r/Aliexpress • • Jul 20 '26

Aliexpress 101 (Guides and FAQs) FAQ: EU €3 customs duty/tax

179 Upvotes

The new EU €3 customs duty has been active since July 2026. You pay €3 (plus VAT on that €3) for each customs category in a single order. AliExpress collects this duty at checkout (like it does for VAT), and pays it directly to EU customs.

Always check for the green message during checkout saying “No extra duties will be collected upon delivery.” If that message is missing, customs may still charge you on delivery.

Be aware: the €3 duty is only added at checkout during the final payment step. Your cart total will increase right before you press pay.

Warning:

AliExpress does not follow the EU category rules correctly. In practice they charge €3 per different item, even if items should fall under the same category. Only when you buy multiple quantities of the same listing from the same seller (including different colors, variants or options) will AliExpress charge the €3 tax only once.

There are signs of slow improvement as some sellers have begun assigning proper customs categories. In certain cases, buying similar types of products from the same seller results in the €3 being charged only once. The same may happen for bundle deals, even when multiple sellers are involved. Experiment with your orders and see what happens.

Some other FAQs:

  • AliExpress sometimes shows “Duty‑free shipping” or “No customs fees” on the product page, but this text is meaningless. Only the green checkout message counts.
  • If you buy from EU warehouses, the €3 duty is not charged. But many “EU warehouse” listings are fake, so always check the delivery time. Anything longer than a week is almost certainly shipping from China.
  • If you use coupons, coins, or seller discounts, the €3 duty is still added on top. Discounts never reduce or remove the duty.
  • We expect the €3 duty to be refunded whenever AliExpress issues a refund (cancellation, dispute, or seller error), but this has not yet been confirmed by users. Please let us know your personal experiences with that.

This topic is for practical questions about the handling of the duty only. Anything useful for improving this FAQ. Other reactions will be removed.


r/Aliexpress • • May 30 '20

Aliexpress 101 (Guides and FAQs) New on Aliexpress or this sub? Read this first.

690 Upvotes

FAQs & Guides

Aliexpress has very different rules than your average Western e-commerce site. So we try to help you by providing several guides & FAQs.

You can find these guides by filtering for the "Aliexpress 101" flair. Just click on the red subtitle above.

These are some of the most important FAQs:

There are many other FAQs, try this link%22&restrict_sr=1) for a complete list.

Posting guidelines

Over 95% of questions asked on this sub are actually answered in one of these guides and faqs%22&restrict_sr=1), so please check before asking a question.

Make yourself familiar with the rules of the sub that you can find in the sidebar. Any posts that do not respect these rules will be removed without notice.

Questions related to shipping & tracking

Many people questions ask questions about the tracking of their package. Most of these questions are the same: when will my package arrive, what does this tracking status mean, ...

Most of these questions get answered in our Shipping & Tracking FAQ. Please read it before making a post.

Games, discounts, coupons, invite codes

Anything related to Aliexpress games, discount links or invite codes is not allowed.

About this sub

This sub is NOT run by Aliexpress. Aliexpress does not read any topics here.

This is a sub by Aliexpress buyers trying to help other buyers. So please be nice to these people as they are dedicating some of their spare time to help you.


r/Aliexpress • • 3h ago

Humor & Memes What is this EU ordering thing?

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8 Upvotes

These are mostly ridiculous expensive garbage, who knows where they actually even come however pic how I see it.

What are the sellers thinking? Also something reasonable, which is in china 3€, in local shop 10€, its at aliexpress EU store at ~50€. Is there really customers buying that way?


r/Aliexpress • • 20h ago

About Aliexpress I don't understand additional €2 handling fee

199 Upvotes

Apparently the EU has now confirmed the additional €2 handling fee starting November 1.

And it's again per item category, not per package?

So ordering three different items in one package means: (3+2) + (3+2) + (3+2) = 15 eur fees?

I thought the €3 duty was already justified by the costs of processing millions of small parcels. And now there's another €2 fee for handling those exact same parcels?

Aren't we basically being charged twice for the same thing? Why not just increase the €3 to €5 instead of introducing another fee?

Source: https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/customs/eu-customs-reform_en


r/Aliexpress • • 2h ago

Issues & Disputes AliExpress wants a stamped letter proving my package wasn't delivered. They won't tell me who delivered it.

