Customs on Amazon orders in France: the marketplace-import rules
Most Amazon.fr orders never see a customs officer — they leave EU fulfilment centres and arrive charge-free. The exception is the marketplace seller dispatching from outside the EU straight to France, and that exception is exactly where the July 2026 reform lands: €3 of customs duty per distinct HS6 tariff line, with French VAT at 20% collected at checkout under marketplace IOSS.
These direct imports typically arrive by express carrier — Chronopost or a courier — rather than La Poste, and couriers charge for clearance: the express handling band is €5–€20, against €0–€8 for postal arrivals. On a modest order, the handling can outweigh the duty, which is why the carrier line deserves as much attention as the customs line.
Here is a representative marketplace import, fully costed.
Awaiting items
Add a price and your receipt prints here.
Worked example
A €17.80 toy and €29.90 earphones shipped from outside the EU for €3.99: €47.70 in goods, €3.99 in carriage. Two product categories, two HS6 headings — 2 tariff lines — giving 2 × €3 = €6 of duty. VAT of €10.34 at 20% was already in the checkout total.
The courier's collection at the door is €11–€26, pairing €6 of duty with clearance handling inside €5–€20; the order's true landed price is €73.03–€88.03.
Numbers for your own order? Use the calculator above — it applies the same rules to your prices.
Example declaration
- Toy €17.80
- Earphones €29.90
- Itemspaid at checkout€47.70
- Shippingpaid at checkout€3.99
- Customs duty€6.00
€3.00 × 2 tariff lines = €6.00
- VAT (20%)paid at checkout€10.34
20% × €51.69 (goods + shipping) = €10.34
- Carrier fee€5.00 – €20.00
Due at delivery: €11.00 – €26.00
Frequently asked questions
- Y a-t-il des frais de douane sur les commandes Amazon en France?
- Only when the goods physically enter the EU for your order. Shipments from Amazon's European warehouses carry no customs charges. Marketplace sellers shipping from outside the EU trigger the import rules: French VAT at 20% at checkout, €3 of duty per distinct HS6 tariff line on arrival, and the carrier's handling fee — €5–€20 is typical for the couriers these orders use.
- Why was I asked to pay on delivery for an Amazon marketplace order?
- Your parcel was a direct import. The amount combines the flat customs duty — €3 for each distinct HS6 tariff line in the consignment — with the carrier's clearance handling, typically €5–€20 for express delivery. The VAT at 20% should already have been charged at checkout via IOSS; if the carrier is demanding VAT again, compare your order invoice and dispute the declaration.
- Is the €3-style duty per package on Amazon imports to France?
- No — per distinct HS6 tariff line inside the package. One box holding a toy and a pair of earphones owes €3 twice, because those are two tariff headings; a box holding three identical toys owes €3 once. The press habit of calling it a per-parcel charge misses the mechanism entirely — the duty follows the variety of goods, not the number of boxes.
- What if the Amazon seller didn't collect VAT via IOSS?
- Then the import follows the classic route rather than the flat duty: standard EU tariff by HS code under an H7 declaration, French import VAT at 20% assessed on goods plus shipping plus duty, and the carrier's advancement fee — €0–€8 for postal, €5–€20 for express. On Amazon this is rare, since marketplace VAT collection is the default, but third-party edge cases exist.
- Do Amazon orders over €150 to France pay the per-line duty?
- No. The flat-duty regime exists only for consignments up to €150 in intrinsic goods value from IOSS-registered sellers. Above that, nothing changed in July 2026: the EU's normal tariff schedule applies per product, import VAT at 20% includes transport in its base, and courier clearance fees tend to be steeper. Those larger orders were never in de-minimis scope to begin with.