Customs and VAT on a statue from outside the EU: what you really pay

A statue in a US or Singaporean shop often looks cheaper than in Poland. The catch is that the price on such a shop's website includes neither Polish VAT nor customs duty, and a parcel from outside the EU has to clear customs. The only fair comparison is the landed price: the amount you pay before the courier hands you the box. Below we break it down into its parts, run the numbers on real offers and show when importing pays off and when it does not.

What makes up the landed price

1. Customs value: the price of the goods plus shipping and insurance up to the EU border (Article 71 of the Union Customs Code), converted into zloty.
2. Duty: a percentage of the customs value. The rate depends on the goods' tariff code and on the country where they were made.
3. Import VAT at 23%: charged on the customs value plus duty (Article 30b of the Polish VAT Act). The base also includes transport costs to the first place of destination in Poland if they were not already in the customs value.
4. Clearance fee: the carrier or customs agency charges it for filing the customs declaration and advancing the charges. The amount depends on the company and on its price list, which changes from time to time.

VAT is charged on the amount including duty, so the two charges stack. With a 6.5% duty rate, duty and VAT together come to about 31% of the parcel's value (1.065 x 1.23 = 1.31), and the clearance fee comes on top.

The second factor is the exchange rate. Customs converts the value at the customs exchange rate, set once a month from the ECB reference rate of the second-to-last Wednesday of the previous month (Article 146 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447). For our estimates we use the National Bank of Poland's (NBP) table A mid rate of the day, and your card issuer will settle the purchase at its own rate. The real amounts may therefore differ slightly.

Which duty rate applies to a statue

The rate is set by the Combined Nomenclature (CN) code, which mainly depends on the item's material and purpose. Rates for countries without a trade agreement with the EU:

Type of item	CN code	Duty rate
Statuettes and ornaments of plastics	3926 40 00	6.5%
Ceramic and porcelain statuettes	6913	6%
Toys, including dolls and figures	9503 00	usually 4.7%

Polystone, the material of most large statues, is a mix of stone powder and resin. In customs practice (binding tariff rulings, for example), ornaments made of such a mix usually go under 3926 40 00, because the resin gives them their essential character; where stone dominates, heading 6810 (articles of artificial stone), with a lower rate, is also possible. Articulated 1/6 figures may be treated as toys, but customs has the final say, and only binding tariff information (BTI) gives certainty. That is why we apply a single 6.5% rate to shops outside the EU: it is the highest of the usual rates, so the estimate tends to overstate the price rather than understate it.

The country of origin of the goods also matters, not the shop's address. Preferential rates from trade agreements (often 0%) apply only to goods with documented origin in the partner country, and many statues, including those from brands outside Asia, are made in China.

Cheap parcels: the EUR 150 threshold, VAT and IOSS

• VAT on every parcel. Since 1 July 2021 there has been no VAT exemption for consignments up to EUR 22. VAT is due on every parcel from outside the EU, whatever its value.
• The EUR 150 duty threshold. Consignments with an intrinsic value (excluding shipping) of up to EUR 150 were exempt from duty under Article 23 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009. Since 1 July 2026 the EU has been charging them a temporary flat duty of EUR 3 per tariff line in the consignment, until a permanent solution arrives with the customs reform (announced to last until 1 July 2028).
• IOSS. A shop registered for IOSS adds VAT at checkout for consignments up to EUR 150. If the parcel is declared with its IOSS number, you do not pay VAT a second time at customs.

Premium statues usually cost far more than EUR 150 (USD 390 is about EUR 348), so these rules do not apply to them: you pay the normal duty and VAT at clearance. Our calculator deliberately ignores the EUR 150 threshold, so for cheaper items the estimate comes out too high rather than too low.

Worked example: Fountain Guard of Gondor

The Weta Workshop Fountain Guard of Gondor 1/6 costs USD 390 at the American shop Spec Fiction (pre-order) and PLN 2,267.99 including shipping at the Polish shop GeekUP. We use the NBP mid rate of 20 October 2026: PLN 3.8959 per dollar.

