Short answer: on a parcel from China to the EU you pay your country's VAT on the goods plus shipping, and since 1 July 2026 you pay customs duty too. On parcels worth up to €150 the EU's flat rate is €3 per item type. From 1 November 2026 the EU expects to add a €2 handling fee per item type. If none of that was paid upfront, the delivery company collects it before it hands over your parcel, usually with its own fee on top.

Customs is the part of agent shopping that changed the most this year. On 1 July 2026 the EU scrapped the €150 duty-free limit, so small parcels from China no longer get in without customs duty. Below is what that means for an Oopbuy haul, in plain words, with the official sources at the bottom so you can check every number yourself. It's a guide, not tax advice, and it reflects the rules as published on October 21, 2026.

What changed on 1 July 2026

Until July, parcels worth €150 or less came into the EU without customs duty. You still paid VAT (that exemption ended back in July 2021), but no duty. EU Regulation 2026/382 removed the duty-free limit from 1 July 2026.

In its place there is a temporary flat rate: €3 customs duty per item type on parcels worth up to €150 that are sold to consumers from outside the EU. It is set to run until 1 July 2028. After that, the normal duty rate for each product applies.

"Item type" is the bit that matters. The European Commission counts by customs category, not by quantity: five T-shirts count as one item (€3), a T-shirt and a watch count as two (€6).

The four things you can pay on an agent parcel

  1. VAT. Your own country's rate: 21% in Belgium, 21% in the Netherlands, 19% in Germany for most goods. It's charged on the value of the goods plus shipping, insurance and customs duty, not just on the item price.
  2. Customs duty. €3 per item type on parcels up to €150 that fall under the flat rate. A parcel above €150, or one that doesn't fall under the flat rate, pays the normal duty rate for each product.
  3. The EU handling fee (expected). A separate €2 fee per item type, expected from 1 November 2026. Unlike the €3 duty, it applies whatever the parcel is worth, and it isn't temporary. The European Commission's guidance of 5 October 2026 still described the legal act behind it as under review, so treat the start date as expected, not final.
  4. The delivery company's clearance fee. If nobody paid the import charges upfront, the company that delivers your parcel pays customs for you and bills you, usually with a fee on top. PostNL charges €10 per parcel under €150 and €16 from €150 up. Deutsche Post charges €7.50 when it has to collect import charges. Other carriers set their own.

A real example, start to finish

PostNL publishes this example for a webshop order from China worth €20: earbuds (€8), a T-shirt (€7) and a phone case (€5), with free shipping.

  • Customs duty: three item types × €3 = €9
  • VAT: 21% of €29 (the €20 of goods plus €9 duty) = €6.09
  • PostNL handling fee: €10

That's €25.09 in extra costs on €20 of goods, and the example doesn't include the EU handling fee expected from November. On small, cheap hauls with lots of different item types, the fixed charges add up fast. That's the part worth planning around.

My take: one well-planned parcel usually beats several small ones now. Every parcel gets its own clearance fee, and an item type is counted again in every parcel it shows up in. The flip side: try to keep a combined parcel at €150 or less, because above that the normal duty rate applies to each product instead of the flat €3.

Does the €3 rate apply to agent parcels?

This is the one part nobody can answer for sure yet, so here's what the rules actually say.

The flat €3 rate is for "distance sales": goods sent to you by or on behalf of the seller. The Commission's guidance says it is not a distance sale when the buyer arranges the transport without the seller being involved, and it doesn't mention shopping agents by name. With Oopbuy you buy from a seller in China and Oopbuy ships the parcel to you, so it depends on how your parcel is declared.

If a parcel up to €150 doesn't fall under the flat rate, German customs spells out what happens: the normal duty rate for the product applies. Either way, the duty-free route is gone. My advice: budget for duty on every parcel, and ask Oopbuy support how your shipping line is declared before you pay for it.

What Oopbuy says it handles

Oopbuy's customs page says that for parcels worth up to €150 its system generally collects the VAT when you submit the parcel, which usually means faster clearance. Above €150, customs may charge duty as well as VAT. Oopbuy also says customs risks, like extra taxes, delays or returned parcels, are yours to carry.

When I checked on October 21, 2026, that page didn't mention the €3 duty or the new handling fee yet. So read the shipping step before you pay: if your line doesn't say duties are included, expect the delivery company to ask for them before it hands over your parcel.

Two things not to do

  • Don't under-declare. The value on the customs form should be what you actually paid. The EU wrote these rules because of undervalued and split parcels, and customs now gets electronic data on every parcel, whatever its value.
  • Don't split a haul just to dodge duty. Oopbuy's own page suggests splitting heavy or high-value hauls into smaller parcels to lower the chance of inspection. Fine for practical reasons like weight limits, but the EU names "artificially splitting" parcels as exactly the abuse it set out to stop, and every parcel now pays duty and its own clearance fee anyway.

What's coming next

  • 1 November 2026: the EU handling fee of €2 per item type is expected to start.
  • 1 July 2028: the €3 flat rate is set to end, after which each product pays its normal duty rate. The EU can propose to extend the flat rate if its new customs data system isn't ready by then.

Guides per country

The rules above are the same across the EU. What differs per country is the VAT rate, who delivers your parcel and what they charge:

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Sources

All checked on October 21, 2026.

  1. Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 (EUR-Lex): end of the €150 duty relief, €3 per item from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2028, end of the €22 VAT exemption in 2021.
  2. European Commission (DG TAXUD): temporary flat fee on low-value imports, FAQ: what counts as an item, examples.
  3. European Commission guidance on the €3 duty and the Union handling fee, version of 5 October 2026 (PDF, hosted by German customs): €2 handling fee, distance sales.
  4. Your Europe: VAT rules and rates: standard VAT rates per country.
  5. Belastingdienst: btw berekenen bij invoer (Dutch): what import VAT is calculated on.
  6. German customs (Zoll): Internetbestellungen (German): normal duty rate for other parcels, handling fee, carrier fees.
  7. PostNL: how clearance costs are calculated (Dutch): handling fees and the China example.
  8. DHL / Deutsche Post: help with import duties: the €7.50 disbursement fee.
  9. Oopbuy: Customs and Taxation: VAT collection on parcels up to €150.