What your business should do

1. Consider Delivering Duty Paid (DDP). With DDP, you prepay and build the cost into your pricing. With DDU, your customer is asked to pay on delivery, which can lead to refused parcels. Find out more.

2. Audit your product catalogue. Check that every EU-bound product has an M-PID, NS-PID and S-PID at the variant level. Contact manufacturers early for missing NS-PIDs, because that step takes the longest.

3. Use bulk export and import in your shipping software rather than editing products one by one.

4. Tidy up your customs data. Make sure HS codes, parcel values, recipient details, and product descriptions are accurate and align with EU requirements.

5. Check your marketplace settings. Selling through Amazon, eBay, Etsy or TikTok Shop doesn't remove the duty or handling fee. Marketplaces collect VAT on consignments up to €150 as a deemed supplier, but the customs charges still attach to the parcel.

6. Consider EU stock. Goods imported in bulk are cleared once under normal duty rates, and later sales carry no per-item duty or handling fee. You will need an EU VAT registration in the storage country, plus One Stop Shop for sales across the EU.

7. Keep your books right. Record duty and handling fees as a cost of sale, not as VAT, so they stay out of your VAT return.

8. Plan for returns. For B2C returns, duty isn't automatically refundable once goods are released into free circulation.