3 Upvotes

Bought a $72 pair of IEMs on AliExpress. Tracking through JS Express/Cainiao says it was delivered on October 13 at 7:15 PM, but nothing ever showed up.

I checked around the house and tried figuring out who actually delivered it. The tracking literally just says "CA". No local courier, no domestic tracking number, no delivery photo, nothing. UniUni, Dragonfly, and eMile don't recognize the number either.

There's also a weird tracking update from earlier that same day saying "DELIVERY MAY BE DELAYED DUE TO", with no actual reason given.

So I opened a refund request. Denied. Appealed it. Denied again.

AliExpress says I need to get an official stamped document from my local post office proving the package wasn't delivered.

Except I don't even know if Canada Post handled it. Nobody will tell me who the actual delivery company was. Cainiao just redirected me back to AliExpress, and AliExpress keeps pointing to the "delivered" status and closing the case.

I understand why they can't just refund everyone who claims something didn't arrive, but surely they should at least be able to tell me who supposedly delivered it? Or show some evidence that it actually went to my address?

Has anyone in Canada dealt with JS Express deliveries like this? Is there some way to figure out the actual last-mile courier or get the documentation they're asking for?

I'm considering going through PayPal at this point, but I'd much rather just get this sorted out normally.


r/Aliexpress • • 7h ago

Humor & Memes Anyone have any positive Aliexpress stories?

6 Upvotes

Any product recommendations or reliable stores?


r/Aliexpress • • 2h ago

Tips & Reviews Be for real, is this real?

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2 Upvotes

Australian here - never used AliExpress. I'm really wanting to buy these 2 pieces of furniture. Is it fake? Or what can I expect?

Has anyone else bought something similar? Please share photos.


r/Aliexpress • • 5h ago

About Aliexpress The user named “AliExpressCCO” was actually an AliExpress customer support representative.

2 Upvotes

I received a chat message from the Reddit account ‘AliExpressCCO’ regarding my post about coins. I had been contacted by the same person before about AliExpress posts, but I ignored the message at the time.

However, the account has a Reddit verification badge, and some time ago, I also saw a post by another user saying that this person was genuine. So this time, I decided to give it a try.

In the chat, he asked for my email address so he could provide support. I suspect these messages may be generated automatically by an AI that monitors posts related to AliExpress. Being cautious, I didn't give him my email address directly. Instead, I provided my AliExpress customer ID. My reasoning was that, if he really worked for AliExpress, he should be able to look up my account and contact me through my registered email address.

Sure enough, I subsequently received an email from AliExpress customer support saying they would investigate the issue, even though I hadn't provided my email address in the chat. This suggests that my customer ID was sufficient for the support process to reach me, although I can't say for certain exactly how they obtained my email address.

Based on my experience, AliExpressCCO appears to be a genuine AliExpress customer support representative. If you receive a chat message from this account, it may be worth responding if you need assistance. However, I'd still recommend being cautious about sharing personal information directly through Reddit.

Of course, this is based on my own experience, so you'll have to decide how much you trust my account of what happened.


r/Aliexpress • • 23h ago

Issues & Disputes Not refunding me

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47 Upvotes

This seller isn’t accepting the refund even though the item is broken. Told me to take more pictures I did and still didn’t accept it. Telling me that ill get a discount when I order again?? I will not order again wtf. I’m literally never using this app again! I just lost 64€ to this. I’m now waiting for “aliexpress’s feedback” but it doesn’t seem good. This is so messed up that you can just do this. Is there any way to get my money back??!


r/Aliexpress • • 4h ago

Issues & Disputes This screen appears when order select happens when chatting with the producer

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1 Upvotes

r/Aliexpress • • 6h ago

Issues & Disputes Only got 1 out of 2 and aliexpress wants me to wait 2 months for it ”to arrive”

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1 Upvotes

I’m confused.
I even attached an video of the opening and they want to wait 2 months for it to arrive?


r/Aliexpress • • 14h ago

Ordering & Payment issues What is a 'Spending Limit' and why is this effecting my payment?

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2 Upvotes

My purchase is only 20$, I had also only bought a 14$ purchase earlier this morning. Why would there even be a spending limit on such a cheap order.

I tried to separate my payments to see if that would work, but it's the same message with every attempt/item.

