Have you had to pay hefty customs fees when buying from Japan?

[r.e.]

In some other countries like India and Brazil the total of duty, VAT and other charges can reach 48%.

Kumar

That's why I limited my remarks to "western governments", although I realise that I'm oversimplifying. With European VAT at 20%, I see ~5% duty as a relatively minor part of the equation. I guess the European camera manufacturers still have some political pull. I wonder whether Japan imposes a reciprocal duty. Do you know whether the EU duty on Japanese cameras survives the fairly new EU-Japan free trade agreement, or will it disappear as implementation of the agreement proceeds?

[nitroplait]

…
VAT or some variant of it is almost always charged. VAT is quite hefty at 19-23%, and this is what makes my European customers complain about "customs duties". They forget that they would be charged VAT if they bought the same item from a shop in their own country.
Kumar

Actually VAT is 25% in the EU country where I live :-(
I think it is only the inexperienced EU online shoppers who gets surprised they have to pay VAT on imports incl postage, but now that eBay has started automatically charging VAT on EU imports, people may grow accustomed to a more seamless import procedure. As a buyer you don’t have to pay the handling premium and wait for the item to clear when the VAT is charged at the time of buying, which eliminates most surprises.

I should add that used items sold inside EU is normally not charged with VAT and nor are sales between private parties which makes it less attractive to import used items.
It could be that some EU buyers think they buy privately from a private person and the same no VAT situation should apply?

When importing new items to EU the exporter is expected to deduct their local VAT/Sales Tax.

[B.S.Kumar]

Actually VAT is 25% in the EU country where I live :-(
I think it is only the inexperienced EU online shoppers who gets surprised they have to pay VAT on imports incl postage, but now that eBay has started automatically charging VAT on EU imports, people may grow accustomed to a more seamless import procedure. As a buyer you don’t have to pay the handling premium and wait for the item to clear when the VAT is charged at the time of buying, which eliminates most surprises.

I should add that used items sold inside EU is normally not charged with VAT and nor are sales between private parties which makes it less attractive to import used items.
It could be that some EU buyers think they buy privately from a private person and the same no VAT situation should apply?

When importing new items to EU the exporter is expected to deduct their local VAT/Sales Tax.

There is a special "margin scheme" for used goods: https://vatcompliance.co/margin-scheme/ Shops usually include the VAT within the selling price, so buyers think they are not paying VAT. See 5. Prices on this page: https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/help/terms-and-conditions While the UK is no longer part of the EU, the basic VAT structure is the same.

The EU has a rule obliging overseas exporters selling to EU customers must apply VAT, deduct it and deposit the collected VAT with the respective EU authorities. Fortunately, the threshold is fairly high, and at least so far I am exempt. Online platforms like eBay and Amazon are required to do this leading to the "seamless" experience.

Kumar

[r.e.]

I should add that used items sold inside EU is normally not charged with VAT and nor are sales between private parties which makes it less attractive to import used items.

In the U.S., a business that sells used goods is required to charge sales tax. eBay, while on paper just a facilitator, now charges a buyer sales tax even when the vendor is a private individual selling his own stuff, such as a camera that he no longer needs. From a buyer's perspective, this makes eBay a less attractive platform than platforms, such as the classifieds here, where the seller and buyer carry out the transaction directly. There's no effective way to collect sales tax when the parties to a sale are private individuals and there isn't a middleman like eBay.

[Alan Klein]

In the U.S., a business that sells used goods is required to charge sales tax. eBay, while on paper just a facilitator, now charges a buyer sales tax even when the vendor is a private individual selling his own stuff, such as a camera that he no longer needs. From a buyer's perspective, this makes eBay a less attractive platform than platforms, such as the classifieds here, where the seller and buyer carry out the transaction directly. There's no effective way to collect sales tax when the parties to a sale are private individuals and there isn't a middleman like eBay.

It is illegal for a seller to "collect" sales tax unless the seller has a certificate of authority to collect sales tax from the sales tax authority in the state they are selling in or shipping the product to. They would also need to have the authority from the state they're sending the item to as that state is the state that charges the buyer the sales tax.

