Is VAT charged on top of the duty?

Yes. VAT applies to the duty-inclusive value, so it is calculated after the duty is added, not alongside it.

What is a de-minimis threshold?

The value below which a shipment clears without duty. It differs by market, and it is assessed on the same CIF total, not on the item price alone.

How much is customs duty in Saudi Arabia?

The GCC common external tariff is 5% on goods imported from outside the customs union, and that covers most consumer purchases. Several hundred tariff lines are exempt and a few carry far more, tobacco at 100% among them. The rate that binds is the one against your item's tariff code, not its shopping category, so check yours in the official tariff before you rely on a large number.

How much is customs duty in the UAE?

The same 5% GCC common external tariff applies, because the UAE is in the same customs union as Saudi Arabia. What differs is VAT: 5% in the UAE against 15% in Saudi Arabia, which is why the same parcel lands at a very different total in each.

Do I pay VAT on a parcel from Amazon or SHEIN?

Yes. VAT is charged on imports at the standard rate for your market, and it is calculated on the value including duty, not on the goods alone. Whether the merchant collects it at checkout or the courier collects it at the door depends on the merchant.

Why is the courier asking me for money before delivery?

Because duty and VAT are usually collected on arrival rather than at checkout, along with a customs clearance fee the courier sets itself. That clearance fee is not a government charge and is not part of this calculation.

Does a discount code reduce the customs I pay?

It reduces the declared value, and duty is charged on that, so yes in principle. Work out the discounted price first and enter that figure here. The discount calculator does that part.

Is it cheaper to buy locally than to import?

Often, once duty, VAT and shipping are added. Work out the landed cost here, then compare it with the local price for the same item. Shipping is the part people forget, and it is dutiable too.

Why is my country not listed?

Because we have not sourced and dated that market's rates yet. A wrong duty figure costs someone real money, so an unsourced market stays unpublished rather than being estimated.

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What will this import actually cost at the door?

The price at checkout is not the price you pay when a parcel crosses a border. This works out duty and VAT on the declared value plus freight, and shows the official page each rate was read from and the date we read it.

How it works

1
Pick what you are importing
Duty rates are set by goods category, not by store. Electronics, clothing and cosmetics are not charged alike.
2
Enter the value, freight and insurance
Customs assesses duty on all three together, the CIF value, not on the goods alone.
3
Read the rates we used
Every figure comes back with the official page it was read from and the date. Check them if the number matters.

Why the checkout total is not the total

A parcel crossing a border is assessed twice: once for customs duty, and again for VAT on the duty-inclusive value. Both are calculated on the CIF figure: what the goods cost, plus what it cost to move them, plus insurance. So a cheap item with expensive freight can attract more than its price suggests.

Below a certain value, called the de-minimis threshold, duty is waived. That threshold is assessed on the same CIF total, which catches people out: an item under the line can be pushed over it by the shipping charge.

Work out the rest of the bill

Duty and VAT are one part of what an imported order costs. Shipping is the other, and it is dutiable too, so a cheap item on expensive freight is taxed on the freight as well. The delivery estimator gives you the published shipping fee and window for the stores we have checked, which is the figure to put in the shipping box above.

If you are using a code, apply it first: duty is charged on the declared value, so the discounted price is the one to enter. The discount calculator works out what a percentage and a fixed-amount code leave you paying once VAT is on top.

And before any of that, it is worth knowing whether the price is a real one. The price history checker shows what a product has actually cost over the last three months, and the price check does the same from a pasted product link alongside the best code we hold for that store.

Importing is not always the cheaper route once the landed cost is added up. The store directory lists the merchants we track locally, and the ones people import from most are Amazon, SHEIN and Noon.

Why some markets are missing

This tool is only as good as the rates behind it, and those rates are legal and financial data. Every rate published here carries the official page it was read from and the date it was read; a market whose rates have not been through that is not published at all.

That is not caution for its own sake. A wrong duty percentage does not produce a mildly inaccurate page. It produces a shopper who budgeted for one number and was charged another at the door. Leaving a market out costs nothing. Getting it wrong is not recoverable.

What this tool cannot tell you

Read this before you act on the number. Every one of these has a point past which it stops being reliable, and we would rather you knew where that point is.

This is an estimate, not a customs ruling
The authority classifies your goods, not this page. A tariff code we would read as clothing may be assessed differently on the day, and the assessment is theirs.
Courier handling fees are not included
Carriers add their own clearance and disbursement charges on top of duty and VAT. Those are the courier's prices, not the state's, and they are not modelled here.
Rates change, and we date every one
Each rate carries the date we last verified it. If that date is old, treat the figure as historical and check the source page.
A market with no sourced rates is not published
Rather than fill a gap with a plausible number, an unsourced market stays unpublished. If your country is missing, that is why.

Common questions

Yes. Customs across the GCC and Egypt assess duty on the CIF value, goods plus freight plus insurance, so a cheap item with expensive shipping is dutiable on the total.

Quick answers

Is customs duty calculated on the item price or on the total including shipping?: On the CIF value: goods plus freight plus insurance. VAT is then applied to the duty-inclusive total.
Which markets does Savooh publish customs rates for?: Only markets whose duty and VAT rates have been read from an official source and dated. Unsourced markets are deliberately not published rather than estimated.