The hidden costs of shipping from the UK to the EU

Ask a UK small business owner what it costs to ship to France, and most will say: "About £12 for a small parcel, £18 for a medium one." Then they'll be surprised when their French customer gets a bill from the courier for another €22 on delivery.

This guide explains the costs that most UK sellers aren't accounting for — and what they mean in practice.

The cost you know about: the courier charge

The courier charge is the most visible shipping cost. You pay it upfront, you see it on your invoice, and you typically pass some or all of it on to your customer.

For a small parcel from the UK to France, you might pay £10–15 with a budget courier. For Germany or Spain, perhaps £12–18. These are real costs, but they're only part of the picture once your parcel crosses the EU border.

The costs your customer pays: import duty

Since Brexit, parcels sent from the UK to the EU are treated as international imports. That means they go through customs clearance, and may attract import duty.

Import duty is charged as a percentage of the value of the goods. The rate depends on what the product is — specifically, its commodity code in the EU's Combined Nomenclature tariff schedule. A rough guide:

• Electronics and tech products: typically 0% under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement
• Books and printed materials: 0%
• Clothing and footwear: 0–12% depending on material
• Ceramics, glassware and pottery: 8–12%
• Furniture and homewares: 0–5.6%
• Food products: varies widely, 0–20%+

The good news: many products qualify for 0% duty under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, because the UK and EU agreed tariff-free trade for goods that genuinely originate in the UK. If your product was made or substantially transformed in the UK, it may qualify. This is worth checking — a 0% duty rate is reassuring information to pass on to your EU customers.

The costs your customer pays: import VAT

Even if import duty is 0%, your EU customer will almost certainly pay import VAT. This is charged at the destination country's standard VAT rate, applied to the full CIF value — the combined cost of the goods, the shipping charge, and any import duty.

Current standard VAT rates for the main EU markets the UK exports to:

• France: 20%
• Germany: 19%
• Netherlands: 21%
• Spain: 21%
• Italy: 22%
• Ireland: 23%
• Sweden: 25%

If your customer has bought an £80 product with £12 shipping, they're being assessed on a £92 CIF value. At 20% French VAT, that's £18.40 in import VAT — collected by the courier before delivery. This amount is in addition to everything they already paid you.

The full picture: a worked example

Let's say you're a UK ceramics seller shipping a handmade vase worth £65 to a customer in Germany.

Your customer thinks they're paying £65 + £14 = £79. They're actually paying £100.20. The £21.20 gap appears at the door, demanded by the courier before they hand over the parcel.

What to do with this information

You have three sensible options:

Option 1: Display the full landed cost at checkout. Show EU customers what they'll actually pay — including estimated duty and VAT — before they complete their purchase. This sets the right expectation and eliminates complaints.

Option 2: Ship DDP (Delivered Duty Paid). Under DDP terms, you cover the duty and VAT yourself and build the cost into your selling price. The customer pays one price, nothing is collected at the door, and refusals and disputes drop dramatically. Many couriers offer DDP as a service option.

Option 3: Build it into your EU pricing. Charge EU customers a higher price that accounts for the expected duty and VAT, so your net margin is preserved and the customer still sees a single, final price at checkout.

All three approaches work. The worst option — and by far the most common — is to do nothing and let your customers discover the full cost when the courier knocks on the door.