Selling Internationally from the UK: Customs and Duties Basics

To sell internationally from the UK you need three things sorted before anything leaves your door: the right commodity (HS) code on every product, an EORI number for your business, and a clear decision about who pays the import duty and VAT at the other end. Get those right and cross-border selling becomes routine. Get them wrong and you'll face held parcels, surprise charges, angry customers and expensive returns. This guide walks through the basics in plain English so you can ship abroad with confidence.

Quick disclaimer first: this is general information to help you get oriented, not legal or tax advice. Customs rules, duty rates and thresholds change, and they differ by destination country. Always check the current guidance on GOV.UK — or speak to a customs broker or accountant — before you rely on anything here for a specific shipment.

Commodity codes (HS codes): the language of customs

Every physical product that crosses a border needs a commodity code, also called an HS (Harmonised System) code or tariff code. It's an internationally recognised number — usually 6, 8 or 10 digits — that tells customs authorities exactly what an item is. The code determines the duty rate, whether VAT applies, and whether the goods are restricted.

Getting the code right matters more than beginners expect. An incorrect code can mean your customer is overcharged duty, your parcel is delayed for inspection, or — worst case — you're accused of misdeclaring goods. You can look up the correct classification using the UK's online Trade Tariff tool on GOV.UK, which walks you through categories until you land on the right number.

A few practical tips:

• Classify by what the item is, not what it's used for. A cotton T-shirt is classified as a cotton T-shirt regardless of whether you market it as gymwear or loungewear.

• Materials matter. The same product in leather versus synthetic can carry different codes and duty rates.

• Store the code against each product. Once you've classified an item, keep the code on file so every future shipment is consistent.

Your EORI number: the business ID for trade

An EORI number (Economic Operators Registration and Identification number) is a unique ID that HMRC uses to track businesses moving goods in and out of the UK. If you're shipping commercial goods internationally from Great Britain, you'll generally need a GB EORI number, and you apply for one free through GOV.UK — it typically arrives within a few days.

You'll quote your EORI on customs declarations and give it to your carrier or courier. Selling into the EU can involve additional considerations, and moving goods to Northern Ireland has its own rules, so it's worth reading the current GOV.UK guidance for your specific routes. If most of your growth is coming from the continent, our companion guide to selling to the EU from the UK post-Brexit goes deeper on that corridor.

Customs declarations: CN22 and CN23

Every international parcel needs a customs declaration describing its contents and value so the destination country can assess duty and tax. For postal shipments there are two standard forms you'll hear about:

• CN22 — a shorter declaration used for lower-value items (a small green sticker on the outside of the parcel).

• CN23 — a fuller declaration for higher-value shipments, usually placed in a document wallet on the parcel.

The value thresholds that decide which form to use are set by the postal system and can change, so check the current threshold with Royal Mail or on GOV.UK. Courier services like DPD or Evri handle the equivalent data electronically, but the same information is required either way: an honest description of the goods, the commodity code, the country of origin, the quantity and the value.

Never undervalue a parcel or mark it as a "gift" to dodge duty. It's illegal, it voids most shipping insurance, and if it's caught your customer pays the price in delays and penalties. Accurate declarations are non-negotiable. If you're choosing carriers for these routes, our breakdown of Royal Mail vs Evri vs DPD compares how each handles international parcels.

Who pays the import duty and VAT? DDP vs DAP

This is the single most important decision for your customer experience, and it comes down to two three-letter terms.

• DAP (Delivered At Place) — the customer pays any import duty and local VAT before the carrier will release their parcel. It's simpler for you to set up, but it produces the dreaded "your item is being held, pay £14 to receive it" message. Customers who weren't expecting that charge frequently refuse delivery, and the parcel comes back to you.

• DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) — you, the seller, pay the duty and taxes up front (usually collected at checkout and settled via your carrier). The customer pays one clear price and receives their parcel with no nasty surprise. It's more work to configure, but it's dramatically better for conversion, reviews and repeat purchases.

For consumer goods, DDP almost always wins on customer experience. The unexpected doorstep charge is one of the biggest drivers of cross-border returns and one-star reviews. If you can't offer full DDP yet, the next best thing is radical transparency: tell customers before they buy that import charges may apply in their country, and roughly how much. Setting expectations honestly is the whole game — the same principle we cover in designing trust into your checkout.

Note that some destinations now require sellers to register for and collect local sales tax or VAT at the point of sale for low-value consignments — the EU's IOSS scheme is the best-known example. Thresholds and schemes vary by country and change over time, so confirm the current position for each market you sell into on GOV.UK or with your accountant. Our guide to setting up tax for international sales and the UK-specific UK VAT for online sellers post cover the domestic side.

Prohibited and restricted goods

Not everything can cross every border. Each country maintains its own list of prohibited goods (never allowed) and restricted goods (allowed only with the right licence, paperwork or conditions). Common examples that trip up new exporters include certain foods, cosmetics, supplements, batteries, aerosols, alcohol, plant and animal products, and anything with a lithium battery inside.

Before you list a product for international sale, check both the UK export rules on GOV.UK and the destination country's import rules — and your carrier's own prohibited-items list, which is sometimes stricter than the law. It's far cheaper to discover a restriction now than to have a shipment seized later.

Setting clear expectations to avoid returns

Most cross-border problems aren't really customs problems — they're expectation problems. A customer who knew a delivery would take ten days and might attract a small import charge is a happy customer. The same customer, surprised on both counts, leaves a bad review and requests a refund. To keep expectations tight:

• State realistic delivery windows per destination, including a note that customs clearance can add time.

• Show prices in the customer's currency so the total feels concrete rather than a rough conversion.

• Be explicit about who pays duty — "price includes all import duties" (DDP) or "import charges may apply on delivery" (DAP).

• Publish a clear international returns policy, since returning goods across a border has its own duty and paperwork implications.

How Dirora helps you sell across borders

A good platform won't file your customs declarations for you — that's between you, your carrier and HMRC — but it can remove most of the friction around presenting your store to international buyers. On Dirora that means a few genuinely useful tools working together.

Multi-Currency lets shoppers see and pay in their own currency, so the checkout total feels real rather than an approximation — which directly reduces abandonment on overseas orders. Shipping Management lets you define zones, rates and delivery expectations per destination, so a customer in Berlin sees different (and accurate) options from one in Manchester. And Tax Configuration lets you set up the tax rules that apply to the regions you sell into, so your pricing and receipts reflect the right treatment. Pair those with a paid tier's payment options — cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and BNPL via Klarna or Clearpay — and international buyers get a checkout that feels local.

If you're building out your wider cross-border setup, our multi-currency and multi-language guide and the broader shipping strategy guide tie these pieces together. You can see the full toolkit on the features page, and compare the cost of going international honestly on pricing — remember Dirora charges no transaction fees on any plan, so the platform never takes a cut of those hard-won export sales.

Selling internationally rewards preparation. Classify your products correctly, register for your EORI, declare every parcel honestly, decide deliberately between DDP and DAP, and tell your customers exactly what to expect. Do that, and the rest of the world becomes just another set of postcodes.