janoc, there is no mouser EU. Its just a webpage, the company and the warehouse is in the US. So whatever you order from mouser will have a VAT added for you after that price you post.
Of course, I know that. The reason I was posting the prices without VAT is because otherwise it is difficult to compare them (the tax is different in every EU country - a Dane will pay more with their 25% VAT vs a Frenchman with 20% VAT or a Swiss who has only 8% VAT) and companies most often don't really pay it anyway (they pass it on to their client).
As a private client I would get about 20% on top of those posted prices French VAT + shipping & handling (about 20 euro if I buy for less than 30 euro or so at Mouser, I believe). From my point of view Mouser acts as an EU company, how exactly they handle it, whether through a warehouse in Europe or through some sort of arrangement with the government I don't really care about. They don't charge any import fees/customs to me.
Farnell and RS are the same story as Mouser for me, plus they ship from EU warehouses (except for items from the US stock - which costs extra), so I get only the 20% French VAT added as a private client + shipping & handling. No customs or anything like that, from my point of view they are local (EU) companies, same as if I was buying something from the mom&pop convenience store at the corner.
The only exception from the major ones is Digikey. Digikey doesn't collect VAT in France directly, but it will be collected by UPS/DHL (or whoever they use to ship today) on delivery, along with customs (most likely none for components due to low total value) and then the UPS/DHL customs handling fee (a separate bill about a week later). That is the only case I know about where the final client has to deal with these details themselves. However, it depends by country - in the UK they handle it differently, same as in Denmark where I have used Digikey quite often without issues. Maybe it has changed in the meantime, I haven't ordered anything from Digikey in several years due to the treatment they gave me.
There seems to be a LOT of misunderstanding about vat, customs etc...
Let me just say that thankfully mouser will pay the taxes for you in your home country, and no other import charges will be applied.
There is no misunderstanding, I am not arguing with you. Please read the comment I have been replying to - which was Kilrah's about the EU vs US prices. Trust me, I know what I am talking about - I have been ordering components and paying these bills for more than a decade, in 4 different countries.