Since January 1st, importing and exporting changed for us (by us I mean consumers all across UK and Europe). It has been a frustrating time which hasn't eased up much at all with delays still happening on international shipments and in particular, delays through customs clearances.
I do still get the same messages of concern and questions about the process even 6 months on, why they've received a customs invoice, why the parcel is delayed at customs etc. Although this has been mainstream news for some time now, I do respect this may possibly be a first time import for some customers. So in light of that I want to share a page/article I put together back in January to help provide as much information as I can to help ensure you're aware of the process and possible costs involved. I spent a lot of time researching and making sure this information would be as helpful as possible, and feel it covers what an importer needs to know and what to expect both in the process and costs involved.
You can read the page HERE or by clicking the direct link to it via the main menu above
You can read the page HERE or by clicking the direct link to it via the main menu above
July 1st will see another few changes, perhaps most notably the removal of the 22Euro goods threshold meaning that now ALL goods imported regardless of value will incur customs processing and fees relative to that. There is also a new scheme being put into place where I can opt in to submit a single VAT return for all of the EU rather than each member state, so I'm weighing up the costs to set that up to help make the process easier for my EU customers. At the moment though, I'm very much at the research stage and it may well prove to be too expensive for where my business is at currently. But I wanted to mention it purely to share that international customers are always a consideration for me and I always want to ensure an easy buying experience as my UK customers would have.
I know waiting on a parcel stuck in customs is far from fun, and the delays can be really frustrating but please be patient, and please rest assured all is being done my end to help make the shipment be trouble free but the sheer numbers that customs are processing it is inevitable that delays or worse, miss-haps happen along the way.
Thank you to all the international customers that have continued to support me since these big changes on Jan 1st, feels crazy to still having to be talking about it, but hopefully the information on this article will help guide your purchase and ensure no nasty surprises in your countries customs/import charges so the process is all familiar to you too.
Will be back with guitar fun stuff again shortly lol