Import collectibles and publishing
from Europe to Chile

Start with language, because it is the one advantage no local distributor can undercut. Spanish-language editions printed in Spain and Portuguese editions printed in Portugal are frequently the versions your customers actually want, and they arrive in Latin American markets late, in small allocations or never. Publishers like Norma Editorial, Planeta Cómic and Devir, and the Franco-Belgian houses behind the bande dessinée catalogue, sit at the centre of that. Add Taschen for art and photography books, whose formats and editions are a European proposition first.

The second axis is the hobby trade. Games Workshop's Warhammer ranges, Asmodee's board game catalogue, LEGO's European assortment, Panini's collections, model kits from Italeri and Revell, EU pressings on vinyl and European print runs of trading cards all carry regional exclusives and edition differences that make a specialist shop's window look different from everyone else's. Third, the backlist: European stock persists on titles and references that are out of print or unavailable in your market, which is often where the margin is for a specialist retailer. Commercial terms are between you and each publisher or distributor — trade accounts, minimum orders and territorial agreements are theirs to set. What we do is receive from all of them into one address and send you one shipment.

Chile's reference points moved recently, so start from the current ones. As of 25 October 2025, foreign online purchases pay 19% VAT regardless of value — the old US$41 exemption is no longer the planning baseline. On duty, the general rate is 6% applied to CIF value, with VAT then calculated on CIF plus duty. There is a mechanism that exempts purchases up to US$500 from duty, but it is framed around occasional purchases by individuals, which is precisely not what a company buying stock is doing; assume it does not cover you and confirm with your customs agent.

The part worth real attention is preferential origin. Chile and the European Union have a long-standing trade relationship that has been modernised, and goods of genuine EU origin can qualify for preferential duty treatment when the European supplier issues the origin declaration on the invoice. On a 6% general rate that is not the difference CETA makes in Canada, but on repeat volume it is free money and it costs nothing but a paragraph from your supplier. Commercial imports above the low-value ceiling are filed through a customs agent against your RUT, and VAT-registered companies normally credit import VAT.

Two operational realities shape this category. The first is weight: paper is dense, and a pallet of books or a case of hardbacks costs far more to move than its volume suggests. That pushes you towards larger, less frequent consignments and towards sea freight where your replenishment cycle can absorb the transit — which is a planning decision, not something we can fix with a better rate. The second is condition. Collectibles are sold on condition, so a corner crushed in transit is a markdown or a return. We repack for protection where the original packaging is not up to an international leg, and we will photograph condition on arrival if you ask, so that a claim starts from evidence rather than memory.

There is also one tax rule genuinely worth knowing, because it changes the arithmetic more than anything on this page: in Brazil, books, newspapers and periodicals — and the paper used to print them — enjoy constitutional tax immunity. That does not automatically make every shipment free of every charge, and it does not extend to games, miniatures or toys, but for a bookshop importing printed matter into Brazil it is a materially different calculation from importing collectible figures. Confirm the treatment of your specific goods with your despachante; it is the first thing we would check in your position.