But that's about covered by the difference in exchange rate.

A few years ago prices where mostly 1:1 in USD before taxes and EUR after taxes. So the situation got worse.

I think the main reason is not that anything makes selling the cards there more expensive, but simply that they try to charge more.

Exchange rates fluctuate, often it’s been ~1.05:1 which is a long way from covering the 20% VAT. Add some uncertainty, stronger consumer protection laws, and smaller markets and the price difference is relatively small.

> the price difference is relatively small

Where in reality there shouldn't be any, since sending stuff across the pond costs nothing as seen in products like bananas. At least I live in place which has only 8% VAT, so prices look a bit more like US (but still higher for no good reason)

Sending stuff across the pond is expensive because when importing stuff you pay VAT + import fees on top of what you already paid.

VAT I get - everybody pays it, but if company imports stuff (especially local branch/official distributor), they should do import paperwork - are there any additional fees included?

Same or even better price then! Still, that's a lot of money for a card.