Buying a Leather Jacket from Australia to the EU — Customs Experience?

[Rick Dalton]

Hi everyone,


I’m considering purchasing a leather jacket from a seller based in Australia, but I live in the European Union. Before I commit, I was hoping to get some insight from those of you who might have experience with international purchases like this.


Here are a few things I’m wondering:

• Have any of you bought clothing (especially leather jackets) from Australia to the EU?
• How were customs duties and VAT handled? Were they charged automatically, or did you have to pay them upon delivery?
• Was the overall experience smooth, or would you advise against ordering from Australia due to shipping, import costs, or other complications?

I really like the jacket, but I’m trying to understand the full picture before going ahead — especially when it comes to unexpected fees or delays at customs.


Any advice or shared experience would be hugely appreciated!


Thanks in advance,
Rick

 

[LukeCham]

Hi everyone,


I’m considering purchasing a leather jacket from a seller based in Australia, but I live in the European Union. Before I commit, I was hoping to get some insight from those of you who might have experience with international purchases like this.


Here are a few things I’m wondering:

• Have any of you bought clothing (especially leather jackets) from Australia to the EU?
• How were customs duties and VAT handled? Were they charged automatically, or did you have to pay them upon delivery?
• Was the overall experience smooth, or would you advise against ordering from Australia due to shipping, import costs, or other complications?

I really like the jacket, but I’m trying to understand the full picture before going ahead — especially when it comes to unexpected fees or delays at customs.


Any advice or shared experience would be hugely appreciated!


Thanks in advance,
Rick

Hi Rick,

I ordered a few times from a great shop called Corlection in Australia. It was always a smooth experience. Delivery usually took around a week which, looking at the great distance between Germany and EU is fair.

Do you know which delivery company your desired manufacturer is using.

This is the process for me living in Germany:

I always received my shipping via DHL-(Express) and they do all the tax and dutis process for you usually within 1-2 days after the parcel arrived in your country (if I remember correctly the service fee for this is around 10€) make sure to leave your phone number, if anything is unclear they will give you a call before processing.
Afterwards they send you an email or text asking to pay the open amount. Finally it’s being shipped to you.

In my experience UPS or other do this similar.

Regarding duties and taxes:
It is calculated for price + shipping not just the jacket itself. It will be 19% VAT and 4% tax for leather goods.

Just do the math for your jacket and see if it is worth it.

Cheers,
Lucas

 

[Zoro]

To add on the above, I've never bought from Australia but I did from US, China and Japan, and at least Fedex and DHL will notify you via email or in the tracking ID if you have to pay customs, so you can pay them right away and not further delay the delivery (Fedex even delivered the item a couple times before asking me to pay customs!). Some couriers will instead leave you a note with the extra charges to pay first, although these seem to be fewer and fewer since the pandemic.

 

[Rick Dalton]

Hi Rick,

I ordered a few times from a great shop called Corlection in Australia. It was always a smooth experience. Delivery usually took around a week which, looking at the great distance between Germany and EU is fair.

Do you know which delivery company your desired manufacturer is using.

This is the process for me living in Germany:

I always received my shipping via DHL-(Express) and they do all the tax and dutis process for you usually within 1-2 days after the parcel arrived in your country (if I remember correctly the service fee for this is around 10€) make sure to leave your phone number, if anything is unclear they will give you a call before processing.
Afterwards they send you an email or text asking to pay the open amount. Finally it’s being shipped to you.

In my experience UPS or other do this similar.

Regarding duties and taxes:
It is calculated for price + shipping not just the jacket itself. It will be 19% VAT and 4% tax for leather goods.

Just do the math for your jacket and see if it is worth it.

Cheers,
Lucas

Hi Lucas,


Thank you so much for the detailed information — that’s incredibly helpful!


One thing I’m still wondering about:
Do you think it still makes sense to order from a private seller in Australia via eBay — especially in terms of customs processing and potential issues?
I imagine it might be different from ordering through a proper retail shop like Corlection, so I’d love to know if you (or anyone else here) have experience with that kind of purchase.


Thanks again for your help!


Cheers,
Rick

 

[Fonzie]

Hi everyone,


I’m considering purchasing a leather jacket from a seller based in Australia, but I live in the European Union. Before I commit, I was hoping to get some insight from those of you who might have experience with international purchases like this.


Here are a few things I’m wondering:

• Have any of you bought clothing (especially leather jackets) from Australia to the EU?
• How were customs duties and VAT handled? Were they charged automatically, or did you have to pay them upon delivery?
• Was the overall experience smooth, or would you advise against ordering from Australia due to shipping, import costs, or other complications?

I really like the jacket, but I’m trying to understand the full picture before going ahead — especially when it comes to unexpected fees or delays at customs.


Any advice or shared experience would be hugely appreciated!


Thanks in advance,
Rick

Is it a new jacket from an Aussie shop or the TFL classifieds?
If it’s in the classifieds here you can request the jacket to be marked as “gift” and a low value and you don’t have to pay any custom taxes.

I’m based in Australia and sold several jackets recently to other TFL members in the US, Canada and Europe and the buyers received it without issues or having to pay extra. No dramas.

 

[LukeCham]

Hi Lucas,


Thank you so much for the detailed information — that’s incredibly helpful!


One thing I’m still wondering about:
Do you think it still makes sense to order from a private seller in Australia via eBay — especially in terms of customs processing and potential issues?
I imagine it might be different from ordering through a proper retail shop like Corlection, so I’d love to know if you (or anyone else here) have experience with that kind of purchase.


Thanks again for your help!


Cheers,
Rick

Hi Rick,

happy to help.
Unfortunately I have no experience with a private seller. But as long as the seller is trustworthy and fills out the shipping note correctly with all needed information for customs I don’t see a big difference in the process itself. I have no idea about returns though..

Only difference: If you know him directly, he could mark it as a „gift“ for you. No duties in this case.

Lucas

 

[2-or-more]

The "gift" option doesn't work in every case. Finnish custom laughs and makes you prove there is some reason to get a "gift" from outside of EU.

 

[Harris HTM]

My experience with dutch customs for shipments from UK and US:
- declaring as a gift never worked.
- you pay 21% VAT for everything above 20e (if I remember well) and duties for everything above 100e (again if I remember well). Duties depend on type of product and I think also origin of materials. For jackets it is 4%.
- you pay also "declaration" costs, for DHL it is a ridiculous 17e.

 

[AeroFan_07]

So I cannot speak to the customs' experiences, as they did not apply to the couple transactions I made with folks in Australia. (back around 2018 or so.)

What I will say is that I had an item sold to me that got send on "the slow boat" for around ~ 20 USD Without Tracking information. I was completely shocked that in the mid 20-teens any postal package service existed that Did Not have tracking included. It was still right on the Australian postal service's website. 6-months went by and the jacket never showed up. Eventually the seller refunded my funds, but it was a very frustrating, difficult experience.

But sure to Require tracking & full insurance if you are getting this from any private party or business. Hopefully by now, all international shipments are tracked automatically.

 

[ProteinNerd]

If you purchase it through eBay, they should charge you any fees upfront.

At least they do whenever we purchase items from outside Australia to be brought in. Is that not the case for other countries?

 

[whitetail_country]

Tax is robbery!

 

[Harris HTM]

Tax is robbery!

Let me guess, you never used any public service, let it be police, firefighters, healthcare, schools, nor have you ever used any public road or highway?
PS- you obviously needed the 20 count post before placing an add here, that's why you made tens of meaningless posts within a quarter or so. This is not what this forum is about.