Importing Goods from outside EU into the EU ?

[burt]

This may not affect many Phoenix users, but it's worth mentioning just in case.

As of TODAY 1 July 2026, the EU has introduced a temporary €3 customs handling charge on many low-value imports (goods valued at €150 or less) entering the EU from non-EU countries.

A few important points:

• This is not a €3 fee on every product you sell.
• It applies to imports into the EU from outside the EU.
• The charge is generally €3 per customs HS Code (item classification), not simply per parcel.

For example:

• A parcel containing five identical T-shirts would normally incur one €3 charge.
• A parcel containing a T-shirt and a belt would normally incur two €3 charges, as they fall under HS Codes.

The measure is more or less aimed at the huge volume of low-value imports arriving from marketplaces such as Temu, Shein and AliExpress, and is intended to remain in place until the EU's wider customs reforms are implemented.

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I suspect this won't affect many Phoenix shop owners, as most shopowners I think either hold your own stock or source within your own markets, but if you're dropshipping directly from suppliers outside the EU to EU customers, it's worth checking how this change affects your business and pricing.

If anyone here is affected, it'd be interesting to hear how you're planning to handle it.

[14Steve14]

We had an email from Royal Mail about this and the way they are collecting the fees. It would be good to hear how others that do sell into the EU on a B2C basis are dealing with this.

I do see that this is a temporary measure so it will be interesting to see how they change and evolve.

Another reason not to supply to non business customers within the EU. We stopped selling when all the other regulations like the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) and the VAT rules came into force, though we didn't sell that much anyway so it was no real loss.