Hi,
I don't care much if some 8% are added to the price of the things, its usually for cheap goods. What I do care about is that idiotic administrative fee that DLH/SwissPost and other pathetic a-holes are adding on top in what is technically fully automated process which shouldn't generate any additional fee by principle.

Do you know if anything is changing on this front? Having 10 chf gadget ending up costing say 50 chf doesn't make sense, I'll keep ordering them into France (which can be annoying for pickups but otherwise OK).

To think that some Swiss might consider this some sort of protecting of Suisse market, where few private companies benefit and the all citizens pay front heir pocket (not me, whenever I can). The thing is, most of the stuff I order on Amazon/Ebay can't be even bought here, no shop sells it.

</rant>

Never had any issues when buying items that were below 60 CHF (incl shipping etc). Works well to avoid DHL and the like

Ask your suppliers to put up a bill/specification clearly outside the package if so you will not be billed if the post still decides to investigate. If you don't do this you can't blame the postal services since they cannot smell what is inside.

I agree that these fees are not nice, but do not agree with the fully automated processing of them: there must be someone at the logistics company that takes out the packing list, types the values in the system, puts the list back... you can argue low long that takes

I already ordered some stuff from Mouser: got a whole envelope with copies of the order, legal things... to pay CHF 5.50 (only the VAT).

But I dont see anything changing in 2019. Amazon made agreements with the postal service to improve delivery time and reduce processing costs, but that apparently did not impact the availability of products - I still see a lot of "this item cant be delivered in Switzerland". I think they only exchanged UPS with the Swiss Post.

As I see it there is no competition between shippers. The retailer makes a deal with one company and everything moves with them. What happens if I have an account with FedEx but Amazon deals exclusively with DHL? Why it moves on DHL. What if I prefer the flexibility of the post office? It moves with DHL. What if I hate DHL and have sworn never to use them again, it still moves on DHL.

The only competition here is when the shipping companies are negotiating with the retailers. Once they have got the contract they have no incentive to provide a customer friendly service. They don’t give a sh1t what the customer thinks of them.

All retailers should be required to offer a minimum of 3 shipping companiesand let we consumers decide how we want our deliveries. .

You are not their customer when buying something in an internet shop, their customer is the sender

Would be really nice to have a choice!

Hi people,

I received already two orders from Germany and they were toll-free. No duties or VAT.
The priceS were 30 and 45CHF, shipped with swiss post and DHL respectively. The DHL thing was "repacked" by DHL at the border, so they opened it.

Do you know how it is possble? Or was it just luck?

Simple. The MwsT on your order was less than 5.00 so no fees.

The limit is higher than the value of the items (plus postage) that you ordered. The limit is currently CHF 65 and is per order. It is now only 7.7% and for some items it is 2.5%. DHL are now delivering things that go through customs at no extra cost.

No, the limit is 5.00 MwsT which could be 200.00 of goods if they are rated at 2.5%

Is the limit not suppose to be 0CHF (instead 5CHF) since 01.01.2019?

The limit you need to bear in mind though when shopping and ordering is ordinarily 65 francs and yes 200 francs for items taxed at the lower rate.
We generally keep in mind 60 francs and then the equivalent in euro or pounds (depending on how much postage is), so that it passes through customs without any delay.

From https://www.post.ch/en/business/a-z-...ustoms-and-vat

The upper limit of the goods value (incl. transport costs) for an import exempt from VAT is:

7.7% VAT (applicable to majority of all consignments) => CHF 65.00
2.5% VAT (special goods such as books) => CHF 200.00

I'm not aware of such a change.

Then there's no change at all.

https://www.20min.ch/finance/news/st...jetzt-17801659

The change in VAT from 8% to 7.7% was already implemented last year (from 1.1.18).

Amazon now (from 1.1.19) charge Swiss VAT on orders delivered to Switzerland. Previously orders under the limit (65 francs, (prior to 1.1.18 it was 62.50) came into Switzerland tax free (0%).
I don't know about orders over the limit as we have never ordered anything over the limit from Amazon. Perhaps someone who orders over that limit can tell you?

Since the change we have not ordered anything from Amazon under the limit either as it is cheaper to send it to Germany.

Smaller retailers still send us orders to Switzerland without any VAT (0%) as they are not obliged to charge it.