Orders to EU – Update 6/1/21

Clarifying the new rules for EU orders:

All orders to non-UK destinations are charged minus VAT.  This now includes EU countries. You will need to be signed in to an account with a registered address outside of the UK on axecaster.co.uk to see the VAT exclusive prices.

Any duty and VAT/tax due will be collected from the buyer upon import to the destination country by the carrier. There may also be administration fees charged by the carrier for clearing customs – this will vary between carriers. Axecaster has no control over these fees and will complete Customs Declarations accurately.

Duty should only be due on shipments with a value over £135/€150. VAT will be due on shipments over the destination country’s low value threshold (€22 for EU countries until July 1st 2021. Click here.)  Shipments below €22 (including shipping cost) should not attract any duty, VAT or handling charges.

EU based customers ordering from UK businesses should take the above into account before ordering, especially for smaller value orders.

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Royal Mail has resumed services to European destinations and the website will resume taking orders for Europe from 11pm this evening (29/12). Royal Mail are cautioning that due to backlogs at Dover transit times will be longer than usual so please be aware.

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Unfortunately with the development of a new Covid-19 strain in the UK the majority of EU have banned travel from the UK. There are huge delays at the ports and I more countries are banning flights from the UK.  (Royal Mail uses cargo holds in passenger flights for a lot of international mail deliveries) As of right now I am unsure if any EU orders would actually make it to the destination country before Jan 1st. Therefore I have suspended ordering from EU countries until we either have more clarification on whether freight/mail is moving more freely or January 1st.

I am very sorry to have to do this but I believe it better to do this than potentially have all EU orders being delayed until after Jan 1st and having additional VAT charged.

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Due to the ridiculously long processing times I am seeing for mail to some EU countries to enter the local systems I have decided I will stop processing orders to EU at 1pm 23rd December. This gives an extra few days for local customs to process parcels into their systems before the transition period deadline. I will disable the ability for EU customers to checkout at 1pm on 23rd and re-enable with the new VAT-exclusive pricing on January 1st.

I want to stress that this is nothing to do with Royal Mail – orders are leaving the UK within a day or two of dispatch but not being scanned into the destination country system by the local postal operators/customs for up to a week.

My apologies for the inconvenience.

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The “transition period” officially ends at midnight December 31st and after that the UK will be treated as a third country by the EU. This means that any orders from EU countries placed with UK based companies will be charged net of VAT and any VAT and duty will be payable by the customer upon import.

I will stop taking EU orders from 1pm December 23rd and restart on January 1st. This is to allow time for orders dispatched with VAT paid to arrive in the EU before Jan 1st so the recipient does not get charged any extra VAT/duty. It will also allow me time to change the settings on the store so EU customers see/are charged prices without VAT added.

Order early to avoid disappointment!