Ebay and other big companies like B&H Photo have authorities from all 50 states. So they send the tax collected monthly or quarterly to each of the states for items shipped to those states. If as a purchaser you don't pay sales tax because of a private purchase, normally you are required to pay what's call a Use Tax equal to the sales tax for the state you live in, assuming they have sales taxes. Some states don't have sales tax. Most people fail to pay this Use Tax for obvious reasons.

If a seller says they're charging sales tax, make sure it's listed on the bill of sale as a separate item and not included in the full price unless the bill so states that. That way you avoid owing a Use Tax. Once the sales tax is listed on the bill, the seller is responsible for reimbursing the state where the sales tax is owed. If they fail to do so, it;s on them. You're not responsible if they fail to reimburse the state.

[nitroplait]

What I meant to point out was that Intra EU transactions of used goods has an advantage for EU citizens because less VAT is applied if buying used from a business and none if bought from a private person following the logic that VAT in EU has already been paid at some point. If importing used from outside EU, full local EU VAT will always be applied - even when sales tax or vat was already paid in the importing country.
And on top of that, the EU buyer has to pay an additional clearance fee if not buying from someone who supports the OSS system (like eBay or Amazon).

It is probably also worth noting that sales tax and vat are different. VAT applies to all steps in the value adding chain, sales tax may be implemented differently in different countries or states but often only applies to the final business to consumer sale.
When I buy used photographic equipment in Tokyo shops (in person) I normally receive a full 10% tax discount which would indicate that Japan may employ a sales tax scheme - although I don’t know for certain. It sounds like that may be the case in the US as well?

[r.e.]

If as a purchaser you don't pay sales tax because of a private purchase, normally you are required to pay what's call a Use Tax equal to the sales tax for the state you live in, assuming they have sales taxes. Some states don't have sales tax. Most people fail to pay this Use Tax for obvious reasons.

This is better known as the system that made it possible for Americans to circumvent paying sales tax on new goods, let alone used, by the simple expedient of "importing", aka ordering, the goods from a vendor in another state There was no effective way to collect the tax or prosecute people for failing to declare and pay, so Americans just decided not to pay it. In the last few years, the states have gotten their act together and corrected this, although there are still some states that I can order goods from where vendors don't charge sales tax to NY residents, and the lucky residents of Delaware don't pay sales tax to anybody. That's why it's helpful to have friends at Rehoboth Beach. One can spend a delightful weekend at Rehoboth and receive that new, expensive Eizo monitor from B&H at the same time, without paying a nickel in tax.

[Oren Grad]

When I buy used photographic equipment in Tokyo shops (in person) I normally receive a full 10% tax discount which would indicate that Japan may employ a sales tax scheme - although I don’t know for certain.

This is the national "consumption tax" (消費税, shohizei). Those staying in Japan for less than six months are exempt.

[r.e.]

This is the national "consumption tax" (消費税, shohizei). Those staying in Japan for less than six months are exempt.

So it's Japan's VAT (Value Added Tax) or what Canada calls GST (Goods and Services Tax). The exemption for people temporarily in Japan sounds like a generous version of what France used to do. France refunded the VAT tourists paid on certain kinds of pricey consumer purchases at the airport as they were leaving the country.

[Alan Klein]

This is better known as the system that made it possible for Americans to circumvent paying sales tax on new goods, let alone used, by the simple expedient of "importing", aka ordering, the goods from a vendor in another state There was no effective way to collect the tax or prosecute people for failing to declare and pay, so Americans just decided not to pay it. In the last few years, the states have gotten their act together and corrected this, although there are still some states that I can order goods from where vendors don't charge sales tax to NY residents, and the lucky residents of Delaware don't pay sales tax to anybody. That's why it's helpful to have friends at Rehoboth Beach. One can spend a delightful weekend at Rehoboth and receive that new, expensive Eizo monitor from B&H at the same time, without paying a nickel in tax.

If you want to be honest about it, and cover yourself in any case, in NYS you can pay the use tax for an entire year covering all purchases under $1000 where sales tax was not collected by the vendors for a fixed cost of $3 to $38 total for the year depending on your income up to $200,000. So for example if you income was $50K you;d pay $11. $100K pay $29. $15K pay $3 See Line 59 on tax form.
https://www.tax.ny.gov/forms/current.../it/it201i.htm