Parcels from China are becoming more expensive
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I've heard, that this year and the next, parcels from China are bound to become much more expensive. Now my question is, if this new rule also applies to parcels from Japan. I'm a bit worried, since most of my books I'm buying from the japanese amazon (where the price is quite good for me) and I've also heard, that the 22-Euros-duty free rule is to be abolished. Is that even realistic?! There are also around 6 books I buy every year from kingstone.com.tw, which are already very expensive as they are with the shipping and the extra custom fees. What is now with them? Must I now pay even more for them?! There are already many fees only for the shipping I need to cover, it's far from being a cheap China parcel. I'm really worried now, that I must say goodbye to buying my beloved japanese (and taiwanese) books...
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@Claire-Lilly I cannot find anything to verify a general change to the 22-Euros-duty-free regulation. That said, there are still differences for member countries, and, as a citizen of the USA uninvolved in international trade, I'm really not familiar with any of the specifics. There is a list of national tax websites maintained by the European Commission, so your best bet is to double check the info from there.
As for shipping from China becoming more expensive, that's less of a rule and more of a side effect. The Covid-19 outbreak began in China and was initially mismanaged, leading to the rapid spread of the illness. Since there is still a considerable risk involved in shipping, and both mitigating that risk and compensating people who deal with it cost a fair amount, the price of shipping goes up. Whether this will affect shipping from other countries will come down to how well they manage their own containment. Japan's reputation for healthcare and management is top notch, but every situation is different. Given the proximity to the origin point and the regional risks, it's probably safe to assume at least moderate increases.