Taxation on Foreign orders - Netherlands

I just recieved the starter kit for my glowforge. The listed value was 121 Euro’s. The Dutch have added a tax of 52 Euro’s between a 'depth charge, tax, and 21% VAT). Assuming this is going to be the same by the glowforge - this becomes an unaffordable product. I see the value they are giving my glowforge is 6,900. There was an addition 800 shipping. Add to that 42% of additional cost from the country. That makes the total glowforge cost for me 10,000 Euro’s. That clearly cannot be a good deal - and I assume once they sell retail - they will be for less in stores. Has anyone in Holland gotten their glowforge - what was the final bill?

Ooof wow! This is a concern tbh as fewer forges sold in Europe likely means less support for those of us over seas generally. I’m hoping there are routes open to Glowforge which will allow them to work around this.

Wow! But what should I say here in Austria I have to add 4.5 % customs + 20 % VAT which on today’s exchange rate amounts to 726,80 euros or thereabouts. And by the way, I ordered a basic.

I was shocked. The free ‘gift’ of materials was valued at 126. The tax and other government extras were 56. That is more than 40% increase in price. If - as on the support page - the value will be set at 6,900 - then I can expect another 40% increase, + 900 in shipping costs. This has become too expensive.

Hey Thomas,

I received my Glowforge last week and I wrote down everything I got charged in my topic here:

I was expecting to pay somewhere around €1000 on import charges and duties when I bought the thing all those years ago. I factored it in. When the UK machines showed up and they were only paying around €400-500 import charges I thought I had lucked out. Too bad we didn’t. The thing I can’t grasp is that I had to pay cash to the delivery man.

At a total of around €4100 I would still consider this a ‘cheap’ laser. It’s a lot of money sure. But any of the competitors out there start at €5000 and go up fast if you want proper wattage and cooling.

I hope you will still enjoy your machine! I am trying to setup a Dutch whatsapp group to share knowledge on the machine. If you’d like to be added please send me your phonenumber. I’ve identified only 4 Dutchies including me. So I doubt it would get annoying fast.

I was pretty shocked seeing the “free of charge” starter pack valued at $226.16. This means I’ll have to pay a considerable amount in import fees for this “gift”, which I honestly could have done without knowing it will cost me money.

I would have appreciated glowforge handling these fees for me instead of the $50 Inventables gift code…at least then I wouldn’t have to pay for something I didn’t ask for in the first place. :unamused:

They have said they will reduce the invoice price of the GF to compensate but I have yet to see anybody report this.

This is why many US companies won’t ship to EUR. Taxes are brutal. It’s hard to ask a company to absorb taxes in other countries.

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When I sold 3D printer kits to the world we got a lot of sales in the US because they got them without VAT and paid no import duty, so they were cheaper than people got them locally in the UK, despite the extra shipping.

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Are you in the netherlands - my shipping was twice yours.

I am. Contact support if you think anything is wrong.

I received my GF Basic in Germany on friday. Total of 2323$ on the invoice, don’t know yet how much import duty was, was made over UPS, bill is about to come. I was aware it will be a lot though, guess around 800$ at least.

But I have to be honest, I was also kinda shocked I had to pay 49€ (60$) for the “gift”. If you GIFT something to someone, DECLARE it as a gift! There is this option! I would have never order those things cause I can get the ones I will actually use (only the hardwood) much cheaper here. This really was a bummer for me.

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I don’t know if Germany is the same as the UK in this respect but in the UK the tax authority does not recognise a gift from a commercial company. It can only be from a friend or relative and only up to a limited value.

It isn’t a gift, it is part of your purchase and GF have said they will reduce the value of the GF on the invoice by the value of the PG. If they don’t it is false accounting as their sales invoices don’t then add up to the money they received.

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I did not notice that! Just checked the invoice, it’s true, GF Basic 1845$. Then I need to apologize^^

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so - I understand the “gift” bit - that seems in order. I have rmailed support again. Im sure its a mix up but it dies appear vis a vis others I was charged 2x shipping. Also not sure but as I bought this 2 years ago - and move to holland 6 months ago - Inwonder if it could count as a household move item, Definately dont expect help with that - a one off.

There was at least one other that thought shipping was recorded twice. Looked at their invoice and it was listed twice but only totalled once. Their total amount was correct. Not sure about yours.

Im not talking about non paid itrms. They sent me a paypal request for 790 usd for shipping saying it was the difference between the 175 I already paid and tge shipping cost. This brings my shipping charges to nearly 1k. I paid it not thinking - then read the firum and saw other Dutch users were charged much less for shipping - so it remains a question. Still no response from support.

Have you ordered the filter? That seems about right for a pro and a filter. I was charged $954 to the UK.

Yes - I did order the air filter. But I’m curious how another user above - without the air filter was only charged 478 for netherlands shipping - for a pro unit (which also includes a filter) - where we were charged so much.

No, no. No filter here. I canceled my filter when I moved house. Tiamat lives in the garage now. Just the pro.