Snusen.com - A new Duty Free/Taxfree EU Snus shop

[Nice weekend]

Check this out!

There is a new web shop which sell taxfree/Duty Free Snus for EU customers, can you imagine, no high Swedish tobacco tax any longer for EU citizens :shock:
http://www.snusen.com

[itchystiches]

Wouldn't this be illegal under EU law? I thought duty-free sales were now restricted to non-EU citizens and EU citizens when traveling outside of the EU?

As far as I know, If you live in the EU... you are entitled to buy products from any EU country and import them to your home-state for personal use, but you must pay tax in the country-of-purchase.

It would be amazing if this wasn't the case though..

[Craig de Tering]

I'll just copy&paste their FAQ here for your perusal:

FAQ

Welcome to Snusen.com where you can find the largest General Snus selection available. We focus on delivering smokeless tobacco - Swedish Snus, which is 98% less harmful than cigarettes. Our prices are the lowest available on the Internet because it is sent Duty Free from outside EU. Bookmark our Snus shop now and you will never have to search for any cheaper and more convenient alternative to your Snus consumption.


TERMS OF DELIVERY



1. Delivery time

The order is sent within 24 hours and the normal delivery time is 3 to 6 working days from the day the order was placed. In some rare circumstances one Snus brand may run out of stock and the order will then be sent as soon as the Snus brand is in stock again. You always have the possibility to cancel the purchase if a longer delivery delay occur. Please contact our Customer service if you wish to cancel your purchase.

2. Price Policy

Our prices are shown in Euro and British Pounds Sterling. We purchase Snus in Swedish Kronor so prices can fluctuate on the site. SNUSEN.COM offer Swedish Snus without tobacco tax because we are located outside the EU.

3. Confirmation
We will send an order confirmation with information about your purchase by e-mail as soon as we have received your order. We recommend that you save the order confirmation if you need to contact SNUSEN.COM´s Customer service. You can view your complete order history (with confirmation number) from within your user profile on the site.

4. Payment options

At present, we accept VISA, Mastercard/Eurocard and Diners.

When you pay with credit card, the payment is handled by our payment partner PayEx Solutions AB (www.payex.com) to guarantee secure payments. This is how it works:

- Choose your credit card type i.e. (Visa, Mastercard/Eurocard or Diners), state your card number and validation date.
- A control is carried out to make sure that your data is correct and that there is money on your account.
- The money is reserved on your account. This means that you have no access to the amount but it has not yet been transferred to SNUSEN.COM.
- The same day the products are delivered DIBS-DebiTech will transfer the money to SNUSEN.COM.

IMPORTANT!
To ensure your safety and comfort we use a secure order form, which means that all content of the form is encrypted (coded to unrecognizable characters). No external parties will be able to access the information you have given. Read more under heading 8, Security.

5. Freight

All freight cost is included to each package price, no additional cost will be added. Your products will be sent directly to your home address and because we use flat pack it will easily be put inside your letter box.

6. Transportation

SNUSEN.COM accepts the economic responsibility if products are damaged during transport. However SNUSEN.COM don't accepts the economic responsibility if an order is missing during transport.

7. Return policy

We do not accept returns because Snus that are sent back will not be fresh enough to resell again. Also when Snus is sent back we will have to pay high custom fee because we are located outside the EU.

SNUSEN.COM guarantees that the products you have ordered are free from errors at the time of delivery. If you should receive a defect or wrongly supplied product, contact Customer service at SNUSEN.COM without delay or at the latest within 24 hours days after reception. Customer service will take care of your complaint and send you a compensation.

The responsibility for errors in ordered products is limited to the terms now stated.

8. Security

SNUSEN.COM uses QuickSSL (Secure Socket Layer) which is a protocol for secure transmission of data over the Internet (or other networks). A protocol is a set of rules and procedures on how data are to be handled. The SSL protocol has been developed by the company Netscape Communications and is now an industry standard for secure transmissions.

Sites secured by QuickSSL are utilizing 128-bit SSL certificates thereby offering the highest level of encryption or security possible. This means you can rest assured that communications between your browser and this site's web servers are private and secure. SSL protocol processes the data in several different ways in the purpose of making it unreadable for malicious third parties. The processing is called encryption. When the data is received by the recipient SSL reprocesses (decrypts) it again to make it readable for the recipient and a control is made to ensure that the sender of the data is the valid one (Server authentication). It also checks that the data have not been changed during transmission (Message integrity). SSL uses digital certificates to validate sender, recipient or both sender and recipient of the data transfer. A digital certificate is the "tool" that is used to tie the information about an individual or a company to a so called "public key". This key has two purposes: All SSL certificates for the Internet use are handled by companies that are certified as certificate creators (or authorities). This brings that all SSL-certificates are unique and correctly made. Everyone applying for a SSL-certificate has to prove their company or their own identity to be able to purchase the certificate. The only demand for customers is that they have a webbrowser that can use SSL which two of the most common webbrowsers Internet Explorer and Netscape communicator have been able to since long.


