Customs charges may also be charged. These can vary depending on the country, type of product and value of product. At time of writing goods up to the value of £139 (150 Euros) will not be subject to customs fees. The customs amount charged depends on the country, the value of the product and the customs tariff rate for that product’s commodity code.

Currently when sending to the EU from the UK customs fees are only charged on goods over 150 Euros. Customs fees will, however, vary depending on trade agreements between countries. Countries will often agree reduced or even zero rates reciprocally on certain types of products. Check your specific commodity code for details for the country you are sending to. This will tell you if your product will also attract customs taxes.

IMPORTANT – many customs fees are charged because shipping paperwork is not completed correctly. If you make a mistake or miss information your customer may pay the penalty in a fee so beware!

Despite leaving the EU, the UK now has a trade deal with the EU. This allows many items to move between the two without other charges such as customs fees. Trading between the UK and other countries may incur additional fees which should be looked at on an individual basis. These fees have always been there. They are not new since Brexit. Most of our trading previously was within the EU or other big countries that we also had preferential trade deals with so most of us were not usually affected.

When an extra charge is due, carriers may also make a handling charge. Importing into the EU this charge can be up to 25 Euros depending on the country. Within the UK £8 is more typical right now.

How Are Fees Calculated?

Depending on the fees charged the starting value is usually the product sale value plus shipping fee plus insurance fee. Any customs tax is then calculated based on that total value. Any VAT tax is then calculated based on the product value plus shipping plus insurance plus customs fee. A handling fee may then be added to that. This means that certain products may attract large fees when sold to some countries where preferential agreements are not in place!

Why Is The Customer Charged Directly?

Every country has its own set of rules in terms of things like VAT rates, customs fees and so on. Rules are complex. They are set by each country and the seller could not be expected to know the rules for every country. These fees need to be paid directly to those countries where the goods are being sent to. This would create a huge burden for any small company to work out. They would then need to collect it then pay it on to the relevant tax authority with all the necessary paperwork.

As a result, most small sellers do not charge it directly. They simply declare all the necessary details about what they are sending. The receiving country then can charge these fees directly before delivering the product to the recipient.

What About Importing?

The changes apply to importing as well as exporting. If you purchase goods from the EU you will also be liable to import duties. These were not applicable when we had free movement of goods as part of the EU. Items sent as gifts with a declared value of £39 (approx 46 Euros) or less will not incur additional fees. All commercial purchases, however, will usually attract VAT which might be at the standard 20% or a reduced rate for certain commodity codes. Goods with a value above £139 (approx 159 Euros) may also attract an additional customs tax depending on the commodity code.

These extra charges will usually need to be paid on receipt if buying from an individual or small company. If buying from a large company, however, this may be charged at point of order with nothing further to pay on receipt. If the charges are made locally customs or the local post service may charge a handling fee. This is typically £8 here in the UK at the moment.

What About Countries Outside Of The EU

Previously the UK was bound to trade agreements made by the EU with other countries. As a result of leaving the EU the UK can make its own agreements with other countries directly. Initially little has changed. Where tax and custom duties were previously due importing and exporting they are likely to still be following Brexit. This may change over time with some countries.

Applying For An EORI Number

If you are sending goods commercially to any other country you will need an EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification) number selling art overseas after Brexit. This number will uniquely identify your business. If your business is based in the UK you will need to apply for a GB EORI which you can do at https://www.gov.uk/eori/apply-for-eori. This should be a relatively straightforward process on the government website and will not incur any cost. You can read more about EORI numbers at https://www.gov.uk/eori.

Customs Documentation

In order to send your goods abroad (to the EU or beyond) it must be accompanied by the relevant customs declaration. Failure to supply the correct documentation is likely to lead to delays, returns and excess charges. In the UK right now there are three types in the form of CN22, CN23 and CP72.

CN22

Use this form to send goods up to the value of £270 from the UK. For full details of how to complete this form visit https://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/customs-forms/CN22-form-guide. Note that as of 1st January 2021 you MUST supply a HS Tariff No / Commodity code for commercial goods!

CN23

Use this form to send goods over the value of £270 from the UK. For help completing this form visit https://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/customs-forms/CN23-form-guide.

