In short
For now, I’m unable to ship low-value orders to customers in Germany, Luxembourg and Denmark. If you live in one of those countries, I’m sorry. Here’s what changed, why it affects a small shop like mine, and what you can do in the meantime.
What changed
On 1 July 2026 the EU introduced a temporary €3 customs duty on parcels worth up to €150 arriving from outside the EU. Before that, these small parcels were duty free. Guernsey sits outside the EU customs area, so every order I send to the EU is caught by it.
The duty is charged per type of item, by tariff classification, so a parcel with two different kinds of product attracts €6. It is charged on top of import VAT.
The important part for me is who pays. The European Commission’s announcement states: “The seller or importer will be responsible for declaring and paying the duty as part of the customs process.” The Commission lists its reasons on the same page but it is unique in applying such trade barriers.
Why this stops a small shop
To pay the duty myself, I would need a way to declare and settle it before the parcel arrives. That means a customs registration, an intermediary or a carrier service that prepays duty, plus the admin to run it on every order.
Many countries’ postal services and many smaller businesses have no mechanism for this yet. In practice, sending small parcels to these countries is now limited to larger organisations with the systems and staff to manage it. I’m a small operation and I’m not set up to do this, sadly.
Which countries are affected
Germany, Luxembourg and Denmark appear to be enforcing the rule strictly. They will not let the customer pay the duty on delivery, so the parcel must arrive with the duty already paid. Carrier guidance from Australia Post and Royal Mail via EAS singles out the same three countries, and ePost Global reports that Germany stopped accepting duty-unpaid parcels in late October.
Other EU countries are taking a more pragmatic approach. There, the postal service collects the €3 duty from the recipient on delivery, usually with a handling fee, and I can still ship to you as normal. Each country’s postal operator sets its own approach, so this list could grow.
What you can do
If you have a relative, friend or parcel forwarding address in another country, I’m happy to ship there instead. Just add it as the delivery address when you order, or get in touch first if you’d like to check.
I’m not sure how long this will last or whether it will be fixed. The €3 duty is a stopgap until a wider EU customs reform, and carriers are still building prepaid-duty services. I’ll update this page when anything changes.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.