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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

REGISTRATION

How do I register?

Before you can shop at SNUSEN.COM you need to register as a customer. Click on the link "New Customer". Fill out the information in the form and press the red "Continue" button. Check your facts. If the facts are wrong click the "Change" button. If the facts are correct click the "Finish" button. After registration, you will receive an e-mail confirming your registration. You are now ready to shop.


PURCHASE

How do I shop?

If you already have a username and password, follow the purchase instructions below. If not, you must register. To register go to "New Customer".

Purchase instructions:
1. Find the products you want to buy.
2. Click on the "Buy" button to put your product in the cart. The cart is on the top left corner of the page.
3. When you have bought all products of your choice, click on the ”Checkout” button by the cart.
4. Fill out:
» a) username
» b) password

5. Click on the "Login" button.
6. Your personal information and your order is now shown. Check the facts. If necessary, change your facts.
7. Choose payment alternative, click on the ”Send order” button to finish your shopping.
8. Your order confirmation will be sent to your e-mail address. Your products will be sent to you within 24 hours.

For security reasons this website including the ordering form is protected. This means that any communication between you and SNUSEN.COM is strictly confidential and encrypted.

Can I order by phone, fax, letter or e-mail?

We can only accept orders placed on the Internet (www.snusen.com).



I have forgotten my username and password, how do I act?

Click here



How do I remove products from the shopping cart?

To remove products, go to your shopping cart on the top left corner. Click on the "waste basket". The cart is now empty.


How do I cancel my order?

Contact customerservice immediately to change your order, always refer to the actual order number.

The order can still be cancelled if it has not been sent to our supplier. We execute

your order fast so it is important that you act fast if you want to cancel.



How do I do when the "Buy" button does not work?

This happens when your computer cannot deal with so called "cookies". A prerequisite for shopping on SNUSEN.COM is that your computer accepts cookies.
Do the following to enable cookies in your browser:

- Netscape Navigator 6.0:

Click on "Edit" in the menu of your web browser. Then choose Preferences. Further down on the list, click on "Advanced". A window to the right will appear. Click on "accept all cookies", then close. You are now ready to shop at SNUSEN.COM.

- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0:

Click on the "Alternativ-meny" at the top of your web browser. Choose Internet Alternativ. Further down on the list you find an option "Advanced". Click. The words "accept all cookies" will then turn up - click. Close all and you are ready to shop at SNUSEN.COM.


I get JAVA error messages - how do I do?

You are probably using an old web browser. You can download the latest version for free:

Netscape: http://www.netscape.com

Microsoft Internet Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com

Mozilla: http://www.mozilla.org

Firewalls:

Certain firewalls can block our cookies and/or javascript-functions. Since there are a number of firewalls available we cannot present some specific guide and we urge you to contact the producer of the firewall and/or read the documentation carefully.


If a problem appears when you visit www.SNUSEN.COM, try to close down your firewall temporarily or configure it so that it allows cookies and javascript (popups) from www.SNUSEN.COM, if you pay with creditcard, also read "What is necessary in order to shop(cookies, javascript)" and configure your firewall correctly even to these addresses."



How do I contact customer service?

Click here!


DELIVERY


How will my Snus be delivered ?

They are sent to your mailbox.


Is my delivery delayed?

Write to Customer service and ask for your order status.


What about freight charges?

The freight charge is always included in the price.


How about delivery outside EU?

SNUSEN.COM is currently selling in the EU and orders placed on SNUSEN.COM will only be distributed to addresses within the EU.


PAYMENT


What are the payment options at SNUSEN.COM?

At present, we accept VISA, Mastercard/Eurocard and Diners.
When you pay with credit card, the payment is handled by our payment partner Dibs PayEx (www.payex.com) to guarantee secure payments. This is how it works:

- Choose your credit card type i.e. (Visa, Diners or Mastercard/Eurocard), state your card number and validation date.

- A control is carried out to make sure that your data is correct and that there is money on your account.

- The money is reserved on your account. This means that you have no access to the amount but it has not yet been transferred to SNUSEN.COM.

- The same day the products are delivered PayEx will transfer the money to SNUSEN.COM.


What is the maximum order amount?

Currently we have no limit.



RETURN POLICY



How do I return a product?

