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The EU €3 customs duty and €2 handling fee for Shopify sellers

If you sell from the UK, Switzerland, Norway or anywhere else outside the EU to consumers in the EU, parcels now pay two flat charges at customs: a €3 duty per item on parcels worth €150 or less, and a €2 handling fee per item at any value. This article explains what counts as an item, who pays, what changes for goods made in the UK, and how to keep the cost down.

This article isn't legal or tax advice. Check with your carrier, customs broker or accountant.

What changed

  • Since 1 July 2026, the EU no longer lets parcels worth €150 or less in without duty. Instead, a parcel sold to a consumer pays a flat €3 per item, whatever the normal duty rate for the goods would be. This duty is temporary: it runs until 1 July 2028, when the EU plans to charge normal duty on every parcel. The Commission may extend it.
  • Since 1 November 2026, customs also charges a €2 handling fee per item on goods sold to consumers from outside the EU, at any parcel value. This fee is permanent.

So a parcel of €150 or less pays €5 per item, and a bigger parcel pays €2 per item on top of its normal duty and VAT.

Since 1 November 2026, parcels of €150 or less sold to consumers also need product codes for each item, such as your SKU. See EU product identifiers.

What counts as an item

An item is one line of the customs declaration: goods in the parcel that share the same HS code and description (and, in a full declaration, the same country of origin). The quantity doesn't matter.

Parcel Items €3 duty €2 fee Total
3 identical mugs 1 €3 €2 €5
A mug and a candle 2 €6 €4 €10
A mug, a candle and a tea towel 3 €9 €6 €15
The same 3 products, worth €180 3 normal duty €6 normal duty + €6

On a €25 order of a mug and a candle, that's €10, or 40% of the order. Small orders with several different products are hit hardest.

The €150 counts the goods in one parcel, without shipping and insurance shown separately on the invoice, and without taxes. One order shipped as two parcels is two consignments, each with its own items.

Which sales it covers

Both charges apply to distance sales: goods you sell to a consumer in the EU and ship from outside the EU, yourself or through a carrier you arrange. That covers a normal Shopify order shipped by post or courier.

  • Sales to businesses with an EU VAT number aren't distance sales, so neither charge applies. But the old €150 duty exemption is gone for them too, so normal duty rates apply, even on small parcels.
  • Gifts between private people aren't sales, so they aren't distance sales either.

Who pays

The charges are collected at import, together with the VAT:

  • With IOSS or a duty-paid (DDP) service, your carrier pays them at the border and bills you. The customer pays nothing on delivery.
  • Without IOSS (DAP), the customer pays them on delivery, with the import VAT and the carrier's own fee.

Ask your carrier how it bills the €3 and €2, and whether it already includes them in its duty-paid prices.

Goods made in the UK

Under the EU–UK trade agreement, goods that originate in the UK normally enter the EU with no duty when the invoice carries a statement on origin. For parcels of €150 or less, that now depends on how the parcel is declared:

  • With IOSS, the €3 duty applies to every item, even UK-made goods. A preference can't be claimed on parcels whose VAT was collected through IOSS.
  • Without IOSS, the preference can be claimed in a full customs declaration, so UK-made goods pay no €3 duty. The €2 handling fee still applies, and the customer pays import VAT and the carrier's fee on delivery. Not every carrier makes a full declaration for small parcels, so ask yours first.

For most shops, IOSS is still the better experience for the customer, even with the €3. Goods made outside the UK and the EU can't claim the preference either way.

How to keep the cost down

  1. Get your HS codes right and consistent. Each different code is another €5. Variants of the same product, such as sizes and colours, normally share one code. Don't give similar products different codes without a reason. See Finding the right HS code.
  2. Price it in. If you ship with IOSS or DDP, the charges are your cost. Add them to shipping or to your prices for EU customers, especially on cheap products that are often bought together with others.
  3. Tell DAP customers before they buy. A note at checkout such as "EU customs charges €5 per product type on delivery" avoids refused parcels.
  4. Check the bill. Compare your carrier's duty invoice with the number of different HS codes in each parcel.

How Borderdesk helps

Borderdesk is a Shopify app for EU and UK shops that ship across the border.

  • Before you print, it counts the different HS codes in each EU parcel and shows the €3 duty and €2 fee to expect, and who pays them with your Incoterm.
  • It finds products without an HS code and suggests codes, so every product in a parcel is classified once and the same way.
  • It prints commercial invoices with a statement on origin when your goods qualify.

Borderdesk on the Shopify App Store

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