Do I need an IOSS number? IOSS for Etsy, eBay and Shopify sellers outside the EU (2026)
IOSS lets you charge EU VAT at checkout on parcels worth €150 or less, so your EU buyer pays nothing at the door. If you sell on a marketplace such as Etsy or eBay, the marketplace normally handles it and you do not need your own number. Selling from your own shop (for example Shopify), IOSS is optional, but without it your buyer pays VAT and a carrier fee on delivery. A seller outside the EU needs an EU intermediary to register. From 1 November 2026 a €2 handling fee per item is added to the €3 duty per item.
What IOSS is and what it covers
For consignments of €150 or less, VAT can be charged at checkout through the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS), at the buyer's country rate. Marketplaces handle this for sales made through them. Non-EU sellers registering for IOSS themselves generally need an EU-established intermediary.
The EU's import scheme (IOSS) covers distance sales to EU consumers of goods sent from outside the EU in consignments with an intrinsic value of €150 or less. It cannot be used for goods subject to excise duty, and goods already stored in a warehouse in the EU are not distance sales of imported goods.
For the €150 limit, the value is the price of the goods themselves, without transport and insurance (unless they are included in the price and not shown separately on the invoice) and without other taxes and charges.
Above €150, IOSS cannot be used. Import VAT and customs duty (normal tariff rate) are due at import, paid by the buyer (DDU) or prepaid by the seller (DDP via a courier).
Selling on Etsy, eBay or another marketplace
A marketplace or platform that facilitates the sale of goods imported from outside the EU in consignments of €150 or less to EU consumers is a 'deemed supplier': for VAT purposes it is treated as the seller and handles the VAT, whether it is established in the EU or not.
In practice this means that for EU orders of €150 or less placed through a marketplace, the marketplace collects the VAT and its IOSS number goes on the customs declaration. You do not need your own IOSS registration for those sales. Use the marketplace's own shipping labels or pass its IOSS details to your carrier exactly as its seller help pages describe, so that customs does not charge the VAT a second time.
Selling from your own shop (Shopify, WooCommerce, your own website)
The One Stop Shop schemes, including IOSS, are optional. If you choose IOSS, you declare all your sales that fall under it in one monthly IOSS VAT return, filed in your Member State of identification, which passes the VAT on to the buyers' countries.
Without IOSS, import VAT is collected from the buyer on delivery. The postal operator or courier usually adds its own clearance fee.
So you have two choices for EU orders of €150 or less: register for IOSS (through an intermediary) and charge VAT at checkout, or do not register and let the buyer pay VAT plus the carrier's fee on delivery. Some shipping and checkout services offer to use their own IOSS arrangement; ask them who is the IOSS holder and who files the returns. If you use Shopify Managed Markets:
Shopify Managed Markets stopped supporting DDU on 24 August 2026 in every market where it supports DDP, so buyers pay duties and taxes at checkout. To let buyers pay on delivery instead, you must switch Managed Markets off. DDP vs DAP for Etsy, eBay and Shopify
More on choosing who pays: DDP vs DAP for Etsy, eBay and Shopify.
How a non-EU seller registers for IOSS
A seller established outside the EU must appoint an intermediary to use IOSS. The intermediary must be a business established in the EU; it files the IOSS returns, pays the VAT and keeps the records on the seller's behalf, and Member States may add conditions such as a guarantee. The intermediary gets its own IN number and a separate IOSS VAT number (format IMxxxyyyyyyz) for each seller it represents. The exception is a seller established in a country that has a VAT recovery assistance agreement with the EU (the Commission's example is Norway) and that ships only from that country.
IOSS registration takes effect from the day the IOSS VAT identification number is allocated to the seller or its intermediary.
Duty and fees on top of VAT
IOSS only deals with VAT. Customs duty and the new handling fee are charged on top:
From 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028, a flat customs duty of €3 per item applies to consignments of €150 or less that are declared under IOSS or sent as postal consignments. Normal tariff rates are expected to apply once the EU customs data hub is ready.
The €3 duty is owed by the declarant: the seller or importer (IOSS holder, special-arrangement user or their indirect representative). The consumer pays it only in residual cases.
If VAT is collected through IOSS, the €3 duty always applies, even to goods with preferential origin (e.g. UK goods under the TCA). Without IOSS, a preference can only be claimed on a full customs declaration (the 'H1' dataset), not on the simplified low-value ones; preferential goods are then outside the €3 regime, but the Union handling fee (from 1 November 2026) still applies. UK to Ireland customs charges
From 1 November 2026 a Union handling fee of €2 per item (per declaration line, i.e. per distinct tariff line) applies to goods sold in distance sales (B2C e-commerce) to EU consumers from outside the EU, at any value, including over €150. It is in addition to the €3 duty, is not part of the customs value, is paid by the declarant (seller/IOSS holder, carrier or representative), has VAT charged on it, cannot be refunded (even on returns), and does not apply to private gifts. The amount is final: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2152 was published in the Official Journal (L series) on 21 October 2026. The €2 handling fee explained
From 1 November 2026, product identifiers (PIDs) must be declared to EU customs for every item sold to consumers in distance sales (B2C online orders) in consignments worth up to €150. Declaring them has been voluntary since 1 July 2026; enforcement starts on 1 November. B2B shipments are in principle not concerned. Read our PID guide
Counting items for the €3 duty and the €2 fee: see the EU €3 duty per item, with worked examples.
