Cdiscount: Nā Rula Dute o Farani no nā mea kūʻai aku ma Kina
Introduction
Cdiscount is France’s ka hale-grown marketplace giant, and for sellers in Shenzhen, Yiwu or Ningbo it has become one of the most practical ways to reach French shoppers without building a local brand from scratch. Cdiscount’s own deputy managing director has said publicly that about a third of the sellers on its marketplace are Chinese, and the platform’s average commission sits in the 7 to 15 percent range. That is a heavy Chinese presence on a platform based in a country that has become the loudest voice in Europe against what it calls unfair competition from cheap imports.
The numbers explain the politics. French officials say roughly 800 million small parcels entered France in 2024, about 91 percent of them from China, as part of an EU-wide total of 4.6 billion low-value shipments. Paris pushed Brussels hard, and the result is that the low-value parcel model on which many sellers built their Cdiscount businesses has been rewritten within a year. The €150 duty exemption ended on 1 July 2026, a flat €3 duty now applies to qualifying parcels, an EU-wide handling fee is pencilled in for 1 November 2026, and French inspectors are looking at product compliance more closely than ever.
This guide is written from the freight forwarder’s side of the desk. It explains the customs and tax rules that matter to a China-based Cdiscount seller as of mid-October 2026: how your fulfilment model decides your customs exposure, which registrations you need, what the new duties cost, which French compliance marks get cartons stopped, and how to structure routes and paperwork so that goods arrive and get released on time. Rules in this area are changing quarter by quarter, so treat the figures here as a planning baseline and confirm specifics with a licensed customs broker or tax adviser before you commit stock. Nothing in this article is legal or tax advice.
Why France Is Tougher on China-Based Marketplace Sellers Than It Used to Be
For most of the last decade, the economics of cross-border e-commerce into Europe rested on one simple fact: parcels worth less than €150 entered duty-free, with only VAT due. A seller on Cdiscount could ship single orders from a warehouse in Guangdong by postal or express channels, collect a French price, and rarely think about customs beyond a commercial invoice. The model worked because the volume was ignored. It stopped working when the volume became impossible to ignore.
France has been the most aggressive EU member state in responding. Government statements in 2025 framed the issue around fair competition with French merchants, consumer safety and environmental harm, and French trade federations called for emergency measures against what they described as an invasion of small parcels. Paris then pressed the EU to bring forward the end of the duty exemption from 2028 and floated a national handling charge as an interim step. The consumer watchdog DGCCRF was given the job of inspecting goods for labelling, quality and documentation, with part of the cost to be funded by the fees collected.
For Cdiscount sellers this matters in two directions at once. Customs authorities now see more of your parcels and charge more on them. At the same time, the marketplace operates inside the same regulatory climate and has every reason to police seller compliance. Published onboarding requirements already include a valid VAT number and French-language customer support, and seller guides describe checks on VAT, EORI and extended producer responsibility registrations before listings go live. In practice, a seller who cannot produce these documents is likely to hit a wall at the platform long before a container reaches Le Havre.
Choose Your Fulfilment Model Before Anything Else
Every customs rule discussed later in this article attaches to a fulfilment model, so it pays to decide which one you are really running. Many China-based Cdiscount sellers drift between models without noticing, shipping some orders directly from China and others from a European warehouse, and then discover that each flow has a different importer of record, a different tax treatment and different paperwork.
Direct shipping from China to French buyers
In this model the buyer orders on Cdiscount and you ship a parcel from China by express, postal or consolidated air line-haul. Each parcel is a separate import, normally with a consignment value under €150, and it falls under the €3 flat duty regime and IOSS VAT collection. The advantages are low capital outlay and no inventory risk. The disadvantages are slower delivery than French competitors, a higher logistics cost per parcel, thin margins that the new duties squeeze directly, and a returns problem, since sending an item back from France to China is rarely economical. Cdiscount’s reported default dispatch window of 48 business hours also needs careful handling, because dispatch means handing the parcel to a carrier, not delivering it.
