Yet another Epic Pine Store fail

[ryo]

I think duty/tax is calculated on (value of goods + shipping cost/insurance) at least that is my experience. That is why the shipping cost/insurance is declared on the customs note with the value of the goods. Pine64 are following regulations for import duty tax.

But as mentioned in this case they included the value of the item plus the shipping costs, so no they did not following correct regulations. You don't pay more in taxes than the value of the item.

I talked to a friend of mine in Europe who used to buy games from Hong Kong a lot.
Import duties are indeed based on the value of the item + shipping, not just the item alone.
They differ per shipping company too apparently, they told me that big multinational ones (Fedex, UPS) charge only duty costs, while national companies usually charge up to 7 times more over the same value.

I did not import anything into Europe. Where I did have a replacement screen sent, they only charge a tax of anything of $50 USD and up on the declared value only (shipping is not declarable value) . A replacement screen is only $30 USD.  When I ordered the phone, I had it sent to the USA because I was not charged any import duties, or tax. In this case I was being charged a tax and collection fees based on $65 USD. This came out to be more than the cost of the replacement LCD screen. Unaccpetable

The point isn't whether you're in Europe or not, the point is how import tax tends to work.
The reason why I asked somebody in Europe is simply because they have to deal with it every time they buy something from outside of the EU or EEA, and individual countries just tend to copy other country's worst practices, and maybe multiply by 10 along the way.