Hello Andrew,

that depends on the store. In theory they will not charge you the French VAT and the Swiss VAT is only charged it amounts to more than 5 CHF.

However the Swiss Postal Service will charge you between 18 and 36 CHF for charging you with the VAT.

Some stores however will charge you directly with the Swiss VAT and you will not have to pay extra fees.

Also consider that postage from France to Switzerland is a lot higher than within France.

So for expensive goods or special senders like Amazon it will be cheaper to have it sent to Switzerland. For most other things sending it to France is cheaper.

Also keep in mind that when bringing the goods from Switzerland back to France you might have to pay the taxes, that you think you saved by sending it to Switzerland.

I had something with a value of 38 euros sent to me in Switzerland... well I didn't have any choice it was sent to where I work. The courier was DHL who have been heavily criticised in Switzerland for profiteering, here is a breakdown of cost:

Product: 38 EUR

Douanes/Zoll: 0 CHF

MwST/TVA: Wert: 38.28 * 1.2392 = 47.44 = 48CHF

MwST Wert 67.00 CHF (ok no idea how they go from 48 to 67 CHF)

TVA/MwST: 5.35CHF

Charges:

MsST: 5.35CHF

DHL Costs: 17.50

Comptabisation: 2CHF

Avance Fonds: 3CHF

Total: 27.85 CHF

So about 70% in costs. No idea how DHL work out their figures. Normally stuff under 56CHF is supposed to be free of custom's duties but not with DHL.

You don't want to know what the "tax presentation" is like on a high value item!!! Think about dropping your pants and touching your toes for how it feels.

My advice, buy in CH or get someone in France to take delivery for you.

Reopening this thread just to confirm that the Swiss Post will charge you with ridiculously high taxes when your parcel passes the border (not always; the mailman confirmed to me that they seems to do this randomly).

Just ordered some business cards from a web site.  The price was 60 CHF for 500 color business cards, which is a lot cheaper than having them printed in Geneva.  Plus 25 CHF of shipping charge.  Ok, still much cheaper.  At the border they calculated the total value as the value of the parcel plus the shipping charges = 85 CHF!  So the calculated tax was additional 28 CHF that I had to pay at the delivery.

Therefore, have your goods delivered in France and then go fetch them and pass the border with them without paying a cent; this is absolutely legal for 300 CHF of goods value or less.

And remember that it is illegal to save the French VAT by letting the company ship to a Swiss address if you don't actually live in Switzerland (i.e. export the goods back to France).

Have it delivered as "poste restante" to any French post office close to your place, giving your full real name.

To get your delivery, you'll only need to show your ID card, and pay something (it used to be approx. 0,60 euros, but since December 2013 they charge approx. 4.- euros per parcel)

who the hell cares! people come to switzerland to make money and brake laws! 

All you need to know about customs straight from the horses mouth: 

http://www.lifeingeneva.com/#!customs/c1iaw

But like I said before, get it delivered to one of your Frontalier mates, we help out a few friends regularly, payment is in pints. Hurry before we have all moved into CH to avoid new tax regimes.