Why We're Pausing EU Orders This August

Sending outside of the UK has become very complicated of late what with all the new legalities, rules, and fees that have been brought in - it has been pretty difficult to keep up with it and to sift through what is what, what applies to my store and what does not.

And this situation is about to amplify even further this August (2026).

Unfortunately, due to all these changes all the loopholes required, additional costs would be incurred that as a single maker I will simply not be able to keep up with - for the time being it makes no sense for me to continue sending to the EU.  Until I find another way to make it possible.

You may or may not have heard it is now a legal requirement for us to employ an EU Agent (Responsible Person) in every country in the EU to conducted stringent GPSR health and safety tests (see my views here, always glad to make sure you are safe using common sense principles), translated and printed packaging inserts for every language, created technical spec sheets, and updated our website to comply with the new rules.

In short, just to be able to comply and retain the right to trade with the EU I would have to employ someone at approximately £200 a month in every EU country before I have even sold one item. The previous longstanding £150 customs duty exemption for low-value parcels will also be completely scrapped by the EU making it impossible to even squeeze a way around this issue.

This does not even mention additional percentage on fees charged by merchant providers on top of the customer duties.

At this point I cannot take the risk - the changes seem to be happening constantly and very quickly what seems like all the time and if I do not comply with every single micro-regulation, e-commerce platforms like Shopify where I have my shop are legally required to delist my business, as well as imposing heavy fines.

I am desperately sorry about this, and hope that things in the world will change at some point to support small businesses like mine again - but for now it is pretty clear the EU is doing everything it can to hinder small business from being able to trade outside of their ever decreasing area, not helped by I'm sorry to say what seems like the neglect by the UK government towards small business.

I am still sending parcels within the the UK, and most international destinations outside of the EU - enter your country at checkout to see if your international country is eligible.

♥ I appreciate each and every one of you, and all the support you have shown me over the years, and am very sorry it has come to this ♥  

Please do keep coming back here, or simply email me, for further updates in case this situation changes.