Bulk import into a French or EU warehouse
Here you ship stock by container or air pallet to a warehouse in France or elsewhere in the EU, clear it through customs as a commercial import, and fulfil orders locally. Duty is calculated at the normal tariff rate on the full consignment value rather than at the flat parcel rate, import VAT is paid and, if you are registered, recovered, and local delivery takes one to three days. This is where the importer-of-record question becomes critical, because someone must be legally responsible for the import.
Bulk import is also where product compliance bites hardest. Goods placed on the French market in one container are exposed to a single inspection, and one labelling defect can hold the entire consignment while storage charges accumulate.
Fulfilment by Cdiscount
Cdiscount runs a fulfilment programme in which sellers send stock to its warehouses and the platform handles storage, picking and shipping. Fulfilment-industry guides indicate that sellers entering the programme need a French VAT registration and, if established outside the EU, a fiscal representative. Carton labelling, pallet standards and delivery appointments are strict, so your forwarder has to prepare freight to the warehouse’s receiving rules as well as to customs rules.
| kükohu | Customs treatment | Mea lawe mooolelo | Delivery to buyer | Ua kūpono loa i |
| Mai Kina mai | Parcel-level import; €3 flat duty with IOSS VAT; EU handling fee expected | Marketplace or seller through IOSS and a customs declarant | Roughly 5 to 15 days by air or express | Product testing, long-tail items, low capital |
| Bulk import to EU warehouse | Commercial import; tariff duty plus 20% VAT on the whole consignment | Registered seller or appointed import agent | 1 to 3 days domestic | Proven sellers and bulky goods |
| Fulfilment by Cdiscount | As bulk import, then delivery into Cdiscount warehouse | French-VAT-registered seller or representative | 1 to 3 days domestic | Best-sellers where fast delivery drives conversion |
Seller Identity: EORI, VAT, IOSS and Import Agents
Customs systems recognise numbers, not brands. Before a single parcel or container leaves China, a handful of identifiers need to exist and be linked correctly, because the forwarder, the carrier and the customs broker will quote them on every declaration.
Helu EORI
An EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification) number is the basic customs ID for anyone declaring goods in the EU. A China-based company that acts as importer, or appears as a party in declarations, obtains one from the customs authority of the member state where it first lodges a declaration, and an EORI issued by any member state is valid across the EU. French customs issue the FR-prefixed numbers. Even when a broker files on your behalf, most brokers insist on your EORI to establish a clear link between the goods and the responsible party.
French and EU VAT registration
French VAT is 20 percent at the standard rate, with reduced rates of 10 and 5.5 percent for specific goods. Cdiscount requires marketplace sellers to hold a valid VAT number, and for goods stored in France, through bulk import or Cdiscount fulfilment, French VAT registration is effectively unavoidable. Registration also lets you recover import VAT through your return instead of treating it as a permanent cost.
Sellers who hold stock in several EU countries, or who extend their catalogue to partner retailers through Octopia, the technology company behind Cdiscount’s marketplace, face further obligations. Reach multiplies, and so do the VAT touchpoints. A tax adviser familiar with the EU One-Stop Shop scheme can save months of back-and-forth at this stage.
IOSS for low-value parcels
The Import One-Stop Shop lets VAT on consignments of up to €150 be charged to the buyer at checkout and remitted monthly through a single EU return, rather than collected at the border. Non-EU sellers generally need an EU-based intermediary to register. Under EU rules, a marketplace that facilitates the sale of such imported goods is treated as the supplier for VAT purposes, so depending on how Cdiscount structures your orders, the IOSS number on the parcel may be the platform’s and not your own. Confirm this with seller support before you build your shipping data.
