Order his books, DVDs and Bluray at Amazon.fr to be delivered in Switzerland, it's like a lot of people know a good financial deal.
But the subtleties to avoid bad surprises evolve over time, and the time has come to make a State of the place.
Current Situation
The situation changes steadily, and since January 1, 2019 (changes in bold), it is summed up in this:
Amazon.fr (and Amazon.de also) deducts French VAT and adds Swiss VAT (2.5% for books and 7.7% for the remainder) of all orders delivered to a Swiss address.
There is no additional customs tax levied by the carrier (the post or other)
Shipping costs are offered from €25 purchase for books, or €49 for other types of items. They are charged at least €5 below these amounts.
Therefore, from 2019, we will have to pay Swiss VAT for "small" orders, which was not the case before. On the other hand, the customs processing fee disappears for the larger orders.
A bit of history
Since "always", when we order books, DVD, Blu – ray, music, software and video games on Amazon.com to be delivered in Switzerland, the French VAT is deducted from the Bill. Therefore, a reduction of 5.5% for books and 20% for the rest, it is not negligible.
In regards to shipping, they are available since 2009 for a €20 purchase. This minimum purchase rose to € 25 as soon as 2014.
And novelty in November 2015, the other items sold by Amazon.com (so everything except books, DVD, Blu – ray, music, software and video games) can now be delivered free of charge, from €49 purchase.
Until 2018, Swiss VAT was levied by customs. It was exempt if the amount of VAT did not exceed 5 FRS, but you could have bad surprises if one exceeded a certain order (approx. 200 FRS for books and 65 FRS for other articles)
From 2019, in the context of a reform of the Internet transactions tax, Switzerland asked the "big" foreign sellers to charge the VAT of the recipient country to its customers.
Amazon customer service help keeps up-to-date information about it.
Hi, I am looking for a way to send parcels to Switzerland and a way to “trick” the system (amazon.de) and avoid the payment for delivery. I read somewhere that if you add a book to your order, then the delivery cost is 0. I have tried this several times (books from Amazon direct, books from Amazon warehouse), I always get charged for delivery. Do you know the situation with amazon.de in this regard? (conditions for this to work) Thanks in advance.