Shopping online from China becomes expensive in Sweden

Buying cheap products online from Chinese ecommerce websites is very popular in Sweden. Every day around 150,000 packages from websites like Alibaba and Wish arrive at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Until now, customers didn’t have to pay taxes on these purchases, but that’s about to change. And, on top of that, PostNord will also charge a huge administration fee per package.

Breakit reports that previously, PostNord and the Swedish customs service couldn’t agree on the question who is responsible for ensuring that VAT is paid for packages arriving from China. Because of this, the country is said to have missed out on about one billion kronor (102 million euros) worth of lost tax revenue per year. Now it has become clear that the responsibility lies with PostNord.

Administration fee per package

VAT will soon be collected from the first krona, but PostNord will probably also charge an administration fee of 125 kronor (12.77 euros) per package. ‘Probably’, because the postal company haven’t yet determined how much the fee will be exactly in the new system, but for now they’re communicating the 125 kronor fee.

These measures, among other things should lead to higher revenues for PostNord. But it will also lead to longer delivery times for customers who ordered goods from China.