The point carries extra weight in 2026 because the Council’s flat €3 duty is tied to IOSS-registered flows, and reports indicate the duty cannot be settled through the IOSS return itself, so it has to be handled at import by the declarant. Parcels that arrive without a valid IOSS number lose the simplified treatment and can face VAT collection at the door, which French buyers refuse and return.
Importing stock after the end of Regime 42
Forwarder guidance published for 2026 reports that on 1 January 2026 France closed Regime 42, the arrangement under which a non-EU seller could clear goods using a limited fiscal representative’s VAT number and defer VAT to a later EU destination. Two structures are now described as workable. One is to register directly for French VAT and hold an FR-prefixed EORI. The other is to appoint an import agent under Article 289 A bis of the French General Tax Code, an agent that must already be VAT-registered in France and that accepts joint liability for the VAT.
Confirm the current position with a French customs broker or tax adviser, because this is an area where official interpretation and market practice can diverge. The practical test for any DDP quote is to ask, in writing, whose VAT number and EORI will clear the shipment. A vague answer suggests a structure that rests on a route that no longer works, and your cargo is what will get stuck.
The 2026 Duty Landscape for Parcels Under €150
The €150 de minimis duty exemption ended on 1 July 2026. As a temporary bridge, Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 introduced a flat €3 customs duty on low-value B2C consignments, running from 1 July 2026 until July 2028 or until the permanent customs reform and its central Customs Data Hub take over. The Council of the EU said it was acting against unfair competition, fraud and safety risks, and the rate applies to goods for which non-EU sellers are registered in IOSS. Several reports describe the charge as applying per distinct tariff line in a parcel rather than per parcel, so a parcel holding three different product types could carry three charges. Sources use slightly different wording, whether per item, per HS code or per declaration line, so ask your broker how it is being assessed in practice.
The table below pulls the key dates together, including the ones still ahead of us.
| lā | E ana | Who feels it |
| 1 Jan 2026 | End of Regime 42 deferral route for non-EU importers, as reported by forwarders | Sellers importing stock into France |
| 1 Mar 2026 | French national small-parcel fee of about €2 per item category (later reported as suspended) | Direct-to-consumer parcels into France |
| 1 Jul 2026 | EU flat €3 duty on B2C parcels of €150 or less, under Regulation (EU) 2026/382 | All low-value parcels sold to EU consumers |
| 1 Nowemapa 2026 (manaʻo ʻia) | EU-wide handling fee of about €2 per parcel, separate from duty | Low-value parcels; also relevant to French and Italian national fees |
| 2028 | Wider customs reform and Customs Data Hub; ordinary tariff on low-value goods | Everyone selling cross-border into the EU |
France introduced its own small-parcel fee on 1 March 2026. Later market reports say the national fee was suspended pending the EU-wide measure, with any return aligned to the November date, though these accounts are not fully consistent. Budget for the possibility that it returns, and check its status before each shipping season.
What a flat duty does to your margins
A flat charge hits cheap goods hardest. A €3 duty on a €9.99 phone accessory consumes about 30 percent of the shelf price, while the same charge on a €149 item is barely 2 percent. Add the expected €2 handling fee on a single-item parcel and the burden roughly doubles for low-priced goods, as the illustration below shows.
| Retail price (incl. VAT) | €3 duty as share of price | €3 duty plus €2 fee as share | Ka hopena kūpono |
| €9.99 | 30.0% | 50.1% | Single-item parcels rarely viable |
| €24.99 | 12.0% | 20.0% | Margin squeeze; consider multipacks |
| €59.99 | 5.0% | 8.3% | Manageable with price adjustment |
| €149.00 | 2.0% | 3.4% | Minor impact |
Illustrative single-item, single-line parcels; real charges depend on parcel composition and how the handling fee is finally structured.
Sellers are responding in three ways. Some raise prices. Others bundle products into multipacks to dilute the charge, which works if the duty is assessed per tariff line, as most guidance suggests. The third group shifts proven best-sellers into bulk import, where ordinary tariff rates apply and unit logistics costs fall sharply. The last route is usually the most profitable for items with steady demand, but it requires capital, registrations and compliance work that parcel sellers have not needed before.
