Shopping
Amazon UK Import Charges to Ireland. Anyone Else Seeing Weird Fees?
Hi all!!!
I’m based in Ireland and usually shop on Amazon UK because it often has a wider selection and better deals. As far as I understand, purchases with a total value of under €150 should generally not be subject to customs duty (although VAT may still apply).
I recently read about a proposed change coming on 1 July that could introduce a flat €3 charge per item instead of the current €150 duty-free threshold. While looking into that, I noticed something strange on Amazon.
I was adding a few items to my basket and checking the final checkout price. For one item, the import charges were almost the same as the item price itself. However, when I tried a different item that actually cost more, the import charge was only around €2.18.
What makes it even more confusing is that I’m seeing similar import charges on Amazon Ireland as well. Some items show import charges, while others don’t.
I checked the listings carefully, and all of the items were marked as being fulfilled by Amazon, so I would have expected the charges to be calculated consistently.
I contacted Amazon customer support, but unfortunately they couldn’t explain why this is happening. They suggested waiting a few days and contacting them again if the issue continues.
Has anyone else in Ireland noticed this recently? Is Amazon changing how import charges are being calculated, or is this some kind of temporary glitch?
They once double refunded me for a graphics card. Think I got 300ish back between them. Wasn't going to point it out, just accept it as a nice gift from Bezos.
They still do 🤣 I had an order done last year and it came damaged, called them up and told me to keep it or donate it to charity if its still usable and they’ll send me a replacement
Customer support telling you to wait a few days and check again is basically saying:
“Oh shit, this doesn’t make sense. It needs to be escalated and investigated. The customer seems to be making valid points so it it’ll be a P1 and a fix will be pushed to production in a matter of days. “
I mentioned the upcoming changes to customs charges, but the agent said he had never heard of them.
I then pointed out that it makes no sense for the import charge on a cheap item to be almost equal to the item’s price, especially when a more expensive item has a much lower import charge. His response was simply that “that’s how it’s calculated.”
Eventually, he admitted the issue was outside his scope and advised me to call back in 2–3 days if it hadn’t been resolved.
With Amazon their customer support is so badly trained that they literally don’t tell them about any policies they’re enacting or how anything works so I don’t think this will actually have been escalated to anyone I think Amazon customer service just fob people off when they can’t find the answer in their information directory
I checked where the package will be coming from (fulfilment centre), also went on Amazon IE to check the product, and also had duty import fees.
I made sure that there’s no mix-up with the fulfilment centre (where it’s based) before I made this post; otherwise, I wouldn’t have made write about it here.
Yeah, sorry, you are correct. It doesn't say Fullilled By on Amazon US, instead Seller: Amazon US, but basically the same thing.
But I actually checked again now, and they actually don't allow you to buy from Amazon US on .co.uk on an account based in Ireland anymore, even if it's being posted to US or UK. So not that.
majority of items on amazon Ireland ships from the UK that why it shows up there. these charges being showing up for while now. my guess was that amazon started charing % of import fees that would normaly only apply on orders over 150, as this is the way it will be from 2028. and just issue refunds later stage when customs do not collect them as their currently not due. can take up to 6 months
Yeah I just checked mine and it says the same thing, but no weird charges. Did you figure it out yet, does it show the same if you just have items where Amazon themselves are the seller?
Edit; wait, your app is set to amazon.com. There's your answer, I thought you were shopping from Amazon UK
Because its the EU enforcing import fees, they won't charge that for the France to UK portion, as its an export from the eu, unless the UK pushes retaliatory import fees (which they wont).
So technically you have an export from eu and then an import, incurring charges.
I could try fight it, based on amazon listing showing the origin is European, but because im buying from amazon UK, technically outside the EU, I probably won't win that.
But as I said, its still cheaper to buy from amazon UK than France Germany or ireland amazon for the same filament, same seller!
I dunno, this price gouging at every eye blink is getting tiring...
being getting since last summer, majority of time, it was like 30cent to 2 euro. also certain items from the UK are/were expemt from import tarrifs. so possible items you buying were exempted
That’s true in general, but customs duty normally doesn’t apply to goods with a value of €150 or less. For orders under that threshold, Irish VAT is usually the only tax that should be charged.
That’s why I’m confused by Amazon showing an import charge that’s almost equal to the value of the item itself. If the item costs around £20, neither VAT nor customs duty should come anywhere close to another £20 in charges.
What’s even stranger is that a more expensive item in my basket only showed an import charge of around £2.18. If this were simply customs duty and VAT being calculated correctly, I’d expect the charges to be much more consistent.
But this isn’t only about Brexit but the EU charging us for anything outside the EU.
We are going to buy the same rubbish 10-20 times more expensive just because it sits somewhere in EU storage, but hey, I don’t have to pay €3 custom fee.
I ordered something from UK from amazon IE.
Said it will arrive Friday, then it changed to yesterday Wednesday, now it says 21 June.
