Is nonpaints.com Legit? Yes, But UK Buyers Should Read This First

Short answer: yes. CROP, the Dutch retailer behind nonpaints.com, is a real, long-established company with over 90 years of trading behind it, and it holds 4.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot across more than 4,800 reviews. Independent domain-risk checkers rate the site low risk, and your order will turn up. The warning for UK buyers is a different one. Every order ships from the Netherlands, so it arrives in Britain as an import, and the price you compared against a UK shelf price isn't what you'll end up paying. UK reviewers keep describing the same surprise: one was billed £44.58 by UPS on top of what they'd already paid, another £81 on an oil order, another watched a £10.22 part become £32.40. Add 20% import VAT, roughly £18 of courier clearance fee, possible duty on top, and a wait at the border. Here's the arithmetic.

Yes, CROP Is a Real Company

Worth settling this properly, because "is nonpaints.com legit" is the question people actually type before they order.

CROP are a Dutch specialist in paint and non-paint supplies for bodyshops and workshops. They carry 3M, Mirka, Colad and Finixa alongside their own Premium CROP line, and they've been trading in one form or another for more than 90 years. Their Trustpilot profile runs to over 4,800 reviews at 4.4 out of 5, with roughly 6% at one star. Scam-checking services rate the domain as low risk.

None of that reads like a fake shop. If you order, you'll get the goods.

One thing genuinely worth checking though: the address bar. The real site is nonpaints.com. A separate domain, nonpaint.shop, scores much lower on the same risk checkers and has been flagged for spam. It isn't CROP. If you landed on a "CROP" page through an advert or a link someone sent you, check which domain you're on before entering card details.

So Where's the Problem?

The problem isn't whether CROP will take your money and run. It's that the number on the product page is not the number that leaves your bank account, and you find that out after you've paid.

Every order ships from the Netherlands. The Netherlands has been outside the UK's customs and VAT territory since 2021. So each parcel crosses a border, and the border has a price list.

CROP say so themselves, on their own shipping page: orders ship from the Netherlands, and import duties, VAT and any handling fees "may be applied upon delivery. These costs are not covered by us."

That sentence is accurate and it's published. It just isn't in front of you at the moment you're comparing two prices in two browser tabs.

Import VAT: 20% on the Goods and the Postage

Every commercial parcel arriving in Great Britain from outside the UK is assessed for VAT. GOV.UK's guidance is blunt about it: VAT applies to all goods sent from outside the UK, gifts under £39 aside.

The detail that catches people is what the 20% applies to. It isn't 20% of the product price. It's 20% of the customs value, which is the goods plus the shipping. Order £100 of compound with £15 of postage and HMRC want £23, not £20. Minor on one bottle. Less minor when you're buying by the litre or buying a machine.

The £135 Rule, and Why Small Orders Still Get a Bill

There's a threshold meant to protect you on smaller purchases. For a consignment of goods worth £135 or less, the overseas seller is supposed to be registered for UK VAT and charge it at your checkout, so nothing is owed at the border and no courier gets involved.

That's the theory. UK reviewers report being billed anyway. Dave (GB, 7 September 2026) wrote that he was "disappointed to receive customs import administration invoices today for 2 separate orders". Neil Goodwin (GB, 29 July 2026) got "a demand from UPS for £7.96". Neither of those reads like a big-ticket import.

So on a sub-£135 basket you might get through clean, and you might get an invoice. You can't tell which in advance, and that unpredictability is the real cost.

The Courier's Fee for Paying the Tax for You

Almost nobody budgets for this one. When UPS clear your parcel they pay HMRC first and bill you after, and they charge for fronting the money.

UPS's published 2026 charges for Great Britain set the disbursement fee at 9.65 euros for a shipment with an intrinsic value of 22 euros or less, and above that, 21 euros minimum or 3% of the advanced amount, whichever is greater. Call it £18 on a normal order.

Because it's a flat floor, it hurts most on cheap things. Neil Goodwin's second review puts it plainly: "An item for £10.22 has ended up costing £32.40, more than three times the original quoted price." The tax on a tenner is two quid. The rest was the cost of collecting it.

Duty, and Why "Made in the EU" Doesn't Always Mean Zero

Duty is the variable one. Under the UK/EU trade agreement, goods of genuine EU origin can enter at 0% duty if the seller supplies a valid statement on origin. Plenty of European orders qualify.