The handling fee
Separately from duty, an EU handling fee of around €2 per low-value parcel is expected from 1 November 2026, intended to fund customs controls. Some sources still describe it as proposed rather than adopted, so treat it as a planning assumption, not settled law, and watch for confirmation in the coming weeks. With the date less than three weeks away, sellers pricing for the fourth-quarter peak should already include it in their cost models.
Bulk Imports and Consignments Above €150
Consignments above €150, and all commercial stock imports regardless of unit value, are cleared under the ordinary customs regime. Duty is calculated on the customs value, usually the CIF value (cost, insurance and freight to the EU border), at the rate for the product’s TARIC code. VAT is then charged on customs value plus duty plus any transport costs to the first destination in the EU. There is no EU–China free trade agreement, so Chinese-origin goods receive no preferential rate.
Duty rates vary widely by product. Forwarder tariff summaries put electronics at roughly 0 to 5 percent, furniture at 0 to 5.6 percent, toys at about 4.7 percent, footwear between 3.5 and 17 percent and clothing up to about 12 percent. Certain products also carry anti-dumping duties on top, including some e-bikes, ceramic tableware and steel or aluminium goods. The binding figure is always the one attached to your exact TARIC code on the day of clearance.
A worked example shows how the layers stack. Take a container of kitchen gadgets with a CIF value of €20,000 and an assumed duty rate of 4 percent.
| ke keʻena | ʻO Basis | Ka nui (EUR) |
| Waiwai dute (CIF) | Invoice plus freight and insurance | 20,000 |
| ʻAuhau dute ma 4% | Ma CIF | 800 |
| French VAT at 20% | On CIF plus duty (€20,800) | 4,160 |
| Huina dute a me VAT | 4,960 | |
| Landed cost before inland delivery | CIF plus duty plus VAT | 24,960 |
| Net cost if VAT is recovered | CIF me ke kuleana | 20,800 |
For a VAT-registered seller the €4,160 is a cash-flow item rather than a permanent cost, and deferral mechanisms exist for eligible businesses so that VAT does not have to be paid up front at the border. Ask your broker whether you qualify, since this alone can free thousands of euros of working capital per container.
Classification, Valuation and Origin: Where Audits Start
Classification is the foundation of everything else. The HS code determines your duty rate, whether anti-dumping measures apply and which product rules attach to the goods. The EU’s security filing system also requires a meaningful goods description and an HS code of at least six digits, and French customs work with the ten-digit TARIC code. Vague descriptions such as gift, accessories or home items are flagged almost automatically, and a flagged parcel is an examined parcel.
Valuation is the second pressure point. The declared value must reflect the price actually paid or payable, and under-declaration has been a long-standing problem in e-commerce flows. Customs officers can look up your Cdiscount listing as easily as anyone else, so a consignment declared at €8 per item that retails for €35 online invites questions. The flat €3 duty reduces the incentive to play games with values on parcels, but it does not remove the risk, because VAT is still calculated on the declared figure.
Origin is the third. Chinese origin must be declared truthfully. Routing goods through a third country to disguise origin, or relabelling them, is treated as customs fraud and carries penalties that dwarf any duty saving.
Product Compliance That French Authorities Actually Check
Customs clearance is only half of the French story. The other half is product regulation, enforced at the border and again after sale by the DGCCRF. A shipment can clear customs and still generate a stop-sale notice or a marketplace delisting if the product itself does not meet the rules.
