Shipping to the EU from the UK

[NinnyNewName]

Hi everyone,

Ex overseas liver here.

I own an ecommerce business and have had a flurry of orders from the EU recently.

Having had parcels take forever/go missing I only now send international traicked and signed.

One customer in France was disgruntled because she had to go her local Post Office to pay 14 euros to collect her package.

I've just been tracking the orders sent over the last month. One customer in Belgium has refused the package and it's being returned to me.

I clearly state on my website that I am not responsible for import duties and taxes.

I'm assuming some people know the fall out of Brexit, and others don't?

I've tried to find out what the latest rules are but it's so hard to find anything concrete, and different countries have different prices.

I did read that there were no taxes on orders under 150 euros so long as they were made in the UK or the EU.

If you're in the EU please can you tell me what happens if you order something from the UK? And do you have to trek to the Post Office to collect the item or can you pay the duty online/at the door? Really trying to understand the pain points from the customer's point of view, and whether I need to stop EU shipping.

I ship to the US, Canada, Australia and NZ a lot and never have this issue. I assume people there just know there are going to be import duties.

TIA

I think people assumed brexit would be 'sorted' by now, after a few bumpy few months.

I know people in my circle have avoided sending anything when brexit was a new thing but now people are asking if parcels can/should be sent. So from that i think people I know think any teething problems should be solved.

I just tell people to not bother sending anything now because the costs one the site your'e looking at (as you are saying) are clear, but the local post office seem to just add charges on. Administration charge, import charge, collection charge etc. and they open the parcels too sometimes. Not worth it at all. I'd probably no long ship to the EU if I were you.

From a consumer perspective, it's just not worth the hassle to order to the EU from UK. I don't know why it's different with aus, us etc. I've noticed that too. But the UK is out now so they can do what they like really., or the postal services here are acting like it anyway.

I'm in Ireland so would always have ordered a lot from the UK. Now I will only use companies who have everything sorted on their end and where the delivery will be hassle free. I was ordering an item a few weeks ago and did see the notice about not being responsible for duties etc for shipments outside the UK so I cancelled it . Some smaller UK companies are doing a great job and no hassle with their deliveries.

Just to add OP I think it also depends on what you are selling. If it's a particular bespoke item then I'd accept the hassle but for example a pair of leggings (which were the items I decided not to buy) then absolutely no way

@minniep

I'm in Ireland so would always have ordered a lot from the UK. Now I will only use companies who have everything sorted on their end and where the delivery will be hassle free. I was ordering an item a few weeks ago and did see the notice about not being responsible for duties etc for shipments outside the UK so I cancelled it . Some smaller UK companies are doing a great job and no hassle with their deliveries.

Same, but I’ve probably stopped ordering from English companies by about 80% which is a massive change in shopping habits for me. I’m consciously ordering from local or NI shops.

It's a disaster! I live in Finland and not only will I not order anything from the U.K. I've also stopped family sending parcels because they either take weeks and weeks to get here or get returned. I know this doesn't help your problem though!

Thank you guys. I am a year old small business and customer experience is so important to me. It seems I can add taxes at check-out. I certainly cannot afford to absorb the costs of taxes myself.

I have hardly shipped to the EU since starting the business. I do on Etsy and that seems hassle-free.

I had a really big shout-out from a household name recently and got a bunch of EU orders from that.

I now only order from UK companies that sort it, or have an EU distribution centre. Otherwise I have Post App - if something arrives, I get a message asking me to make payment of any taxes, plus the handling fee. DH gets stamps sent and this is the only thing we still order.

Can I ask what this means?

"Some smaller UK companies are doing a great job and no hassle with their deliveries."

Does it mean you are happy (!!) to pay the duties and they're all up front as part of the buying process?

@NinnyNewName some companies have really done their homework and the process to order is basically the same as it was pre brexit. It's not just the huge multinationals either. I much rather it all gets sorted at the other end and arrive to me hassle free.

Are there any classes or courses being run for small businesses like yourselves to help you navigate this? It would be a shame for you not to be able to grow your business to its full potential as obviously you are doing great with it. Best of luck

We live in Spain, and no longer order anything from the U.K. unfortunately, as everything has import charges on delivery.

