Buying catering equipment from Poland
Buying catering equipment from Poland
You have found a machine and want to know how buying across the border actually works? No customs inside the EU, no Polish VAT for businesses with a valid EU VAT number, transport by us or by your own carrier. The whole process is on this page, so you do not have to ask for it on the phone.
Why Poland at all
The price gap does not come from worse equipment. It comes from a different market. We buy fit-outs from businesses that are refurbishing, upgrading or closing down, check them, and pass them on. The same brands you find in kitchens across Europe: Rational, Convotherm, Winterhalter, Bartscher, Hendi, Stalgast, RM Gastro.
We will also tell you when the trip is not worth it. On a single stainless steel table, transport eats the saving. It starts to make sense with a larger machine — a combi oven, a cold room, a hood-type dishwasher — or when you are fitting out a whole kitchen at once.
The short version
One machine: do the maths. A full kitchen or a closing-down sale: almost always worth it. Call us and we will work it through with you — including the case where the answer is that you should buy locally.
An invoice without Polish VAT
A sale to a business elsewhere in the EU is an intra-Community supply. If both sides hold a valid EU VAT number in the VIES system and the goods demonstrably leave Poland, we issue the invoice without Polish VAT. You then account for the acquisition in your own country under the reverse charge.
In practice: you pay the net amount and report the acquisition in your own VAT return. The Polish 23 % rate never appears on your invoice.
Our EU VAT number
PL6381828620 — registered and checkable in the European Commission’s VIES system. You can verify it before ordering; we check yours the same way.
What we need from you
- Your EU VAT number. We verify it in VIES. Without a valid number we have to charge Polish VAT.
- Proof that the goods moved. Freight documents or CMR, depending on who carries them. If we transport, we handle this.
- Confirmation that you buy as a business. We sell to companies only, never to private individuals.
Not tax advice
This describes the usual process and does not replace advice from your own accountant. Whether we can invoice you net in your specific case is confirmed before the invoice is issued.
Outside the EU — read this first
For buyers in the United Kingdom and other non-EU countries the picture is different: the shipment becomes an export from the EU and an import on your side, with a customs declaration, import VAT and possibly duty. That usually removes the price advantage, which is the only reason to look this far in the first place. We will say so plainly rather than let you find out at the border.
No customs — the goods stay inside the EU
Within the EU customs union there is no customs declaration, no import duty and no border clearance. It is the question we are asked most often, and the answer is as simple as it sounds.
Our warehouse is in Upper Silesia, a little over 300 km from the German border and roughly 550 km from Berlin. There are three ways to move the goods, and all three are routine.
We deliver
Our own vehicles and experience with bulky kitchen equipment. We secure it, drive it and deliver to the door. Cost depends on weight, volume and distance — we quote it before you order, not after.
Your carrier
You book the transport, we load and issue the paperwork. Sensible if you already move freight out of the region.
Collection in person
Pick up at our premises in Góra near Pszczyna, by appointment. The route where you see the machine and test it under power before paying for it.
Plan this in advance
Narrow doors, stairs, no lift: catering equipment is heavy and awkward. Tell us what the site looks like beforehand — that decides whether delivery is an appointment or a job of its own.
From enquiry to delivery
- You call or write. A machine, a model, or simply the job: „a combi oven for 120 covers at lunch”. Photos of your kitchen help.
- We check stock. What is on the website is a snapshot — stock turns over weekly. You get an answer within 24 hours.
- Quote with a net price. Machine, transport and date in one figure, so you can compare it against a local offer.
- Inspection. On site under power, or by video if the trip is not worth it. We show the wear as well as the working parts.
- Invoice and payment. Zero-rated for valid EU VAT numbers. Payment by bank transfer before dispatch.
- Transport and handover. With the freight documents you need as evidence of the intra-Community supply.
Usual timeframe from confirmation to delivery: 7 to 14 working days, depending on the machine and the destination. If it is urgent, say so in the first message — sometimes it is considerably faster.
What we work with
quotes and jobs completed
maximum response time
of clients come by referral
in the trade
Buying from Poland — questions and answers
Is there customs duty when buying from Poland?
Will the invoice be free of Polish VAT?
Do you sell to private individuals?
Can I see the machine before buying?
Is there any warranty?
Who pays for transport?
How long does delivery take?
Tell us what you are looking for
Describe the equipment or send photos. We reply within 24 hours at the latest — if it is urgent, just call.