette or a cell phone.
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Thanks. I think i am going to ask Mr. Chen if they send as private or as company. Because if it's company it's 22 EUR ceiling. Funny thing is that i already made an order and kept the product value (2 brushes) below 22, but in Paypal, it seems the cost of epacket was applied to the products instead of separate, so in Paypal i appear to have paid about 26 EUR, while in reality it was more like 21 EUR + shipping.
I am also a bit more worried about the Italian customs, because i read that we are a sort of "special case". Probably because many italian products have competition from chinese stuff and so the goverment wants to make it more difficult to enter the country. I have even read in these days, accounts of italian buyers, saying that some Chinese companies, didn't ship the parcel to Italy, but to UK first (China to Italy via UK), so that it could pass the UK customs instead of the italian ones. Because the UK customs are much looser and once in the UK the parcel is then considered "EU package" and thus it won't be inspected by the italian customs again for customs fees. Duh...
Thanks though. I have to check with Mr. Chen. Because if i like Plissoft, there is 1 italian shop that actually sells Razorocks, with prices between 15-25 EUR, plus 7 for shipping that i could consider. Problem is i don't like the handles much and it's like X2 the price of Yaqi, but on the other hand, you get delivery in 2 days without playing hide and seek or dealing with the italian post service... Decisions, decisions...
EDIT: This is why in every Yaqi brush description, there is a note:
"Parcels to Italy, Spain, Canada, Chile will be delay for days. If you mind this, please do not place your order."
Our customs aren't ordinary customs...
EDIT 2: I just found a "legalese" paper, which says that the customs, when not convinced about the indicated value, CAN, assign themselves, a value on the parcel, based on "price of similar products in the market". Also, it seems that in Italy, anything sent with express courier or above 2kg, is stopped and inspected. Parcels sent via ordinary mail and light, are less likely to be inspected...