Do you pay Swiss import VAT and customs charges when ordering from eBay.de?
eBay adds Swiss VAT to the order total at checkout and pays it to the Swiss tax authority under its own VAT number. A parcel that the seller declares badly can still be billed VAT a second time on delivery.
eBay's policy statement is explicit and current, so the checkout charge is not in doubt. Confidence is held at medium because delivery depends on thousands of separate sellers labelling parcels correctly, and double charging was documented as a recurring problem in September 2025.
eBay's German help page on taxes has a section for deliveries into Swiss customs territory. It states that eBay is obliged to collect VAT on goods already in Switzerland and on goods imported into Switzerland, that the VAT is included in the order total at payment, and that eBay Marketplaces GmbH remits it to the Swiss tax authorities. No order value limit is given for Switzerland, unlike the NOK 3,000 limit eBay names for Norway. On a CHF 400 order the 8.1% appears in the eBay total, not at the door.
The complication is that eBay does not ship the parcel. Individual sellers do, with their own carrier, and the platform VAT number has to reach the label and the customs documents. SRF Kassensturz reported in September 2025 that buyers on platforms including eBay are regularly charged VAT again on arrival, and that only the platform can refund it. A seller on eBay's own forum describes the second charge as carrier dependent, with DHL worse than Swiss Post. eBay runs a refund form for VAT paid twice, which is itself evidence that it happens.
A parcel sent by DHL Express, UPS or FedEx without eBay's Swiss VAT number on the documents. The buyer pays import VAT and a clearance fee at the door, then has to reclaim the amount from eBay.
“eBay zieht die Mehrwertsteuer ein und führt sie unter dem Namen eBay Marketplaces GmbH an die Schweizer Steuerbehörden ab.”
“Eventuell anfallende Zölle, Abgaben und Einfuhrgebühren müssen Sie dann noch zusätzlich bei der Lieferung Ihres Artikels zahlen.”
“Teilweise sind die Pakete ungenügend deklariert.”
“Since eBay started charging VAT directly to Swiss customers for purchases, it has become very tedious.”
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