Worked example: a €40 T-shirt from the UK to Germany
Results from our calculator for one cotton T-shirt sent by post from the UK to a consumer in Germany on or after 1 November 2026, price €40, free shipping, German VAT 19%.
| How you sell | Who handles VAT | Buyer pays at checkout | Buyer pays at the door | You must collect and pay on | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace sale (e.g. Etsy or eBay) | The marketplace charges VAT at checkout (IOSS) | €52.98 | €0.00 | €5.00 | Open in calculator |
| Own shop, with your IOSS number | You charge VAT at checkout and file the monthly IOSS return | €52.98 | €0.00 | €12.98 | Open in calculator |
| Own shop, no IOSS (DDU) | The buyer pays at the door | €40.00 | €13.55 | €0.00 | Open in calculator |
"You must collect and pay on" is the duty, VAT and fees you are responsible for and should build into your price. In the marketplace case the VAT goes to the marketplace, while the €3 duty and the €2 fee are shown as owed by the declarant and may be charged to you by the marketplace or carrier. Ask yours how it passes them on. The no-IOSS case adds VAT on the duty and fee, and the postal operator may add its own clearance fee, which is not included. Change the product, country or value in the calculator for your own order.
Checklist for EU orders of €150 or less
- Marketplace sales: check that EU orders ship with the marketplace's IOSS details (its labels or its instructions for your carrier).
- Own shop: decide whether to register for IOSS through an EU intermediary, use a shipping or checkout service that offers IOSS, or ship DDU and tell buyers they will pay VAT and a fee on delivery.
- Keep each EU order at €150 or less in goods value if you want it under IOSS; above €150 IOSS cannot be used.
- Add the €3 duty per item and, from 1 November 2026, the €2 fee per item to your EU price or shipping charge.
- Have your product IDs ready for parcels up to €150 from 1 November 2026: see our EU product identifiers guide.
- Returns: see international returns and duty refunds for how VAT and duty on returned EU orders can be reclaimed.
Selling to the UK as well? The UK has its own £135 rule with a separate UK VAT registration: see UK VAT on orders of £135 or less for overseas sellers. Route guides: UK → EU · US → EU · Canada → EU · India → EU.
Selling outside the EU? Norway, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore do not use IOSS: see selling to Norway (VOEC), selling to Switzerland, selling to Australia (GST), selling to New Zealand (GST) and selling to Singapore (GST).
This page is general information, not legal, tax or customs advice. The Commission's OSS pages are explanatory; the VAT Directive and national rules take precedence, and intermediaries set their own conditions and fees. See the disclaimer.
Sources for this page
- Customs formalities for low value consignments (IOSS), European Commission – Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Verified
- VAT One Stop Shop: overview of the OSS schemes, deemed supplier and intermediary (import scheme), European Commission. Accessed 26 Oct 2026. Verified
- Register to OSS (Member State of identification, intermediaries, IOSS numbers), European Commission. Accessed 26 Oct 2026. Verified
- Commission welcomes Council agreement on removing the €150 threshold for the VAT Import One-Stop Shop (9 Nov 2026), European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 10 Nov 2026. Verified
- Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 (abolition of €150 duty relief; €3 per item), EUR-Lex. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Partly verified
- Council gives final green light to new customs duty rules for small parcels (11 Feb 2026), Council of the EU. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Partly verified
- Union Handling Fee (UHF) – 1 November 2026 (published 30 Sep 2026), Revenue (Irish Tax and Customs). Accessed 22 Oct 2026. Verified
- Guidance and legal text on temporary flat fee on low-value imports (8 Jun 2026, updated 20 Jul 2026), European Commission, DG Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 22 Oct 2026. Verified
- The temporary EUR 3 customs duty and the Union handling fee: Guidance for Member States and Trade (version of 5 Oct 2026), sections 5.1–5.4 and 6.2 (consignment, item, postal consignments, preferential origin), European Commission, DG Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 22 Oct 2026. Verified
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2152 of 21 September 2026 establishing the amount of the Union handling fee (OJ L, 21 Oct 2026), Official Journal of the European Union (EUR-Lex). Accessed 23 Oct 2026. Verified
- Handling fee for e-commerce (last update 22 Oct 2026), Dutch Customs (Douane). Accessed 3 Nov 2026. Verified
- Commission sets Union handling fee at EUR 2 per item (2 Oct 2026), CLECAT (industry association, secondary). Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Verified
- The temporary EUR 3 customs duty and the Union handling fee: Guidance for Member States and Trade (version of 5 Oct 2026), section 8 Product identifiers, European Commission, DG Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 21 Oct 2026. Verified
- Product identifiers for e-commerce imports mandatory from 1 November 2026 (news, 3 Nov 2026), European Commission, DG Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 4 Nov 2026. Verified
- Managed Markets is ending Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU) support (11 Aug 2026), Shopify Changelog. Accessed 25 Oct 2026. Verified
Rules change often: the latest change we tracked was on 10 Nov 2026 (US: the 178 China Section 301 product exclusions are extended to 9 January 2027). Alerts send one short email, with the source, only when a rule changes on a route you pick.