These fees were sucessfully lobbied in the media as a "Temu tax", and even reputable state broadcasters continue to refer to it as a "junk fee". However, it applies indiscriminately to everything from a decades old vintage book purchased from the UK, or spare parts to restore electronics ordered from Japan.
Its a barrier to competition (what people here like to call a moat) that favours big business and mainstream products over small business and niche products.
Exactly. I live in Finland bought an educational English grammar for kids book for my son 2nd hand from a private seller for 4 euros with 4 euros shipping from the UK. The final cost after all fees was was around 25 euros. It's not just for junk it's for everything. It's an Amazon subsidy (should have used amazon.de).
eBay? For some reason the customs fee they quote for shipments from the UK is ridiculously high - often over 10€ for a similarly priced item and not just the 3€ line item minimum plus change. It's ridiculous when UK->Germany shipments are often more than twice the price of US->Germany shipments.
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