CP72

If sending your goods with Parcelforce you will need to complete form CP72 regardless of the value of the goods. Other carriers will provide their own documentation to collect similar details. You can find details to help you complete a CP72 form at https://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/customs-forms/CP72-form-guide. If using other carriers please check carrier specific instructions.

CN22 documentation can usually just be stuck to the parcel. It is quite small and the product is considered low value. A see through plastic envelope is recommended for CN23 and other documentation that might be larger . This should be stuck to the parcel which will clearly show that the required documentation is attached and has been completed.

Your package should contain an invoice for the goods. This should also be placed in the plastic envelope if used. Search for ‘clear shipping pouch‘ or ‘document enclosed wallet‘ with your favourite stationery supplier.

If posting from the UK I strongly recommend the Royal Mail Click and Drop service https://www.royalmail.com/business/shipping/ways-pay/click-drop. This not only helps you pay in advance for your postage saving time queuing, it also guides you through completing this documentation correctly.

Identify A Commodity Code For Each Of Your Product Types

A commodity code (also known as a HS code, trade tariff, harmonised code or classification code) is now mandatory when sending goods overseas. By listing both your EORI number and the commodity code for your goods you quickly identify to customs who you are and what your package contains. They can then correctly process it and charge the correct fees where applicable. Failure to include a code in your documentation can lead to customs delays or your goods being returned to you.

Each country will have its own commodity code lookup tools, however, the codes should be recognised internationally. Here in the UK you can look up codes at https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff. You can also browse an alphabetical list at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/a-z-index/a and read more about commodity codes at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/finding-commodity-codes-for-imports-or-exports.

Common Codes

The following codes are commonly used within the art industry. You should check these codes yourself using the link above before using them. When using these codes note that you will usually find 10 digit codes when querying imports into the UK. When exporting, however, The 8 digit codes are typically used for exporting to Europe. 6 digit codes are typically used for exporting elsewhere.

9701910000 – most paintings, drawings and pastel less than 100 years old done entirely by hand.

9702900090 – original engravings, prints and lithographs less than 100 years old

4909000000 – printed postcards, greeting cards

4901990000 – printed books and brochures

4910000000 – printed calendars

4911910090 – photographs, printed and limited editions

IMPORTANT – It is now a requirement to include a commodity code (also know as tariff code or HS code) on your shipment within the EU. Codes will clearly indicate to customs what is in your package and therefore what taxes to apply. Failure to include a code may cause your shipment to be delayed or even returned to you!

Create And Attach A Commercial Invoice

It is recommended that you attach a commercial invoice to your goods. There is no single format or clear guidelines as to whether this should be in the packaging or on the outside. It is, however, recommended that you attach it to the outside in a see through wallet to aid easy customs inspection. The invoice should contain many of the details on the customs declaration such as this one here which can be downloaded as a PDF template from the UK Customs Academy.

Your invoice will need to include the following details

• Sender details (including your contact name and telephone number)
• Recipient’s details
• Buyer’s details (if different)
• Date of invoice
• Country of origin
• EORI number
• Your VAT number or a declaration that you are not VAT registered
• 3rd parties IOSS number (on orders to the EU valued at €150 or under) if relevant
• Reason for export (eg sale/sample/repair etc)
• Description of goods – be as detailed as possible here, including size, materials used etc
• HS commodity code
• Total number of items
• Total weight
• Shipping cost and total declared value
• Terms of delivery (Incoterms)
• Signed declaration that all information is correct

What Fees Will Be Required?

Selling art overseas after Brexit you should try to cover yourself by making it clear that your customers are responsible for paying all fees which will be specific to the country they live in. You should not be expected to know the precise details of every country at every point in time.

As I said earlier every country is different and every country is free to change its rules at any time. It is impossible for a small business to maintain a list of what every product will cost every customer in every country. What you should, however, be in a position to do is give customers an idea of what to expect. There is a big difference between an extra 10% on the sale cost and an extra 30% on the sale cost particularly if the item is high value to start with.

How To Calculate Fees

Customers will want to have an idea of what they are likely to be charged. If they do you can refer them to https://www.gov.uk/check-how-to-import-export although their own country probably has its own services for querying imports that should provide similar information. The key is having the correct commodity code.

You should be in a position where if a customer enquires about the specific charge you should be able to help them make an educated guess which will not only help the customer with their purchase decision it will show great customer service that will help with that 5 star rating.