Component	How we calculate it	Amount
Item price	USD 390 x 3.8959	PLN 1,519.40
Shipping to Poland	not listed by the shop	not in the estimate
Duty 6.5%	6.5% of PLN 1,519.40	PLN 98.76
VAT 23%	23% of (PLN 1,519.40 + PLN 98.76)	PLN 372.18
Clearance fee	our assumption	PLN 40.00
Total from Spec Fiction	excl. shipping	PLN 2,030.34
GeekUP (Poland)	incl. VAT and shipping	PLN 2,267.99

On paper the import is PLN 237.65 cheaper. The catch: Spec Fiction does not list a shipping cost to Poland, so the estimate leaves it out. Every USD 10 of shipping adds about PLN 51 once duty and VAT are applied, so the advantage disappears if sending a 47 cm statue costs more than about USD 46. Before you order, ask the shop for a shipping quote. Timing matters too: at Spec Fiction this is a pre-order, while GeekUP had the figure in stock when we last checked.

From Singapore the calculation is the same, just at the Singapore dollar rate. The XM Studios Thanos 1/3 costs SGD 2,069 at Cosmic Chase, which at PLN 3.0472 gives an estimated PLN 8,298.79 with duty, VAT and clearance, also excluding shipping.

When the Polish shop wins anyway

The Iron Studios Kingpin Art Scale 1/10 costs USD 280 at Spec Fiction, which is PLN 1,468.96 with duty, VAT and clearance. At DystryktZero the same statue is PLN 1,432.90, so the Polish shop is PLN 36 cheaper before you even add shipping from overseas. The same goes for Sauron Unleashed 1/10: USD 329 works out at about PLN 1,719, against PLN 1,689.21 at DystryktZero. In both cases we do not know either shop's shipping cost, but a domestic parcel is usually cheaper than an international one.

Beyond price, buying in Poland or elsewhere in the EU has a few practical advantages:

• Returns and complaints. When you buy at a distance from an EU shop, you have 14 days to withdraw from the contract without giving a reason, and the seller is liable for goods that do not conform to the contract for 2 years from delivery. The Rome I Regulation also protects consumers when a non-EU shop targets its offer at Poland, but pursuing a claim against a company in the US or Singapore is hard in practice.
• Duty when sending it back. Returning a statue does not automatically give back the charges you paid. Article 118 of the Union Customs Code provides for repayment of duty on goods that are defective or do not comply with the contract, but you have to file an application and handle the export formalities. The clearance fee is the carrier's service.
• Damage. A heavy polystone parcel passes through more sorting centres, and a transport damage claim with a foreign carrier takes longer.
• Pre-orders. A deposit paid in zloty does not change in value with the dollar rate. We cover deposits and dates in more detail in our article on statue pre-orders.

How to read the offer table

On a figure page, offers are sorted by landed price, so a shop from Poland and one from the US sit in the same ranking:

• A shop outside the EU is marked "outside EU", and the "Customs and VAT" column shows an amount labelled "estimate". Expanding "Estimate breakdown" shows duty, VAT and the clearance fee separately.
• The note "excl. shipping (cost unknown)" means the shop has not listed a shipping cost, so the real price will be higher.
• Shops in other EU countries show prices with VAT, with no duty and no clearance.
• Prices in listings, for example in the Statues section and on maker pages (Weta Workshop, Iron Studios, XM Studios), are the lowest landed prices, calculated the same way.
• If you would rather not deal with customs at all, tick "Only shipped from Poland and the EU (no customs)" in search.

You will also find a short summary of these rules on our About page.

Checklist before ordering from outside the EU

1. Ask about shipping and delivery terms. Under DDP the seller pays duty and VAT and the price is final. Under DAP you pay the charges on delivery.
2. Check who handles clearance. An express courier usually declares the parcel and advances the charges itself, then bills the recipient. With a postal parcel the procedure may be different.
3. Factor in the currency conversion. Your bank will convert dollars at its own rate. A multi-currency card or a USD account can be cheaper than a regular zloty card.
4. Make sure the invoice travels with the parcel. The value on the documents must be genuine. Understating it can get the parcel held and lead to penalties under fiscal criminal law.
5. Have the money ready on delivery. Carriers usually do not release the parcel until you have paid duty, VAT and the clearance fee.
6. Keep the clearance documents. You will need them for a complaint or a duty repayment application.

Set an alert on the landed price

The dollar rate, sales and new stock can reshuffle the ranking from week to week. On every figure page you can set an alert with a target price: we compare it with the landed price (for shops outside the EU, with estimated duty and VAT) and email you when any offer drops below it. How to pick a good moment to buy is covered in our article on price history and alerts, and the price drops we detect in our own price history are collected in the Deals section.