From July 1, shipments worth up to 150 euros that come from countries outside the European Union will be more expensive. Each type of goods in a shipment will be subject to customs duties of 3 euros.
The new tax will affect consumers and online merchants in our country.
Iva often orders from Chinese platforms and is again expecting a large shipment.
„The order is full of baby toys, accessories, everything that can save me during a flight, a trip in the car, etc. It's just much cheaper than ordering or buying them from anywhere else," she believes.
For her, quality is not a priority when choosing goods from online shopping platforms.
“They hold interest for about a week, so I don't really get to know the quality of the toy, since almost everything gets broken, torn or scattered very quickly“, explained Iva.
From July 1, a customs duty will be introduced for each type of item in shipments that come from countries outside the European Union and are worth up to 150 euros.
“A 3 euro customs fee will come into effect for each type of item in shipments. If you have 2 T-shirts, they will be taxed with 3 euros. If you have 3 T-shirts, it's still 3 euros, but if you have one T-shirt, one bag and one pair of shoes, you have 3 different items of the same type and then you already have 3 times 3 – 9 euros“, said Janet Naydenova, executive director of the Bulgarian E-Commerce Association (BEA).
For Iva, this means that orders from Chinese platforms will no longer be the cheaper alternative.
“I will probably order more responsibly, to collect more things in one order, so that there is no waste and there is not something new from here and there every week. This will make it quite expensive and I will start shopping here directly, because the prices will more or less equalize“, she explained.
With the introduction of the new fee, orders will also decrease, other users say.
“Anyway, there is already less, and with this restriction even more. It is not even that profitable to shop there, so it is better to invest in something quality that will last you longer than trying to shop there“, shared Dalia.
Eli also has remarks regarding the quality of the products, who no longer shops from countries outside the European Union.
“I order 2-3 times, open the envelope and - fake phones. And inside this product that I ordered from them, it is not what I wanted - fake things. A colleague ordered socks for neuropathy. They sent her ordinary Chinese socks for 20 euros“, Eli said.
The new tax will not affect his decision to order goods from China, says Pavel.
“It is arranged and when you enter, you can very easily find the items you are looking for. I am more used to it, I don't know. I don't order that much, I am a normal consumer. The quality is very good. I even made some advertising hats with a few logos and they came out at a very good price. I am very satisfied“, he shared.
However, experts recommend that in addition to the price, attention should also be paid to whether the products are safe.
“The bigger problem is not that the goods are cheap and of low quality. In fact, we are paying a low price for the very high danger of the goods that enter the entire EU“, believes Janet Naydenova.
“There was also a case in which the father of a newborn child had bought a bathtub from one of the Chinese platforms and had called and said: “Give me a certified laboratory in which to test the bathtub“. And it turned out that it contains not only harmful, but also hazardous substances to health“, she pointed out, quoted by bTV.
“So I advise consumers to pay attention first to the quality of the goods, to look for certificates, just as they look for certificates for goods produced in Bulgaria, for goods produced in the EU. In Europe, there is a much higher standard of safety than in the rest of the world. And to demand from other suppliers the same thing that we demand from Bulgaria“, commented Jeanette.
The new rate will also affect the Bulgarian online market, experts also say.
“There are different types of consumers. There are consumers who have never bought from Chinese platforms, and 95.5% of all Bulgarian online consumers buy from Bulgarian online stores – verified, proven, with trust, so they will continue to buy from them, and not from external platforms“, believes Janet.
“A large part of the people who buy because it is cheap from third countries will actually think about whether it is so cheap and whether it is safe, because we expect shipments to decrease“, she added.
According to NSI data, the import of goods into Bulgaria from third countries for the first 4 months of the year amounted to nearly 9 billion euros, and the largest volume of goods was imported from Turkey, China, Serbia and Ukraine.