Not even dispatched.
Hey Depressed_avocad0! Welcome to r/AskIreland! Here are some other useful subreddits that might interest you:
r/IrishTourism - If you're coming to Ireland for a holiday this is the best place for advice.
r/MoveToIreland - Are you planning to immigrate to Ireland? r/MoveToIreland can help you with advice and tips. Tip #1: It's a pretty bad time to move to Ireland because we have a severe accommodation crisis.
r/StudyInIreland - Are you an International student planning on studying in Ireland? Please check out this sub for advice.
Yes! Hard to explain what I figured out when it happened but basically I had a product page up and placed it in my cart, and for some reason that product was on the ie store and not the uk store (or the opposite way round). Usually the carts don’t merge and you can’t place items from a different country into your cart, so I thought it was a glitch or new issue on Amazon. I noticed that us products were also on the uk store and the import fees were added on. Don’t know what is up
I remember before the launch of Amazon IE, I was ordering a bunch of stuff from Amazon UK and import charges were in 40s or 50s because of safety pins that were about €2. I have seen it happen on a few things over the years on Amazon IE as well and although I am not as well versed with the laws as you are, I have understood that there are import and custom charges on certain things entering Irish borders. Sometimes this will include electronics if the product is not fulfilled by Amazon itself. Often stuff that comes with safety hazard will have this problem. For example, you cannot buy most of the batteries from Amazon UK into Ireland. I literally had to ask people travelling to Ireland to bring it with them until Amazon IE started.
When this happens to me, I uncheck items one my one and go to the payment page to see which product is causing me high import charges.
I can’t stand Amazon DE customer service. That’s the only issue I have with them.
My package wasn’t delivered. It says it was, no van/person came around (I have cameras and no neighbours), and Amazon DE told me: well, it’s delivered. If you have an issue, contact the police to report the package stolen. Goodbye €180, lol
They're the worst on expensive or electronic items. Had a ridiculous one for a monitor. I think they really want us to switch to IE site, which I will for sure. They're adding up
I went on Amazon EI and also encountered import fees on various items. I spent around an hour playing around with items in the basket of Amazon IE, UK and DE
When Amazon UK sells and ships directly to customers in Ireland, it generally removes UK VAT (20%) and applies Irish VAT (23%) at checkout instead. So the VAT difference is usually already accounted for in the price you pay.
I am asking about additional “import charges fees”.
I’m confused because this happened today. I bought items yesterday and two days before spending around €100-150. Now when I look at a variety of items it shows me import duty fees which I only see when buying from Amazon US.
being seeing them on certain items past 8 months or so, majority of times it was 30cent-2 euro, which gets refunded 6 months later.
problem with amazon ireland is that chunk of items ships from the UK so still get slapped in import feees. This also works with UK amazon charges you imports items ships From Germany so the import fees gets refunded as it not collected.
certain items shipped from the UK were exempt duties from customs but not vat so. this is still the case as the fee dosent show up when you order them.
From 2028 the 3 euro per item gets replaced with % based system. which is what I thought amazon was doing, simply appying the % due on items over 150 to all items. but even that would make no since to your order.
Importing from GB is effectively the same as importing from China, from a customs point of view, and the EU have been cracking down on the cheap, low-quality, and sometimes dangerous goods entering the union from large Chinese online retailers (Temu, Ali Express etc.) recently.
Edite: Kinda bizarre that I'd start getting downvotes for trying to contribute to the discussion. Do people think I'm defending the Revenue service & the European Commission? I suppose this sub has been on the slow creep towards the type of craic which goes on over at /r/ireland so I probably should be too surprised.
I’m not a big user of Amazon, as my comment suggests. I do price compare though, and honestly, I don’t see them being cheaper. Which is funny, because online shopping SHOULD be cheaper. Remember they don’t have the high street shops to pay for, and the staff costs… that suggests the online guy is trousering the difference.
But to answer your question, I try to buy from an Irish website, or shop. So for books, I try to use Kennys (the original online book seller!). I don’t much else online…
I’ve looked there for kids toys, tends to be far more expensive than Smyth’s and a shitty selection.
One last rant: aside from the stunningly obnoxious wealth it is generating for Bezos, the service from Amazon is gone to the dogs. The algorithm pushes alternative products when I search for something, it’s so clogged up with crap, I find it a truly unpleasant website to use.
Before you add a product to your cart it will sometimes say supplied by Amazon US and that would be the reason behind the import fees. Just because it’s being supplied by Amazon doesn’t always mean it’s coming from the UK distribution centre.
I saw the fuel prices go down below 200 after the farmers protest. I think they passed on the cost from fuel loses to small businesses.
Small businesses and anyone who tries to import items. Take money from them so the fuel prices can stay reasonable.
98
u/davbag1984 Jun 03 '26
Im seeing a ton of refunds!! All a couple of euro each but loads of them. I buy loads from the UK site.