/Tech4h ago

Founder @levelsio warns the EU's new sub-€150 customs duty will trigger severe shipping delays and complex tax burdens

Story Overview

The EU ends its €150 de minimis exemption on 1 July 2026, replacing it with a temporary €3 flat customs fee per tariff line on low-value distance sales until mid-2028, after which normal product-specific tariffs kick in. A Portugal-based founder has flagged potential weeks-long delays, broken portals, and confusing classifications for recipients, yet official guidance stresses a simplified transitional regime handled mainly by carriers and platforms.

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#395

Original post

Ursula von der Leyen@vonderleyen

From today, customs duties apply to e-commerce parcels worth up to €150 entering the EU.

30 million Europeans work in retail; it's our our largest private-sector employer.

And the surge in low-value online imports has put our retailers at an unfair disadvantage.

Too many of these products also fail to meet EU safety standards, putting consumers at risk.

Today's change is about restoring fairness for European businesses and better protecting our consumers.

12:34 AM · Jul 1, 2026 · 588.3K Views

Policy Risk

What changes for everyday importers

The €3 fee applies on top of existing VAT regardless of IOSS status and scales with multiple distinct HS codes inside one parcel, while the long-term rates after 2028 remain undecided.

Open Question

Where real-world friction could appear

Carriers have warned of short-term clearance hiccups and extra data needs, but no widespread portal failures or multi-week backlogs have been confirmed on day one of the rule.

Sentiment

Many users lashed out at Ursula von der Leyen and EU officials over new customs duties on low-value e-commerce parcels, calling the rules corrupt theft that burdens consumers with delays and fees while favoring local retailers.

Pos

3.6%

Neg

96.4%

32 comments with sentiment.

Cluster Engagement

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Posts from X

Most Activity

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@levelsio@levelsio

As someone who lives in Portugal which already stops every single package you get from outside EU with no exceptions for a decade or more:

I can tell you how this will go

From now on if you receive a package from outside EU, it'll first go missing for weeks and nobody will know where it is, then you'll receive an email from your country's customs agency

They'll make you login to some extremely unusable and outdated web portal which breaks half the time and where you have to classify your shipment in one of 10,000 confusing category codes

Depending on the category code you'll pay a different tax rate, sometimes it's 5% sometimes it's 60%

Then you have to pay the customs duty in some archaic way that will also be broken half the time

And then you'll finally receive your package from outside EU after months

Experiencing this for a few times you'll realize you will never ever try to order or receive anything from outside EU ever because the ordeal is too painful and expensive

I get asked a lot here by people from US to test out new products (like the guy who made the Minimal Phone) and it's just literally impossible for me to receive it even for testing. I tried to classify it as samples for testing but you need to go through a bureaucratic process of insane lengths to get that through so I just gave up

Realistically all this does is make Europeans live even more in the stone ages, as now they can't use modern AI, nor get modern products from outside EU because it'll be too much hassle to order

Ursula von der Leyen@vonderleyen

From today, customs duties apply to e-commerce parcels worth up to €150 entering the EU.

30 million Europeans work in retail; it's our our largest private-sector employer.

And the surge in low-value online imports has put our retailers at an unfair disadvantage.

Too many of these products also fail to meet EU safety standards, putting consumers at risk.

Today's change is about restoring fairness for European businesses and better protecting our consumers.

4h5.8K949

Jose@josesaezmerino

@levelsio At least in Spain a lot of this can be avoided by using DHL or UPS who have their own private customs procedures and are super fast.

4h84161

@levelsio@levelsio

@kevntz Yes if it was an instant tax paid at checkout in a US story for EU shipments it'd be fine, but it just delays packages by months

4h69810

Kevin Natanzon@kevntz

@levelsio I don’t think this a bad decision from the EU.

We live in a global world where taxes should be paid so local retail is not at disadvantage.

I do think its execution will be exactly as you say.

4h8902

@levelsio@levelsio

@josesaezmerino No difference in Portugal

4h7182

Martin Mezei@TheMartinMezei

@levelsio Damn Portugal is really just more broke and broken Spain lol

We have it a bit better over here

4h6021

Luke@ldo_dev

@levelsio Probably easier to setup a US P.O. Box and commute to it 🤣

4h1732

Constantin Diez@ConstantinDiez

@levelsio For my order from Switzerland I had to proof that "the metal inside was not from a sanctioned Russian companies". No kidding. Likely the shipper gave it a shipping code that is rarely used. But this reminds me that paying 50% of your income is NOT worth that service.

4h1895

@levelsio@levelsio

@TheMartinMezei Yep it is! But less hot :D

4h537

emelu@emelucrypto

@levelsio why not hire levelsio to build a responsive website, why all these hassle fgs

4h450

Jose@josesaezmerino

@levelsio Was there a couple of times last month and I finally understood when you complain about it. It reminds me of Spain 30 years ago in terms of how things are neglected.

4h1381

@levelsio@levelsio

@emelucrypto A vibecoded site would be better than whatever the gov made

4h3763

Martin Mezei@TheMartinMezei

@levelsio But more tax friendly? Better community?

What made you pick Portugal over Spain

4h50

felixnorden@felixnorden

It’s already happening. I experienced most of this when getting a custom PC delivered from the UK to Portugal.

Delivery was delayed as the package “got lost” when entering the EU, then got delivered damaged, having to be returned for repairs.

Guess what, of course the return also got lost FOR TWO MONTHS until they realized they didn’t send it to the right return address that was on the box.

Not only were there costs associated with the shipping back and forth, but having to chase down people to even figure out where the package was at was a nightmare.

4h2952

Alex MacGregor@alexmacgregor__

Shooting themselves in the foot.

Literally have the same issues today in Thailand which, pollution aside, is one of the biggest downsides of living here.

Anything ordered from outside the country will either require absurd taxes, not be shipped on time or even if its shipped, won't actually be where they say it is! (like my package today isn't actually at my condo despite them saying it is)

Furthermore, I had a YouTube friend relocate from Thailand back to Hong Kong purely because, as a tech reviewer, he receives 100's of packages a month and needs fast, efficient post.

4h1872

Mises@Profaustriaco

@Johnnybitgood @vonderleyen @grok Just wait for this😂

4h6

@levelsio@levelsio

@josesaezmerino This is exactly it!!! It's like 1990 Netherlands here in every single way 😂😂😂😂😂😂

4h1981

Dandelion 👸👑 💘@Janded01

@vonderleyen Funny how tariffs were called "protectionism" when Trump pushed them, but now they're suddenly about "fairness" and "consumer protection." Customs duties don't magically protect consumers—they mainly make imports more expensive. Same policy, different messenger.

4h1671

Kevin Natanzon@kevntz

@levelsio Yesyesyes we like efficiency

4h1311

Chris DeWeese@chrisdeweese_

@levelsio This is an area I hope agentic AI gets better at. Most of the process you described should be handled autonomously by AI when you want to order something.

4h357