Extended producer responsibility and the Triman mark
Under France’s anti-waste and circular economy law, known as AGEC, producers who place certain categories of goods on the French market must register with an approved eco-organisation and pay contributions that fund collection and recycling. For distance sales, the foreign seller is treated as the producer. Products and packaging must also carry the Triman logo together with sorting information, so consumers know how to dispose of them. These are printing requirements, which means they have to be fixed in the factory in China and not in a French warehouse after arrival.
| ʻOhana huahana | Typical eco-organisation | Ka hāʻule maʻamau |
| Packaging (all sellers) | Citeo | Carton or bag shipped without Triman and sorting information |
| Electrical and electronic goods | Ecosystem or Ecologic | No producer registration number; missing repairability or durability information where required |
| Batteries and battery-powered items | Corepile or Screlec | Batteries sold or shipped without a registered producer |
| Textiles, shoes and linen | Refashion | Garments listed on Cdiscount without textile EPR registration |
| lako | Eco-mobilier or Valdelia | Flat-pack items shipped without furniture EPR proof |
| Toys, sport and leisure, DIY and garden | Ecomaison | Producer registration absent despite fulfilment from a French warehouse |
Eco-organisation names and scope change from time to time, so verify the current list with ADEME, the agency that manages the national producer register, or with your compliance adviser.
General product safety, CE marking and technical files
The EU General Product Safety Regulation, in application since December 2024, requires products sold to EU consumers to have an EU-based responsible economic operator, traceability information such as a batch or model number, and manufacturer Hoʻokaʻaʻike details on the product or packaging. CE-regulated goods, including electronics, toys, radio equipment and machinery, also need a Declaration of Conformity and supporting technical files that can be produced on request. Chemical restrictions under REACH apply to textiles and many consumer goods, and food-contact items must meet the EU framework regulation. A China-based seller without an EU representative is one of the most common triggers for listing removals.
French-language information
Instructions, safety warnings and consumer information must be available in French, and Cdiscount expects French-language listings and customer support on top. Treat the artwork as part of the production order, not an afterthought, because relabelling cartons in a French warehouse is slow and expensive.
Documents, Security Filings and Data Quality
Since the EU’s second-generation Import Control System, known as ICS2, became fully operational across transport modes, carriers and express operators must lodge advance cargo data before goods are loaded or arrive, and that data comes from you. Poor data is no longer an invoice problem. It is a screening problem, and a shipment that screens badly can be held before it even departs. Your forwarder needs accurate seller and buyer details, a precise goods description and the HS code early, not on the day the cargo is collected.
| Palapala | manao | Hoʻomākaukau ʻia e |
| Hoʻoilina kalepa | Declares value, terms and goods description for duty and VAT | Mea kūʻai a mea hoʻolako |
| ʻO ka papa inoa hoʻopili | Matches cartons to invoice lines; supports examinations | Supplier or forwarder |
| Bill of lading or air waybill | Transport contract and title document | Mea lawe a hoʻouna paha |
| EORI and VAT numbers | Identify the importer and VAT party on the declaration | Seller or import agent |
| Helu IOSS | Marks parcels of €150 or less for simplified VAT | Seller, intermediary or marketplace |
| HS and TARIC code sheet | Fixes duty rate and product rules before sailing | Forwarder and broker with seller |
| EPR proofs, CE declaration, GPSR data | Show product compliance if customs or DGCCRF asks | kuai |
| Hōʻike hoʻopuka Kina | Releases goods from Chinese customs | Forwarder or export agent |
Pay particular attention to consistency. When the invoice, packing list, listing page and security filing describe the same goods in four different ways, examinations follow. A single master product data sheet, owned by one person on your team and shared with your forwarder, prevents most of these mismatches.