Here you can select to look up the exporting details for any commodity code to any country. Start by selecting the ‘export‘ option then pressing ‘continue‘.

Next enter the country you wish to export to. In this example I am using ‘France‘.

Now enter the commodity code. At this point you may need to lose some digits from the end of the code you used earlier. For exporting to the EU here only the first 6 digits are recognised.

The system reformats the code to a 4 digit code followed by a ‘.‘ followed by a 2 digit code. Make sure the code represents what you are sending correctly.

Here you can see that 970191 represents paintings, drawings and pastels.

Scrolling down I can then see that preferential and most favoured nation duties of 0% are in operation here. This means no customs duties only VAT tax.

If, however, I do a similar search for exporting to the USA I see very different information.

What If You Are Already VAT Registered?

If you are already VAT registered in the UK and are selling art overseas after Brexit, my understanding is that you do not need to charge VAT in the UK otherwise VAT would be added to the product twice both here in the UK and in the receiving country. That would make the products very uncompetitive especially once any customs taxes and handling charges are added. Selling art overseas after Brexit you can avoid adding VAT here as long as you keep evidence that the product has been exported. VAT will be charged at the receiving country as required by local VAT rules. Please clarify this with your tax adviser though!

How To Avoid Extra Charges

A huge cause for extra charges and fees as well as returns right now is incorrect or incomplete paperwork.

• Make sure that you you have included your customs declaration
• Include a commercial invoice
• Complete all sections in paperwork including a valid commodity tariff code number

If in doubt or selling art overseas after Brexit worries you too much most websites and 3rd party systems will allow you to restrict sales to your home market only. If you are using WooCommerce (the world’s most popular online ecommerce software) I show you how to do this in my ‘overseas shipping’ lesson of my ‘Ecommerce & Supporting Pages’ module in my Simple Art Marketing Academy course.

Collecting Fees At Point Of Order

It is possible to collect all fees at the point of sale selling art overseas after Brexit. For most small businesses, however, this would be impossible to do themselves. It involves being registered within every country that they are exporting to and dealing with the local tax authorities in that country ensuring that all taxes due on all sales made to that country are filed and paid according to local requirements.

Whilst this would be much more convenient for the customer it is way too administrative for most small business. It works best for medium to large businesses with large export volumes to a small number of countries.

If, however, you are selling art overseas after Brexit through large 3rd party platforms like Ebay, Etsy, Amazon, Not On The High Street and so on you might find that the platform is already set up to do this for you. Listing your products on Etsy, for example, if you are based in the UK, your prices will be displayed at one value to UK customers. If a customer is browsing in another country your prices will automatically be displayed differently to them. In their country any extra VAT and sales taxes that will be due will be added automatically on your listing.

IOSS (Import One Stop Shop)

When purchasing your product these fees are collected upfront by Etsy using a system called IOSS (Import One Stop Shop). They are then paid directly to the customer’s local tax authority without the customer having to pay any more. This is easier for your customer. It means they know everything they need to pay at point of order and avoids any customs delays. All of this is likely to improve customer satisfaction and your review rating.

Platforms like Etsy that take care of this extra administration also help you with the documentation if you use their invoice label printing features. All the necessary detail to include swift processing through customs will usually be included. It is essential that you quote the platforms IOSS number when shipping your products using this system. This will be done automatically by Etsy if you are using their labels. It will also be done automatically by Royal Mail if you are using their Click and Collect service integrated with Etsy to produce your labels.

IMPORTANT – When selling art overseas after Brexit to Europe, Etsy and other platforms providing IOSS only charge VAT on orders up to 150 Euros. The reason for this is that customs fees are only charged on orders with a value over 150 Euros. In this situation both the VAT and customs fee will be collected together from the customer by the carrier.

How To Avoid Customer Disappointment and Poor Reviews

Nobody likes to get a bill that they are not expecting and nobody likes to be charged more than they thought they were going to pay. Some of these rules have been around for some time. Many sellers and customers in some countries will already be very used to them.

Here in the UK, however, a lot of this is relatively new selling art overseas after Brexit. Before Brexit we have been used to buying and selling within the UK and within Europe on a level playing field. We haven’t had to contend with any of this.

Since Brexit things have changed considerably. There has been a lot of confusion about what and how it is all to be done (and I think this still isn’t over yet!). There were many delays to Brexit and then many delays to enforcing many of these new rules.