CROP aren't only selling their own line though. They're a large retailer carrying 3M, Mirka, Colad and Finixa, and a fair slice of that stock isn't EU-origin. Those lines can attract duty on consignments over £135. You find out which when the invoice arrives.

A £100 Basket, Worked Through

Two typical orders, assuming £15 of shipping and no duty. Duty would sit on top of these numbers.

A European price needs to be roughly a third cheaper than the UK one just to break even on a small order. Most listings don't clear that bar.

Machine Polishers Are Where This Really Bites

If you're pricing up a Flex or a Liquid Elements polisher, this is the section that matters, because a polisher is the worst possible thing to import.

• You're always over £135. A machine is hundreds of pounds, so import VAT and the clearance fee aren't a maybe. They're certain. A polisher listed at 400 euros works out around £340, plus £20 shipping, plus £72 of import VAT, plus the £18 clearance fee. That's roughly £450 to get a £340 machine onto your bench.
• A corded machine arrives with a European plug. This isn't hypothetical. UK CROP reviewers have complained about exactly it. Rob Hinch (GB, 6 August 2026) reported EU plugs sold into the UK market, and Andreza Carolina Ribeiro (GB, 24 July 2026) raised the same thing alongside unexpected import charges. A Schuko plug on a 1000W polisher isn't something to solve with an adaptor from a service station.
• The Flex warranty won't cover it. This is the one that catches people out, and it's worth being precise about. Flex UK have told us directly that the warranty isn't valid on a machine that didn't come into the country through a UK dealer. It isn't a question of shipping the tool back to the Netherlands and waiting a while. Flex's own published warranty terms back the shape of it: repairs are carried out solely by Flex-authorised workshops, and a claim needs the original purchase receipt plus a product registration completed within 30 days. Buy a £500 Flex from a Dutch retailer and you're buying it without UK cover.

We stock both brands, held here, on UK plugs, priced with VAT already in the number, and as a UK dealer the Flex warranty stands behind what you buy from us. What's on the shelf as of September 2026, across the Flex and Liquid Elements collections:

Stock moves, so check the Flex collection, the Liquid Elements collection, or the full polishing machines range for what's live today. Compounds, pads and backing plates for both brands sit alongside the machines, which saves you a second import on the consumables.

If you want a hand picking between them, Zaim uses these machines on real cars in our Hitchin unit rather than reading spec sheets. Ask and he'll tell you which one suits the work you're doing.

The Wait, and What Happens If You Need to Send It Back

CROP dispatch quickly, same-day on weekdays, and UPS is a fast carrier. Then the parcel stops at the border while the tax is settled. You get an email, you pay, it moves again. Maksim (IE, 24 July 2026) reported an item still unshipped two weeks after ordering. Emil Törnros (SE, 22 August 2026) waited a week on an order placed before the same-day cut-off.

If something's wrong, the fix is an international return at your cost and your effort. Reviewers describe a paint tin that arrived crushed and a tool with the wrong plug fitted, both of which needed sending back to the Netherlands. Your Consumer Rights Act protections also get harder to lean on. Andreza Carolina Ribeiro (GB, 24 July 2026) complained that CROP "do not follow UK consumer law". Whether that's technically right or not, enforcing a UK statutory right against a Dutch company is a different proposition from emailing a retailer in Hertfordshire. You can reclaim import VAT on returned goods from HMRC, but that's a claim form rather than an automatic credit.

How to Work Out the Real Landed Cost Before You Order

Four steps, thirty seconds:

1. Add the goods price and the shipping together.
2. Add 20% of that total for import VAT.
3. Add £18 for the courier's clearance fee, whatever the order size.
4. Compare that figure against the UK price.

If the European option still wins after all four, it genuinely wins and you should buy it. On a large consumables restock it sometimes does. On a single bottle, a hand tool, or anything you might need to return, it almost never does, because that flat £18 eats the saving whole.

Check the site's VAT toggle too. CROP let you view prices with or without VAT, and if you're looking at the ex-VAT view the gap is wider than it appears before you've even started.

Where We Come Into It

We hold over 50 brands in the UK, priced in pounds with VAT already in the number. What you see at checkout is what leaves your account, and nothing arrives afterwards asking for more. Orders go on a UK courier, machines come with UK plugs, and if something's wrong you email us and we sort it without a customs form in sight.

Found something on a European site and not sure whether we carry the equivalent? Send us the link. We'll tell you straight if they're cheaper once it's landed, because on the odd item they will be.

Frequently Asked Questions