[Commercial] Statuesque Miniatures Etsy shop open for EU and Norway customers

[Andrew Rae]

***The following information applies to EU and Norway customers only. For rest of world orders import rules are the same as they were prior to  July 2021. Nothing has changed for you.***

It's the 1st of July and I'm happy to say the Statuesque Miniatures Etsy shop is now open for orders from the EU and Norway. This coincides with the new EU VAT rules and is a definitely a GOOD THING for EU (and Norway) customers, given the situation since January 1st.

By ordering through Etsy, EU and Norway customers can pay VAT at checkout, avoiding additional costs and fees before delivery.

Statuesque Miniatures Etsy prices without VAT are 10% off for EU and Norway customers - I can't afford to entirely mitigate the VAT, but I hope that helps.

For EU customers:

• For all orders under 150 Euro, Etsy will collect VAT at checkout, at your country's rate.
• There should be no additional 'handling fees' from your postal service.
• For orders over 150 Euro, Etsy will not collect VAT, and VAT, handling fees and potentially duty will be collected by your postal service before delivery is made.

For Norway customers:

• Etsy will collect VAT at 25% at checkout on all orders.
• There should be no additional 'handling fees' from your postal service.

Statuesque Miniatures is not UK VAT registered - no UK VAT is included in either the Statuesque shop prices or the Statuesque Etsy prices.

Please note, not all Statuesque Miniatures products are listed in the Statuesque Miniatures Etsy shop - I have limited Etsy items to products I cast myself. More Etsy items will be added in due course. However,  if there's something you'd like to order that isn't listed Etsy, please get in touch and I'll see what I can do.

I strongly recommend all EU and Norway customers order through the Statuesque Miniatures Etsy shop. You can still order on the Statuesque website, but it is likely all orders made though this site will be subject to VAT and handling fees. For more information, see HERE.

Hopefully, in time, I'll be able to collect EU VAT through the Statuesque shop. There are various solutions, but I want to see how things go before I implement anything. In the meantime, the Statuesque Miniatures Etsy shop provides a fool-proof way to allow EU and Norway customers to avoid the dreaded handling fees.

[Andrew Rae]

Ok, update on the Etsy shop...

I'm now selling on Etsy to the following EU countries only (and Norway):
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden.

I have confirmed (though laboriously checking local postal service websites) that those countries *do not* collect handling fees when VAT is paid at checkout on Etsy.

The intention of the new EU VAT import rules were that no additional fees would be due if VAT was paid at checkout - the customer would make payment at checkout only. However, various countries have implemented fees, or it is unclear at the moment if they will do so. This is very disappointing.

I've put together a long list of the procedures for each EU member state. I've included details of potential fees and links to where I found the information. I have suspended Etsy sales to any EU country that collects handling fees when VAT has already been paid at checkout.

It does seem fees may have gone down in many countries, but I want Etsy sales to have no additional costs involved. You can all still order through the Statuesque website.

No existing Etsy orders are affected.

https://www.statuesqueminiatures.co.uk/info-eu-norway

(If any other sellers copy and pastes this information, please credit it to me, Andrew Rae, and include a link to www.statuesqueminiatures.co.uk, thanks.)

[Fighting15s]

The news that some countries are imposing fees for doing absolutely nothing is pretty depressing. Perhaps it indicates just how much a cash cow customs handling fees are for the delivery services. Or are they just charging to check that the prepaid charges are done correctly?

[Andrew Rae]

The news that some countries are imposing fees for doing absolutely nothing is pretty depressing. Perhaps it indicates just how much a cash cow customs handling fees are for the delivery services. Or are they just charging to check that the prepaid charges are done correctly?

The postal services charging fees are doing so for a variety of reasons, it seems. Some will likely want to pay off new systems needed to facilitate the IOSS and 'Special Arrangements', some do seem to be charging for checking IOSS consignments are correct.

I guess one hope is that these charges may become unnecessary in time - the medium term intention for the IOSS is that websites and online marketplaces will be able to communicate directly with customs systems, so checking consignments are legit won't be necessary.

In the meantime, 16 out of 27 countries with no fees is still better than fees to every country. I may open Etsy sales again to fee-charging countries, it's just a lot of explaining to do to make all customers aware of what fees they may face. Glad I'm not paying hundreds on intermediary cost though!

[Ogrob]

Will be bookmarking this for sure. Thanks for the thorough work checking fees and stuff, I guess I can once again consider UK etsy shops.

[Andrew Rae]

You're welcome!