EU centric.
Inflation on Aliexpress & the likes over the last 12 months is insane, and a lot of it is EU bloat: in May 25, i paid 28 eur for a crankset. It's now 57. That's 100% inflation.
We've paid full VAT on these platforms for literally years. The increase is in large part extra EU bloat (the 4 eur tax per item (3+vat=3.6), some countries charge additional 6 eur import fees per parcel. This is on <150 eur orders.
My gripe is with the hypocrisy and the uselessness. None of this money is going to re-industrialize the EU. The lobbies pushing for that have no plan to re-industrialize. The EU warehouses and websites selling you chinese products dont plan to make anything locally, they just dont want you to buy directly from the same factories. And given that Amazon is a disguised Temu for years now, by making Temu more expensive, it's more business for Amazon. Doesnt help the EU either way. What it does is finance more bureaucrats, more parasites, while taxing those who feel it the most.
For wheels and frames, DDP shipping works. It's a scheme to fight a scam, and it's been working.
if i buy from alibaba 2 cranks, 4 bibs and 1 coffee grinder, it's easy to get to 150 eur, and shipping items individually is a non starter. Therefore, what options do we have for >150 eur orders that comprise of low value items?
Are you guys using shopping agents, freight forwarders? Where are you buying things, who do you ship them to in China, and how do you get them shipped to you w DDP? I'd also rather have rail freight rates than air: the moment i buy a bunch of small things, i need to plan ahead. if i plan ahead, i probably want to arb freight costs.
When the law is retarded, and you dont have a say in what gets voted, it's a civic duty to be smart about it.
