Thanks Claude. By the way, we did look into IOSS in 2021. After getting advice from EU tax and compliance professionals we determined that the cost of IOSS compliance (both monetary terms plus the extra staff required to deal with the red tape) was greater than the modest profit we make currently from EU customers and also terrifically complicated. If the store grows as we hope over the next few years that's definitely something we will again consider, which should remove that EUR8 "inspection" fees.
You might also think one day we'll set up an EU warehouse again (we used to), but to be frank our sales to the EU are not so large presently as to warrant this. Our previous experiment with this taught us that maintaining two locations created some considerable headaches in terms of lead times, inventory balancing and trying to keep things in stock, not to mention the compliance headaches and costs.
We're all-in now on optimizing our US warehouse operation in order to provide customers a great range, at the lowest prices we can, with options for projects from the simplest essentials kits for advanced and experienced builders to bundles for those appreciating the value in complete kits. Having so many options available is complicated in terms of inventory management, but we want to have something for everyone at every price point and skill level.
At the end of the day, both IOSS or having an EU warehouse would create a lot of expense, which would then need to be collected from EU sales in the form of higher prices. The current EUR8 "inspection" fee and the extra 20% VAT paid on the difference in shipping might well actually mean you are paying less now than if we did implement those things. Remember, if we import stuff into the EU, we also need to pay VAT on goods and shipping, plus recoup the costs of all the red tape and compliance legal advisors/tax advisors/staff/registrations/collection/remittance on top. Going through all that and ending up with a higher price in the end would certainly be a pyrrhic victory.
I think at our scale, resumption of DeC shipping and not worry about the complexities of EU red tape might be the most pragmatic path forward in the medium-to-long term.
You might also think one day we'll set up an EU warehouse again (we used to), but to be frank our sales to the EU are not so large presently as to warrant this. Our previous experiment with this taught us that maintaining two locations created some considerable headaches in terms of lead times, inventory balancing and trying to keep things in stock, not to mention the compliance headaches and costs.
We're all-in now on optimizing our US warehouse operation in order to provide customers a great range, at the lowest prices we can, with options for projects from the simplest essentials kits for advanced and experienced builders to bundles for those appreciating the value in complete kits. Having so many options available is complicated in terms of inventory management, but we want to have something for everyone at every price point and skill level.
At the end of the day, both IOSS or having an EU warehouse would create a lot of expense, which would then need to be collected from EU sales in the form of higher prices. The current EUR8 "inspection" fee and the extra 20% VAT paid on the difference in shipping might well actually mean you are paying less now than if we did implement those things. Remember, if we import stuff into the EU, we also need to pay VAT on goods and shipping, plus recoup the costs of all the red tape and compliance legal advisors/tax advisors/staff/registrations/collection/remittance on top. Going through all that and ending up with a higher price in the end would certainly be a pyrrhic victory.
I think at our scale, resumption of DeC shipping and not worry about the complexities of EU red tape might be the most pragmatic path forward in the medium-to-long term.
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It all makes all sense Jason!
And I agree completely with your conclusion, probably by far the easiest for you/the shop while very much acceptable to us.
Once you will reduce the shipping costs again, the 20%VAT (that are whatever due on the good itself) will become acceptable again (20% extra cost on negligeable shipping costs...) and yes the 8E are still present, but can be reduced to 6 when paying online, which seems to work OK with DHL e-commerce and less so with others... Whatever, these are acceptable again and promote purchasing even more goods to amortize these LOL!
Pity EU is making things so complicated for you, but that's the way it has become down here and I came to the same conclusion for my own business. I am 100% with you: no need to put the main store into a more complicated situation indeed, or having our US friends to pay more just to cover us in EU.
And, hey, if the all this get even more silly one day, then that would be a good excuse for us to attend the BAF yearly and import ourselves what we fancy from the store LOL!
Take care and thanks again, I completely understand all this and it makes perfect sense to me
Claude
And I agree completely with your conclusion, probably by far the easiest for you/the shop while very much acceptable to us.
Once you will reduce the shipping costs again, the 20%VAT (that are whatever due on the good itself) will become acceptable again (20% extra cost on negligeable shipping costs...) and yes the 8E are still present, but can be reduced to 6 when paying online, which seems to work OK with DHL e-commerce and less so with others... Whatever, these are acceptable again and promote purchasing even more goods to amortize these LOL!
Pity EU is making things so complicated for you, but that's the way it has become down here and I came to the same conclusion for my own business. I am 100% with you: no need to put the main store into a more complicated situation indeed, or having our US friends to pay more just to cover us in EU.
And, hey, if the all this get even more silly one day, then that would be a good excuse for us to attend the BAF yearly and import ourselves what we fancy from the store LOL!
Take care and thanks again, I completely understand all this and it makes perfect sense to me
Claude