I'm in forrin and avoid ordering from uk.
had to get some sports shirts for dc from uk. took 6 week until we got the card from the delivery service and we had to pick up in person and pay import tax that was more dear than the contents (supplier has now been found here...)

Thanks Minnie. No courses, and very little information on-line as every country seem to make up their own rules depending on the day of the week.

I can add the ability to pay at check out with Shopify and I think that's what I'll try to do.

I assume that is the customer experience you talk about. All taxes paid up front, and no need to pay online/have the right change/go to collect etc.

I can't imagine myself ordering anything from the UK unless the seller guarantees the delivery price includes customs charges (ie I can understand that I need to pay those charges, not the seller, but I want to know the final price before I order).

I buy a pile of Christmas food once a year from an expat store and they've all gone over to using continental warehouses so the goods aren't subject to charges and the euro price plus delivery charge is the final price.

Friends have told me horrendous stories of receiving a 5 quid calendar from relatives and having to pay more than that in customs charges. Yet my Xmas parcel to my cousin in the UK, and hers to me, both arrived with no charges. It all seems so random.

The one time I ever had to pay customs (on an item mistakenly ordered from the US) it was a huge faff - I had to go to a customs office across town, queue for ages and then wait for the package to be found. I'm not going to risk that again.

Sorry about that - Brexit really is the freedom for the UK to be excluded from its closest markets...

I'm in Ireland. If there are customs duties to be paid from incoming UK orders we get a letter from An Post, the Irish postal service, telling us what we need to pay to have our goods delivered. We can then pay either online or at the post office. Once paid, goods get delivered within a day or two. It's a fairly efficient service.

I usually only buy from UK sites where everything is paid up front, though it's annoying as everything is more expensive. For sites that don't ship to Ireland, if I really want something I get it delivered to a family member's home in the UK then collect it when I visit.

Re your Belgian customer - we have lots of relatives in Belgium and have stopped sending gifts by post. It's just not worth it. They've had to pay pretty much the same amount in taxes as we paid for the presents in the first place, plus endless delays at customs (that was at Xmas to be fair, but annoying nonetheless).

Those Brexit benefits just keep rolling in, don't they?!

Until recently I lived in Cyprus.

I stopped ordering from the UK ages ago but when people sent me or DC stuff I had to go to the post office and pay duty.

It was a ridiculous amount. My DM sent me a couple of free Tesco magazines and I had to pay 5E for them and I also paid 8E for a box of second hand lego my aunt sent for my DC! There was no justification for the amount of tax paid. It felt like they were plucking figures from fresh air!

I used to use Amazon DE. That might help you a bit to figure out charges.

Also the Cypriot version of next. They got stuff from the UK in a few days because of an agreement with DHL and it worked out better than buying stuff in the local branches.

I still think people had no idea what they were voting for with Brexit and didn't realise the hassle it was going to cause. Import/Export being just one of many issues.

Itsonly if items are marked as gifts there are no charges.

This is all so helpful (and depressing). Thank you so much. I think I'll direct EU customers to Etsy in future. My items are only £25 each. Taxes take that to more like £37. And after packages taking forever or getting lost I only ship tracked and signed so that's another £10. But remarkably ppl do still buy.

And I absolutely hate disappointing customers even if I've done nothing wrong. I can add payment if duties to Shopify so will set that up.

I so appreciate all your responses.

if items are marked as gifts there are no charges.

that has changed last year as companies used 'gift' to avoid paying import tax.
anything above the value of 10-22 euros (depending on eu country) is subect to import tax regardless.

brexit

Yes unfortunately marking the package as a gift doesn't make it free to collect where i am. There are still the charge for checking the parcel is actually a gift (they open it and 'value' it - or at least charge you for doing so) and then you pay and administration charge and collection charge. And even on gifts now you have to pay some taxes (the charges are a % of the value, and the collection and administration charge are added into the parcel's value which is a bit cheeky). I totally agree they seem to pick a number out of thin air. I can't criticise for doing so really even though it's a pain for me; it's obviously beneficial to companies within the EU, and local companies especially after the VAT changes.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to only sell to the EU via Etsy, not from my website.

What an absolute mess!!