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EU product identifiers: SKUs and barcodes on parcels to EU customers

Since 1 November 2026, every parcel worth €150 or less that you sell to a consumer in the EU from outside the EU must be declared with product codes for each item: your SKU, the manufacturer's code and, where one exists, the barcode number. Your carrier sends them to customs, but it gets them from you. This article explains which codes you need and where they come from in Shopify.

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

The three codes

Customs calls them product identifiers, or PIDs.

Code Customs name In Shopify Needed
Your SKU Merchant product identifier (M-PID) The variant's SKU field Always
The manufacturer's code: the maker's model, article or part number Non-standardised manufacturer product identifier (NS-PID) No standard field Always
The barcode number: an EAN, UPC or ISBN Standardised manufacturer product identifier (S-PID) The variant's Barcode field Only if the product has one
  • No barcode? The declaration says so with an exception code. Don't make one up.
  • Each code should belong to one product variant. Two different products, or two colours of the same product, shouldn't share a SKU.

Which parcels need them

  • Sales to consumers in the EU shipped from outside the EU, such as from the UK, Switzerland or Norway.
  • Parcels worth €150 or less. The Commission's guidance limits the rule to these parcels, and the regulation is being amended to say so.
  • Not sales to businesses with an EU VAT number.

It doesn't matter whether you use IOSS. The same parcels pay the €3 customs duty and €2 handling fee.

Where the codes come from

Your SKU. Add it to each variant in Shopify, under Inventory. Most shipping apps and carrier tools, such as Royal Mail Click & Drop, import it with the order. A SKU added after the order was placed doesn't reach that order, so for older orders enter it by hand when you create the label.

The manufacturer's code. If you buy the product in, it's the supplier's article or model number, often printed on the box or the invoice. Ask your supplier if you can't find it. If you make the product yourself, you're the manufacturer, so you choose the code, for example a model number. Shopify has no field for it, so ask your carrier or shipping app where to enter it.

The barcode. If the product has an EAN, UPC or ISBN, add it to the variant's Barcode field in Shopify.

What happens without them

Your carrier makes the customs declaration, so it needs the codes before the parcel leaves. Some carriers won't create a label for an EU consumer parcel without them. Royal Mail has asked for the SKU and the manufacturer's code since 26 October 2026. Customs can hold a parcel whose declaration is incomplete.

How Borderdesk helps

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

  • On every EU consumer order up to €150, it warns you about products without a SKU and links to the variant in Shopify.
  • It prints the SKU of each product on the commercial invoice.
  • It shows the €3 duty and €2 fee to expect for each parcel, and helps you give every product the right HS code.

Borderdesk on the Shopify App Store

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