Shipping product from the US to the EU

The vast majority of small business that does that sort of export does it on the black market. If you are looking at kickstarter you definitely don't have the business size to profitably export legitimately. Ship it in its box like you would ship a gift, it may or may not get charged a VAT at customs depending on whether they really think its a gift or not, generally not especially on something that is prolly selling as cheap as a board game, if they do charge VAT I think it works like in the US where they have the delivery company collect it from the recipient on delivery. Pay the IRS like every unit was sold in the US.

But ya your options are pretty much black market or don't bother, unless I am misreading your post and you think you will be grossing millions.

What do you mean by "black market?" Are you just talking about shipping stuff as if it were a gift/regular package, or are there actual services and ways of shipping to circumvent some of the regulations?

McCheese_sl said:

What do you mean by "black market?" Are you just talking about shipping stuff as if it were a gift/regular package, or are there actual services and ways of shipping to circumvent some of the regulations?

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I just mean shipping it as a regular package and not reporting it as a taxable sale to anyone in the EU, which I guess is grey market since the goods themselves aren't illegal.

Dunno if it helps, but when sending packages to Norway it depends on the value if you need to tax it or not, I guess it's the same in the rest of EU. Here the limit is currently at 30-ish bucks.

Or is that the taxes we as consumers have to pay, dammit, I'm a moron. :S

OUAriakas_sl said:

Hello all, my friend and I created a board game that we are going to attempt to Kickstart and we are trying to find the right costs associated with opening up backing to the EU. I want to make sure that we have taken everything into consideration when we decide if we are going to allow EU participation. I know that the games will be stopped at customs and that we will have to pay the VAT. Beyond that I have a few more questions.

• Is the VAT the only tax we have to account for?
• Are the taxes different when importing to one EU country over another (i.e. UK vs. Germany)
• I keep reading that we will need someone in the EU to keep track of our sales and taxes owed; can anyone elaborate?
• Finally, if anyone is currently exporting from the US to the EU I'd like to know who you use for shipping, storage, etc.

Thanks for taking the time to read this; let me know if you see any glaring omissions in my logic.

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Is the VAT the only tax we have to account for?
- For EU, I believe the answer is yes.

Are the taxes different when importing to one EU country over another (i.e. UK vs. Germany).
- I think the EU has a standard VAT. However, the destination country could have different customs rules / standards and port fees. For example: Shipping something into Amsterdam may have different requirements than Germany. Germany is almost always easier than Amsterdam.

I keep reading that we will need someone in the EU to keep track of our sales and taxes owed; can anyone elaborate?
- Yes, this person is called an Accountant. Hire one and don't cheap out. He doesn't need to be in the EU.

Finally, if anyone is currently exporting from the US to the EU I'd like to know who you use for shipping, storage, etc.
- For small package - DHL is best for going into the EU. FedEx is 2nd. It also depends entirely on how much product you're moving. Are you shipping ocean or air? How much are you moving? How quickly does it need to get there? Different carriers are stronger in different regions in the United States.

For storage and fulfillment, look into a 3PL warehouse. One of my suppliers usesBender Warehouse. UPS also has a 3PL service, but I think their minimum inventory level is pretty high. They typically charge a flat fee per line received. Amazon also offers this service.

International shipping very complex. You should also familiarize yourself with all of the variousIncotermsfor international shipping.

Honestly you're probably best off shipping your shit to Amazon and letting them do most of the work.

Source: Logistics Manager for a Fortune 150 company that regularly exports electronic goods to the EU and around the world. I'm not an expert on international shipping however, that shit is complex. I utilize the team of people at our company to figure it all out.