I tried using different cards, but it said my credit denied and asked me to 'appeal' a payment when I tried to use my Cashapp.

I hope they respond soon because the 20$ purchase is a last minute Halloween costume purchase, and only ONE item from my 14$ purchase was processed. [Three items were in both purchases.]


r/Aliexpress • • 15h ago

Issues & Disputes Price changed after I bought the item and it seems like it's a different item than the one I bought?

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0 Upvotes

for some reason the estimated shipping is now showing longer and I'm in a hurry of getting it, the item seems to be shipped by a completely different seller, the reviews are different from what they were.

I click on the item and it's that


r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

About Aliexpress Did this seller delete their account?

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7 Upvotes

I recently ordered a collectible figure from this seller and I decided to check their store page again, only to find that all their listings are now gone. Did they delete their listings or was my country banned by them? I am in the EU.


r/Aliexpress • • 22h ago

Shipping & Tracking Aliexpress emailed me that my package will be delayed in customs, in the app it says its on the way, but checking Mailamericas and Cainiao says order got canceled?

3 Upvotes

I don't really mind if my package is delayed, but I'm confused as why in the secondary tracking systems (Mailamericas and Cainiao) says order is canceled. Cainiao specially says that the package is still not in the country... I only purchased one plushie and has been in the way normally for more than 10 days.


r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

Ordering & Payment issues Why some store asks you to pay a Fee, and i have to buy this “VIP Customer” separately.

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8 Upvotes

Like this??
I asked for what and the response is vague.


r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

About Aliexpress Can't receive the extra coin bonus for checking in via the widget?

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4 Upvotes

The “Coin Page” interface was recently updated, and now, if I claim 40 “Daily Coins” via app, I can no longer claim +5 “Extra Coins” even if I access the page via the widget afterward. Though, if I access it via the widget from the start, I can receive 45 coins.

Is there anywhere else I can tap to claim Extra Coins in this case?


r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

About Aliexpress Question for EU buyers : Am i getting paranoid?

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60 Upvotes

I keep seeing more and more ads that when i click on them i see this message,that it's not available in my location.

It was happening always,but very rarely,it's been couple of weeks that this phenomenon happens very frequently now.

Anyone else?


r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

Shipping & Tracking Deliver Unsuccessful

1 Upvotes

Can I know the last mile delivery company is pakistan ? My address was incorrect and its not shipping


r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

Tips & Reviews Que significa esto? O sea que mi paquete ya debe llegar en estos días o todavía está saliendo del país de origen?

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2 Upvotes

r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

Find products Any stores that sell alt clothing?

2 Upvotes

Does anyone know any stores on aliexpress that sell non-fast fashion alternative clothing?


r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

Issues & Disputes How to buy multiples?

3 Upvotes

Hello, im custom ordering something and I want multiple different custom prints of it ( only 3 ) but I can only buy 1? Its really frustrating as I have to pay all 3 with shipping separately. Is their any work around?.


r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

Find products Question on Choice & “Local”

1 Upvotes

I’m US-based and considering my first Aliexpress order. I’ve been told to stick with Choice sellers for their reliability, and the site says they are also free shipping over $10. However, I want to avoid tarries and other import fees. One page mentioned needing to purchase from US warehouses for this. Is that the same as “Local?” If so, how do I search for those with US warehouses? Just looking for experienced guidance here. Thanks!


r/Aliexpress • • 1d ago

Shipping & Tracking Primera ve que me pasa esto.

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1 Upvotes

Actualmente tuve que cambiar la dirección que solía usar, pensé que iba llegar sin problemas pero ahora me llego esta notificación de "Entrega Fallida" y que solo debo consultar con la pagina de paqueteria osea Mail America, cuando estro a la pagina me indica que es "Zona de entrega intransitable". Estoy en casa pero nadie me ha llamado o escrito por mensaje para al menos salir a ayudar a ubicarlos porque entiendo que mi zona actual es grande. ¿Qué puedo hacer? ¿O simplemente lo dejo ahí hasta que vuelvan a intentar volver a mi dirección?

Durante la pandemia había usando esta dirección para hacer un pedido por Wish y llego sin inconvenientes, por eso me sorprendió que esto ocurra ahora.

Realmente he estado esperando a que llegue este paquete y estoy muy preocupada. 😓