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[โ€“] 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Europe has also expressed concern about "unsafe" non-EU products such as toys that violate the rules arriving in the bloc via Chinese e-commerce platforms.

Yes this needs regulation. BUT its not only on chinese Plattforms. You can barely find toys, electronics.. from non throw-away brands anymore on Amazon.

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  • [โ€“] 3 points 2 weeks ago

    Amazon is completely useless now. Most of the things they sell are cheap shit from China with a huge markup.

    Just go on AliExpress directly and you'll find the same exact products for half, or even one third, of the price.

    And for all other things, try local online shops. There are price aggregator services that help you find online shops for all the stuff you need.

    Amazon is useless and they don't deserve any money.

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  • [โ€“] 11 points 2 weeks ago

    Irish consumers: โ€œShould the law be changed to tax big corporations setting up in Ireland?โ€ Irish Government: โ€œThanks to our colleagues in the EU, weโ€™ve agreed to increase costs for Irish consumers so that big corporations can continue to operate in Ireland and pay little to no tax!โ€

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  • [โ€“] 5 points 2 weeks ago

    There are some things that are simply impossible to find in the EU. I used to be in the watch modding hobby. The only good parts dealers are in Singapore or Hong Kong. Shitty parts dealers on Ali too.

    For a complete SKX-style mod, you'd need:

    • a mechanical movement
    • a case
    • a case back
    • a crown
    • a sapphire crystal
    • a stem
    • gaskets
    • a bezel
    • a bezel insert
    • a dial
    • hands (x3)

    That's a whooping 36 to 39โ‚ฌ extra for a 50-150โ‚ฌ mod. Plus 2โ‚ฌ per parcel because nobody sells all the parts you want.

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  • [โ€“] 5 points 2 weeks ago

    Good, should be higher still. And I say this as a person/family who fixes and mods small electronics and such. We don't need cheap, dangerous crap from China. No clothes made with dangerous chemicals and dyes, no children's toys filled with asbestos. If that's the price, good.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

    Ah, yes, this should make EU electronics manufacturers, who literally do not sell their products at all to individuals in the EU, forcing them to go through Chinese and US corporate import distributers, much safer and more accessible for the EU citizen....

    /s

    This is going to all but wipe out the electronics self-repair and DIY industry, but that is one of the actual goals. Corporate-bought slimy excuses for MEPs want you completely dependent on their corporate masters.

    Forget about trying to fucking buy a motor anymore. EU companies, again, literally won''t sell to individuals.

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  • [โ€“] 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    I'm still fuming about the absence of provision for personal gifts. I used to love sending Xmas and birthday presents to my family in France but last time I sent a HANDMADE BY ME gift to my mum I had to pay 16eur for the privilege. Ludicrous.

    So that only makes me more angry. How dare they lump me in with Chinese tat senders???

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  • [โ€“] -3 points 2 weeks ago

    Yes, please, more taxes and tariffs for importing items that are either not produced at all in the EU or cost insane prices in the EU.

    American assets in the EU sure are doing a great job at sabotaging the Union to the point where it doesn't look like the best place to live in anymore. A few more years and Europeans will be emigrating away for better living conditions.

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  • 3 comments in c/european@piefed.social view that post
    [โ€“] [S] 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

    Are you a hobbyist that relied on cheap knitting supplies or retro video game console parts from AliExpress? Enjoy paying โ‚ฌ3 for every single tariff code in your order, now with additional โ‚ฌ2 slapped to the whole thing, making this effectively a ~500% tariff rate.

    This will surely fix European deindustrialisation. Evidently itโ€™s the people looking for cheap stuff off Ali that decided to move manufacturing to Asia (and definitely not the wealthy business owners) so they need to pay the price.

    Middlemen reselling Chinese stuff must be pissing their pants with glee.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Is it even possible to get normal microchips from europe??

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  • [โ€“] [S] 1 point 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

    Not really.

    Donald Trump might be a drooling moron but itโ€™s the Americans who now have TSMC and Intel fabs churning out chips on modern process nodes. We have a nice webpage: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-chips-act

    This isnโ€™t the purpose of those tariffs though. In my experience theyโ€™re meant to bring back Sega Dreamcast battery holder manufacturing back to the motherland, apparently.

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