We do not accept returns because Snus that are sent back will not be fresh enough to resell again.
Also when Snus is sent back we will have to pay high custom fee because we are located outside the EU.

:wink:

[Craig de Tering]

I'd buy a couple of logs of General in a heartbeat for that price.
Too bad we Dutch almost NEVER HAVE CREDIT CARDS (traditionally so, we just abhor the damn enslavement-cards) :evil:

[itchystiches]

Hmm... i'd be especially wary.

Also when Snus is sent back we will have to pay high custom fee because we are located outside the EU.

Surely you would have to pay tax coming into the EU also? As anyone who's bought anything tax-free from Switzerland will know :P I ordered cigarettes from a bonded warehouse there and ended up paying more for them than buying them in the UK!

Peace.

[Craig de Tering]

I'm not sure how their construction works (and I'm too lazy and uninterested to find out) but I just want to say this: Sweden (and Denmark), the two countries that make snus are both inside the EU.
Consequently, when I buy their snus I automatically pay their sales and vice taxes.
Those are the same taxes you guys in the States DON'T pay because you're "supposed" to pay them to your own Customs/IRS agency.

[itchystiches]

Yeah... I thought the same buddy. I think perhaps these guys buy 'snus for export' (i.e. without tax) then just sell it to EU customers.... at their own risk.

[chainsnuser]

No doubt that the shipment will normally get seized in customs, at least in Germany. It takes no genius to see that their business-model is simply illegal.

Cheers!

[Zeno]

No doubt that the shipment will normally get seized in customs, at least in Germany. It takes no genius to see that their business-model is simply illegal.

Cheers!

I don't think so, it's perfectly legal as they export the snus and then send it from outside the EU.

... it is sent Duty Free from outside EU.

However, I think the recipient has to pay taxes for importing it. Although, the German taxes on tobacco are lower than the Swedish.

[chainsnuser]

I don't think so, it's perfectly legal as they export the snus and then send it from outside the EU.

However, I think the recipient has to pay taxes for importing it. Although, the German taxes on tobacco are lower than the Swedish.

It's IMHO an illegal evasion of Swedish taxes. Since most EU-countries even have no taxes at all on smokeless tobacco, including Germany, I wonder, why no one else had the idea before, to ship snus from outside the EU.

Cheers!

[Mazur]

It's IMHO an illegal evasion of Swedish taxes.

I do not think that it is illegal. Manufacturer pays local taxes, Swedish wholesaler pays also and exports the snus outside UE.
VAT & excise is due to pay in import coutry. So if VAT and tobacco taxes in country where Snusen is located are extremely low, they can offer reasonable prices perfectly legal.

There are no taxes for smokeless tobacco in many countries (including Poland) so end customer do not have to pay VAT or tobacco taxes.

[FatLip]

You should not be caned for taxes in the UK when you buy from snusen.com because (from HMRC):

"2.1 What goods bear tobacco products duty?

The following goods are all liable to tobacco products duty if they are made wholly or partly from tobacco or from any substance used as a substitute for tobacco:

* cigarettes
* cigars
* hand-rolling tobacco
* other smoking tobacco (which includes pipe tobacco) and
* chewing tobacco.

Duty is not charged on snuff and herbal smoking products. Oral snuff is not liable to tobacco products duty but its sale in the UK is prohibited under the Tobacco for Oral Use (Safety) Regulations 1992.

Cigarette rag and expanded tobacco which can be smoked without further processing are also liable to duty if they pass a duty point (see paragraph 2.17).

You can find detailed descriptions of all of these products in the glossary."

So this should all be fine and legal - sweet!

[mwood72]

Interesting.....So are they saying that although it's illegal to sell here you can import it from other countries for personal use and they won't tax you on it?...It worried me though that Snusen recommend 1st time buyers from the UK to only order 2 tins (I assume to see if it gets to you or you are taxed on it by customs) The trouble is if the package comes from outside the EU (Norway in this case I would imgaine) it will have to have a customs docket stuck on it saying what it is and what it's worth....Would be good to get cheaper Snus and get to try the General Sterk that's only available in Norway at the moment.

[mwood72]

Has anyone in the UK managed to receive an order through Snusen safely and haven't been taxed on it by customs?

[FatLip]

I have just received my 8 cans General portion at twenty something Euro all in.
No problems at all.
Took about 4 days. Posted in Norway. Jiffy bag with the cans separated out and packed flat so it fit in the letterbox and no pesky Royal Mail summons card.
This is entirely legal and not subject to duty even if HMRC spotted it, so the verdict is that this is a sweet deal for UK General snussers...