Import professional tools and hardware
from Europe to Israel

Germany is the centre of gravity and it is not close. Bosch Professional, Festool, Metabo, Fein, Knipex, Wera, Wiha, Hazet, Stahlwille, Gedore and Würth all run their deepest catalogues at home, and the trade suppliers that carry them — Contorion, SVH24, Hoffmann Group, Würth's own channel — price for professionals rather than for a foreign distributor's margin. Italy is the second pillar, mostly for hand tools and workshop equipment: Beta Utensili and USAG are the reference names, with a service and accessory ecosystem that rarely crosses borders intact. Spain contributes cutting and striking tools with a long industrial history — Bellota, Irega, Egamaster, Palmera — and the Czech Republic adds Narex, whose chisels and woodworking tools have a following far bigger than their distribution.

For a business the practical question is not which brand but which format. Hand tools, measuring instruments, bits and accessory systems are the ideal repeat purchase: dense, durable, unaffected by mains voltage, and easy to consolidate from several suppliers into one shipment. Corded power tools are where you need to stop and read the operations section below before ordering anything. And if you are stocking a workshop rather than reselling, the European trade catalogues are usually where the specialist references live — the sizes and variants a local distributor decided were not worth listing.

Israel taxes by band on the value of the goods themselves, excluding shipping and insurance. Up to US$75 a shipment is exempt from VAT, duty and purchase tax. Between US$75 and US$130, VAT of 18% applies. Above US$130 you are looking at VAT plus potentially duty and purchase tax depending on classification. Getting the current numbers matters because the widely circulated US$150 threshold and 17% VAT rate are out of date: the increase to US$150 was revoked by the Knesset on 24 February 2026 and systems reverted to US$75 on 2 June 2026.

For a company the bands are only the start. Commercial imports are cleared against your importer file with a customs agent, and the real lever is the EU–Israel association agreement: goods of genuine EU origin can enter at preferential duty rates when accompanied by the correct origin proof — an EUR.1 movement certificate or an invoice declaration from the supplier. On categories where the base duty is meaningful, that document is worth more than anything you will negotiate on freight, which is why we collect it from your European suppliers as part of intake rather than leaving it to the last mile.

Three technical facts decide whether a tool order is a good idea, and we would rather you know them now than after the pallet lands. First, mains voltage. European corded tools are built for 230 V at 50 Hz. That is fine for the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, the UAE and Chile, which run at or near the same voltage. It is a real problem for the United States, Canada, Mexico and Colombia, which run at 110–127 V: a 230 V corded saw will not work on a 120 V site without a transformer, and no amount of good freight pricing fixes that. Cordless platforms are usually the answer — the tool itself has no mains voltage, and many chargers are 100–240 V, though you should confirm per model rather than assume.

Second, lithium batteries. Cordless tool batteries are dangerous goods in air freight, with rules that vary by whether they are loose, packed with equipment or contained in equipment. Some can move under specific conditions, some cannot move by air at all, and the answer depends on the cell and the service. Ask us before you order batteries rather than after they arrive at the warehouse. Third, conformity marking: CE marking is a European conformity regime. Placing tools on your local market for resale may require local marking or certification — RCM in Australia, NOM in Mexico, INMETRO in Brazil, and the market expectations around UL/ETL listing in North America. We ship your goods and document them properly; local compliance for resale is your side of the line and worth checking before you commit to volume.