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E-commerce vocabulary · Cross-Border Sales

Customs duty

Meaning in e-commerce, with examples

nounCommon term

In e-commerce, customs duty means: A tax charged by a country on goods brought in from abroad, calculated from the product type, its value and sometimes where it was made.

In Turkish: gümrük vergisi

How it is used

Used in cross-border selling and customer service. Goods are subject to customs duty; someone has to pay it, either the seller in advance or the customer on delivery. People often say 'duties and taxes', because import VAT is usually charged too.

Example sentences

  1. The customer refused the parcel because she didn't want to pay customs duty.

  2. Customs duties on shoes are higher than on books in most countries.

Common collocations

  • pay customs duty
  • duties and taxes
  • subject to customs duty
  • import duty
  • duty rate
  • HS codeA number from the international Harmonized System that classifies a product for customs and decides which duty rate applies to it.
  • DDPShort for delivered duty paid: a shipping term under which the seller pays all delivery costs, including import duties and taxes, so the buyer pays nothing on arrival.
  • landed costThe full cost of getting a product to its destination: the product price plus shipping, insurance, customs duty, taxes and other fees.
  • de minimis thresholdThe value below which imported goods are free of customs duty or taxes, or go through simpler customs procedures; each country sets its own limit.
  • cross-border e-commerceSelling products online to customers in other countries, which brings extra work such as customs, international shipping, currencies and local languages.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Cross-Border Sales

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