Routes, Gateways and Transit Times
France has several entry points, and the right one depends on where your goods will be stored or sold. Le Havre is the country’s largest container port and the default for most China volume, with strong road, rail and barge links into the Paris basin. Marseille-Fos serves the south and the Rhône corridor. Dunkirk suits the far north and cross-border distribution into Belgium, and Paris Charles de Gaulle is the principal air cargo gateway.
| I HOOKUMUIA I | ʻO ka mea maikaʻi no | Notes |
| Le Havre | Paris, northern France, Normandy | Largest container port; default for most China sea volume |
| Marseille-Fos | Lyon, southern France, Mediterranean onward | Often shorter inland haul for southern customers; alternative when northern ports are congested |
| Dunkirk | Far north, Belgium cross-border | Third container port, close to the Belgian frontier |
| Paris Charles de Gaulle | Urgent, high-value and sample cargo | Typical air door-to-door time of 3 to 7 days |
| elele hoike | Single parcels and small spares | Typical delivery of 2 to 5 days; duty and handling fees apply |
Sea FCL from China to Le Havre has typically taken about 28 to 35 days port to port in recent years, with Red Sea diversions lengthening some sailings, so build a buffer into your replenishment plan. Rail services into France exist but are less central than the German corridor, which means rail cargo often enters through Germany and finishes by truck. Because goods released into free circulation in one EU country can move freely to others, a container landed at Le Havre can serve buyers in Belgium or Spain without a second clearance. French officials have also noted the reverse risk, that parcels taxed in France may simply enter through another member state, which is one reason Paris argued for an EU-wide approach and not a purely national one.
Mistakes That Stall Cdiscount Shipments
The most expensive mistake is shipping before the importer question is settled. Sellers who assume that their forwarder’s DDP quote includes a working VAT structure sometimes learn at the port that nobody holds the right registration, and the container sits while demurrage and storage run. Settle whose numbers appear on the declaration before you book, and get the answer in writing.
The second is leaving compliance printing until after production. Triman marks, French warnings and manufacturer details cost almost nothing to add on a factory packaging line and a great deal to add in a French warehouse. The same applies to EPR registration, which can take weeks and should be started before the purchase order is placed, not after the vessel sails.
The third is pricing as if 2025 had never ended. Sellers who built their margins around duty-free parcels and quote delivered prices without the €3 duty, the expected handling fee and the cost of compliant packaging often discover that best-sellers are quietly loss-making. A fresh landed-cost model for every active listing is worth a day of someone’s time.
The last is treating the forwarder as a trucking company. In a year when parcel rules, VAT structures and product compliance are all shifting, the cheapest freight quote is rarely the cheapest shipment. Providers who ask no questions about what you are shipping, or who suggest lowering declared values, are warnings, not bargains.
How Topway Shipping Supports Cdiscount Sellers
Topway Shipping has been a professional provider of cross-border e-commerce logistics solutions since 2010, with its headquarters in Shenzhen. Our founding team brings more than 15 years of experience in international logistics and customs clearance, with a strong focus on China–U.S. transportation. That background matters for France because the disciplines are the same: accurate classification, clean documentation, clear responsibility for each party on the declaration, and a supply chain that does not stop at the port.
Our services cover the full logistics chain, including first-leg transportation, overseas hale ukana, customs clearance and last-mile delivery. We also offer flexible full-container-load and less-than-container-load ocean freight from China to major ports worldwide, which gives Cdiscount sellers a way to move from parcel-by-parcel shipping to consolidated stock replenishment without changing provider as volumes grow.
| Wāwae | What Topway Shipping handles | Why it matters on Cdiscount |
| Kaʻahele wāwae mua | Collection from suppliers and consolidation in China, export handling | Clean data and one consignment instead of many |
| FCL a me LCL ukana moana | Container and part-container sailings to major ports | Lower unit cost once volumes justify stock |
| Waihona hale kūʻai ma waho | Storage close to the buyer | Faster delivery and easier returns handling |
| ʻĀina dute | Documentation and declaration support | Fewer holds on classification and value |
| Hāʻawi i nā mile hope loa | Onward delivery to warehouse or customer | Predictable arrival for Cdiscount service levels |
We should be clear about the limits. VAT registration, EPR registration and the appointment of an import agent are tax and compliance matters that should be handled by qualified French advisers or representatives, and a good forwarder works alongside them rather than pretending to replace them. What Topway Shipping brings is a disciplined logistics chain that asks the right questions early: whose numbers will clear this shipment, what exactly is in the box, which codes apply, and what must be printed on the packaging before the goods leave China.
