VOCLA operates a ‘landed cost’ or 'delivered duty paid' service for delivery to the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland.

This system allows customers to pay for any customs duties and/or import taxes at our checkout. VOCLA then dispatches your parcel with ‘delivered duty paid’ terms. We pay your duties and taxes to our courier, and they pay them to your customs department when the parcel arrives in your country.

This system has several benefits:

• Your parcel should clear through customs faster, allowing for quicker overall delivery
• You won’t be charged a handling fee by VOCLA or by the courier delivering the parcel, so you will save some money
• You can see what the total ‘landed cost’ of your order is, directly on our checkout. You should not be charged extra amounts on delivery
• The courier can deliver the parcel to your home, rather than to a local post office
• You will no longer need to attend a post office or make a phone call to pay duties/taxes, so it is much more convenient

However, there is one disadvantage. If you need to return items, VOCLA is unable to refund the duties/taxes paid on the returned items. This is because the duties/taxes have been paid over to your tax office. You will need to request a refund from your tax office.

Most euro prices on our website are discounted, to reflect that no UK VAT is included. Where the landed cost, delivered duty paid option, is available, import VAT and any customs charges will be added to your order. You will see the calculation on the basket and at the checkout. The calculation depends on several factors:

• Tax thresholds – some countries have a threshold and below this, you will not be charged import taxes. However, most countries, particularly EU countries, have a zero threshold, and you will be charged import VAT, at the VAT rate applicable to your country.
• Customs thresholds – EU countries have a threshold of €150, so you will not be charged customs duties on orders below €150. If your order is larger in value, you may wish to split the order into two, to save on customs duties
• Free trade agreements – we dispatch goods from the UK, but the products are manufactured around the world. We have to declare the original country of manufacture. This is given on the ‘product information’ tab, for every product page. If the country is one with which your country holds a free trade agreement, you should not be charged customs duties. For example, the EU has free trade agreements with the UK and other EU countries. Therefore, EU customers should not be charged customs duties on any brand manufactured in those countries.

If you need any help, please just let us know. We cannot provide tax advice, but we can help guide you.