What is happening now, however, is that rules are now starting to be more tightly enforced. Goods are getting stopped and checked more. We are seeing many more delays in shipment due to incorrect or missing paperwork. Customers are getting bills they were not expecting. Goods are getting returned etc.

Keep Customers Informed

The best customer is of course a happy customer. There is so much potential here to create an unhappy customer selling art overseas after Brexit. Their product might be delayed. They might receive charges they were not expecting. You need to do everything you can to avoid that and the best way to do that is by keeping them fully informed of everything along the way so that there are no surprises.

Its better to lose the overseas sale than to get a poor review. If your customer really likes your product, however, and you are upfront about what it is really going to cost them and they are happy to pay that then there is no reason you cannot have both.

Update Your Returns and Shipping Policy

Make sure that your website contains a returns and shipping policy. Ensure that as a minimum you have something like the following in that policy

“Please note that if your order is being posted outside mainland UK, you (or the recipient) may have to pay customs or VAT charges and a handling fee. The seller is not responsible for any charges or fees that may incur.”

I recommend, however, that you go into much more detail to help your customer if possible. Explain why the situation is like it is. Obviously nothing as lengthy as this blog post but something that very concisely helps overseas customers to understand why there are extra charges, why they are responsible for paying them and some idea of what they should expect without risking exposing yourself by giving inaccurate information in an area where things might change regularly.

Include Links In All Key Pages To Your Shipping Policy

Add a line to the footer of your website so that this will be available on all your website pages that draws attention to overseas orders with a clickable link to your overseas orders / shipping policy page for more information.

Mention Overseas Shipping In Your Order Confirmation Page

Your system will usually display a confirmation screen as soon as a customer places an order with you. Bring it to the attention of customers right away here that if they are ordering from overseas there may be additional charges due so that if they don’t want to pay those they have the option to talk to you and cancel the order immediately. You could use text such as

“Please note that if your order is being posted outside mainland UK, you (or the recipient if gifting) may have to pay customs or VAT charges and a handling fee. I, as the seller, am not responsible for any charges or fees that may incur in your country. See my overseas shipping policy for more information. Please contact me IMMEDIATELY if you wish to discuss this further or cancel your order in order to avoid these charges.”

Mention Overseas Shipping In Your Order Confirmation Email

I would recommend that you also include the same text above in your order confirmation email. This is usually automatically sent to customers from your system when they place their order.

Mention Overseas Shipping In Your Order Despatch Email

You will send another email to customers when you ship their order. Obviously at this point it is too late to cancel the order so your text this time might read.

“Please note that if your order is being posted outside mainland UK, as previously discussed in my order confirmation screen and order confirmation email, you (or the recipient if gifting) may have to pay customs or VAT charges and a handling fee on receipt of your product. I, as the seller, am not responsible for any charges or fees that may incur in your country. See my overseas shipping policy for more information.”

Summary

That is a lot to follow I know. It can seem overwhelming selling art overseas after Brexit. Many have simply stopped shipping their work outside of the UK. While that might suit some, for many it will be lots of missed opportunities.

Things will always be changing and we have to change with them if we are to run successful businesses. Whilst there are a few more hoops to jump through to sell overseas, once you understand things and your customers understand things, it will get easier the more you do it.

Simple Checklist

So here is a simple summary of what is required selling art overseas after Brexit. These rules should apply whichever country you are selling from and to if that country is outside of your home market. What will vary from country to country will be the paperwork, VAT, sales and customs taxes and handling fees applicable. Whilst you shouldn’t be expected to know the exact fees for all countries it is a good idea to have a rough idea for the countries you ship to most so you can tell your customers when they ask before placing an order.

• Create a returns and shipping policy if you do not have one
• Inform customers throughout your website and ordering process of their responsibility to pay any additional fees due in their country
• Register for an EORI number and ensure it is clearly displayed on packaging
• Attached the correct customs paperwork (CN22, CN23 or carrier specific paperwork) filling in all fields correctly
• Include a commercial invoice ensuring it is completed correctly
• Use the correct commodity tariff codes for your products
• if collecting fees using IOSS ensure that your IOSS number is clearly displayed on packing

Let me know how Brexit has affected you and your business. Which countries have you shipped from and to? How easy was it? What costs were involved? Have I missed anything here?