If you are planning a first stock shipment for Cdiscount or restructuring existing parcel flows ahead of the November handling fee, send Topway Shipping your product list with HS codes if you have them, carton dimensions and weights, origin city and your intended French or EU destination. We will help you compare direct, consolidated and warehoused options on a landed-cost basis.
A Practical Plan for the Weeks Ahead
With the fourth-quarter peak approaching and the handling fee expected on 1 November, the sensible approach is to work in order of risk. Start with identity and registrations, because they have the longest lead times, then move to product compliance, and only then optimise routes and rates.
| ʻO ka manawa | hana | mea |
| ʻO kēia hebedoma | Confirm which IOSS number and importer of record apply to each Cdiscount flow | Seller with marketplace support and tax adviser |
| Ma waena o 2 mau pule | Rebuild landed-cost model with €3 duty and expected €2 handling fee | Seller finance or operations |
| Ma waena o 4 mau pule | Check EPR registrations, Triman artwork, GPSR contact details and French labels on top sellers | Seller with supplier |
| Before next booking | Verify HS and TARIC codes and values; send master product data to forwarder | Seller and forwarder |
| Ke hele nei | Review duty, fee and VAT changes monthly | Seller and customs broker |
None of this needs to be done perfectly in one pass. What matters is that each shipment leaves China with the right numbers, the right data and the right printing, because mistakes are cheapest to fix at origin and most expensive at the French border.
Panina
France’s customs rules for China-based Cdiscount sellers have moved from permissive to demanding in less than a year. The duty exemption for low-value parcels is gone, a flat €3 duty now applies, a handling fee is due within weeks, and the end of the old fiscal-representation shortcut means stock importers must be able to name the VAT number and EORI that will clear their goods. Layered on top are extended producer responsibility, product safety and French-language requirements that both customs and the marketplace enforce.
The sellers who will keep growing on Cdiscount are the ones who treat compliance as part of the product: the right registrations in place before the first order, packaging printed correctly in China, accurate data in every security filing, and a landed-cost model that reflects 2026 rather than 2025. A forwarder that understands the whole chain, from first-leg collection to overseas warehousing, clearance and last-mile delivery, makes that much easier. Topway Shipping is ready to help you build that chain, one compliant shipment at a time.
FAQs
Q: Do China-based sellers need a French VAT number to sell on Cdiscount?
A: Cdiscount’s published requirements include a valid VAT number. If you hold stock in France, through bulk import or Cdiscount fulfilment, French VAT registration is effectively required. Sellers shipping low-value parcels directly from China often operate through IOSS instead, but you should confirm the structure with a tax adviser.
Q: How much is the new EU duty on small parcels?
A: From 1 July 2026 a flat €3 customs duty applies to qualifying B2C parcels valued at €150 or less. Most guidance says it is assessed per distinct tariff line in a parcel, so ask your broker how it is applied to your product mix.
Q: Is there an additional handling fee?
A: An EU-wide handling fee of around €2 per parcel is expected from 1 November 2026. France also introduced a national fee in March 2026, which some reports say has been suspended pending the EU measure. Check the current status before shipping.
Q: What is EPR and why does it matter for Cdiscount sellers?
A: Extended producer responsibility requires producers placing certain goods on the French market to register with an approved eco-organisation and pay recycling contributions. For distance sales, the foreign seller counts as the producer. Missing registrations or Triman marks can lead to stopped shipments or delisted products.
Q: Can Topway Shipping handle shipments from China to France?
A: Yes. Topway Shipping, headquartered in Shenzhen and operating since 2010, offers first-leg transportation, FCL and LCL ocean freight, overseas warehousing, customs clearance support and last-mile delivery. Tax and EPR registrations should be arranged with qualified French advisers, and we coordinate the logistics around them.
