I get that it is a shame for you personally. Despite this I think high processing fees are good. First of all, it addresses the issue of people in the EU importing things we really do not need. Secondly, if it is something you really want then it can be imported at a noticible (but managable) premium. If the set of die are special, then paying 3 (or even 10) euro extra would, in my opinion, be fine
I think in general, the 3 euro thing is fine. However, it seems like there should be exceptions.
I like to do some electronics as a hobby and learning project. I was gonna try to build a thing to make my old timey doorbell intercom smart with an esp32, an audio codec and a circuit to safely read the signals.
Lots of cheap little parts I would usually get on Aliexpress. A lot of them around 50 cents or so. Now, each of them has a 3 euro fee added to it. The cost of this project would go from like 25 to like 75 euros. That seems super unacceptable to me and like it discourages experimenting with electronics, and with that a type of innovation Europe should try to encourage instead.
So in theory, that would be fine as well. In reality though, the categories aren't coarse like "electronic component", they're more like "resistor, 10K, 1/4W, carbon film".
From this article [1] published by the European Commission:
> The 3 € fee is applied per declared item, where ‘item’ means each unit of a product that is declared on a separate line. Specifically, the Commission defines "item" as one or more goods in a consignment sharing the same tariff classification, description and, where applicable, origin.
Now, the type of declaration matters [2] - if you're filling an H1 (standard customs) then you pay per item but if you're filling an H6 (postal declaration) or an H7 (Courier or low-value consignment declaration) then you pay per category. So anyone saying that it's always one or the other is, at the very least, oversimplifying.
gammalost · · focus · HN ↗
vrganj · · focus · HN ↗
I like to do some electronics as a hobby and learning project. I was gonna try to build a thing to make my old timey doorbell intercom smart with an esp32, an audio codec and a circuit to safely read the signals.
Lots of cheap little parts I would usually get on Aliexpress. A lot of them around 50 cents or so. Now, each of them has a 3 euro fee added to it. The cost of this project would go from like 25 to like 75 euros. That seems super unacceptable to me and like it discourages experimenting with electronics, and with that a type of innovation Europe should try to encourage instead.
probably_wrong · · focus · HN ↗
vrganj · · focus · HN ↗
cr1895 · · focus · HN ↗
In theory it should be based on the HS code, no?
account42 · · focus · HN ↗
probably_wrong · · focus · HN ↗
> The 3 € fee is applied per declared item, where ‘item’ means each unit of a product that is declared on a separate line. Specifically, the Commission defines "item" as one or more goods in a consignment sharing the same tariff classification, description and, where applicable, origin.
Now, the type of declaration matters [2] - if you're filling an H1 (standard customs) then you pay per item but if you're filling an H6 (postal declaration) or an H7 (Courier or low-value consignment declaration) then you pay per category. So anyone saying that it's always one or the other is, at the very least, oversimplifying.
[1] <a href="https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/news/eu-applies-eu3-customs-duty-item-low-value-e-commerce-consignments" rel="nofollow">https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/news/eu-appl...
[2] <a href="https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/europe/2026/07/eu-customs-h1-h6-h7-declarations.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/europe/2026/07/eu-customs-h1...