De Minimis Ripple Effect
bosox
Posts: 1,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
I hope this gets resolved soon.
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/23/nx-s1-5513936/dhl-parcel-tariffs
Numismatic author & owner of the Uncommon Cents collections. 2011 and 2025 Fred Bowman award winner, 2020 J. Douglas Ferguson award winner, & 2022 Paul Fiocca award winner.
http://www.victoriancent.com
http://www.victoriancent.com
2
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I just read about this today. Glad my DHL package from Germany arrived here on Tuesday. Just read DHL is not accepting packages, nor Deutsche Post, until they figure this out in the next few days. Also, Swiss Post is not accepting US bound packages right now. What a mess.
The US gets 1.36B of these under $800. Looks like grid lock coming.
FYI this doesn't include Express packages. I would think most coins of value (via auction company) are going Express. Ebay is another story....
I wouldn't recommend DHL Express to my worst enemy, but FedEx Express should be just fine (though with a tariff
).
99% of my purchases are made in Germany. It's going to be tough to justify a 50% increase to any hammer price ( 20% auction fee, 15% dollar to Euro exchange rate and 15% Tariff)!
Many of the deep pocket entities I've been able to outbid in the past, primarily due to their additional 19% VAT in Germany, can now easily out bid me at will, if I bid at all.
It's going to take an extremely special item for me to even bid at all now.
I'm surprised there hasn't been more grumbling around here especially since numismatic material is no longer exempt. This 'penalty' can add up fast!
karlgoetzmedals.com
secessionistmedals.com
Personally, I've cut down my international buying way back. The item has to be REALLY special for me to bid, and even more special for me to bid aggressively. Between the fees, poorer exchange rate (due to falling USD), poor descriptions in many auctions (leading to Details grades), high shipping costs and now tariffs, there isn't much I can't live without. Not to mention the lack of decent material in pretty much every country. (It's basically come down to waiting for existing owners to pass, or just decide to cash out, as morbid as that sounds.)
If I'm going to overpay (and pretty much everything these days is "overvalued"), it might as well be something I really like and want. Much of that material (for me at least) is already in the US and/or Mexico, both of which don't have as many of the above negatives.
I guess it's good for Europeans since they will now have less competition and prices will probably decline as a result.
By the way, I thought Germany had a reduced VAT for numismatics? Something like 7%.
Or has that been repealed?
You are correct the VAT is 7% in Germany.
Crap! Here we go... I'm bidding in Katz auction for a gold coin that I really need...
Even if I win it now, I wonder if I'll ever get to hold it.