EU Shipping Ends on May 1st, 2022

Beginning May 1st, 2022, we will no longer be able to ship to European Union member countries, or territories of those countries. This is due to two major factors:

VAT Representation

We are currently required to pay for a company to represent us in the EU for VAT purposes. We cannot represent ourselves or file our own VAT returns, because the EU requires us to have a representative that is physically located in the EU. The monthly fee for representation is significantly higher than our total sales to all EU member countries combined.

Packaging Register Requirements

Due to the EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste, many countries have begun requiring businesses to register for packaging compliance. Our staff simply isn’t equipped to keep up with all of the different regulations and record-keeping requirements for each country; we are too small to handle the workload.

We also don’t do enough business in the EU to justify the financial burden of licensing and registration for each individual piece of packaging in every country that requires it.

2021-2022 Costs

From September 2021 until May 2022, we tried paying for VAT representation to see if it would work out for us. During that time, our total sales to the EU (including VAT and shipping) were $550.56. 

We paid $673.26 to the EU-based company that represented us for VAT. That amount includes VAT itself, as well as the monthly fee for the representative to file returns on our behalf.

We also spent $214.56 on shipping for those orders.

So, during the time we paid for VAT representation, we lost $337.26.

These figures do not include the amounts we paid to our suppliers for goods or operating costs (like rent, web hosting, etc), and do not include Packaging Register fees because those weren't required at the time.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If the EU ever introduces thresholds to allow small businesses like us to continue to operate, we will reconsider shipping there in the future, but at this time, it doesn't look likely.