How Brexit effects your Book Box Club Subscription
(updated 07/06/2021*)
*New information/changes in orange!
We wanted to update you on how the UK’s exit from the EU will effect our international customers.
Since the UK formally left the EU in January 2021, we’ve been working hard to try and gain some clarity about any charges that might result from our country’s new arrangement with yours. The situation remains unclear and ever-changing and sadly is not easy to navigate for a small business, like ours. We are continuing to do our best to find solutions and to support our international customers and will update this page and effected customers (via email) as and when changes come into force.
WHAT WE’VE LEARNT SO FAR…
In the six months since the UK left the EU, we’ve been corresponding with our international customers and running our own investigations to find out how Brexit is effecting your parcels and to try and find solutions for the future. So far, we know that…
- Though many of our customers have been charged import taxes and handling fees on their boxes, not everyone has. It appears that there are still no hard and fast rules on which countries impose charges and which do not.
- Busyness at customs has meant that many international parcels have taken longer to arrive with our customers, so please do be patient when waiting for your bookish mail.
- In the future, we hope to be able to offer for you to pay taxes on your boxes and Purely Books parcels at the checkout with us, so that you know how much you’re being charged and to stop your box being held in customs. At present this isn’t an option for us as our current mail carrier (Royal Mail) does not offer this service and changing to another mail provider would mean you’d end up paying more for postage. There are signs that there may be solutions or ways around this on the horizon, but at this point we cannot offer this option.
BOOK BOX CLUB:
Sadly, we believe that customers receiving our full Book Box Club boxes will likely be subject to import taxes and handling fees. These charges are based on each country’s EU VAT rate and postage operator’s costs and are completely beyond our control. It is possible that non-EU customers could also see assessment of import taxes and fees as Brexit means a lot of trade arrangements worldwide have to be renegotiated.
Due to the variations of each country’s rules and the fact that we send you a variety of items each month, we cannot accurately predict what these charges might be ahead of your boxes going in the post. At this point we believe they could be as much as £10-£15 per box (import tax and handling fee combined) and that these fees will be charged to you on the arrival of your box in your country.
PURELY BOOKS:
As of July 1st, many EU countries will reduce the VAT Threshold to £0, meaning that Purely Books members may also be subject to import taxes and handling fees. Prior to July 1st, the rule was that parcels below the 22 euro mark were not subject to additional charges at the country’s border. Due to the variations of each country’s rules, we cannot accurately predict what these charges might be ahead of your parcels going in the post. At this point we believe they could be as much as £7-£12 per parcel (import tax and handling fee combined) and that these fees will be charged to you on the arrival of your Purely Books parcel in your country.
We’ll keep this blog up-to-date about changes going forward. Please do be aware that these changes are beyond our control and as proud Europeans at heart, we are saddened at how this is going to effect all of our lovely international members and our small business in what is already a very tumultuous time.