Best country in the EU to fulfil from

[dantheman50_98]

We've decided to have a go at shipping to EU customers again, but it is hard to know which country is going to be the best to ship from....assuming it is going to make any real difference. Any idea? We're currently looking at fulfilment companies in Ireland and Germany, but perhaps we should be looking in Holland and France too...

Main factors are unsurprisingly speed and cost of shipping to other EU countries, warehousing and pick and pack costs are a factor too...as is the case with any fulfilment company of course.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

 

[japancool]

The country you send the most to.

 

[dantheman50_98]

The country you send the most to.

Makes sense!

 

[Adam Le Grand]

Poland are pretty good. Obviously a little touchy right now as they are so close to the Ukraine but overall are a good option.

Or as japancool mentioned, simply look at the country you are shipping too most. Or maybe a country central to a number of countries that you ship to.

 

[dantheman50_98]

Thank you for the reply.

Poland are pretty good. Obviously a little touchy right now as they are so close to the Ukraine but overall are a good option.

Or as japancool mentioned, simply look at the country you are shipping too most. Or maybe a country central to a number of countries that you ship to.

Thanks for the reply. Looks like we're going with the Netherlands.

 

[Adam Le Grand]

Thank you for the reply.

Thanks for the reply. Looks like we're going with the Netherlands.

Another great option. We very nearly teamed up with a fulfilment house in the Netherlands last year. Unfortunately discussions broke down due to COVID etc.

I wish you all the best, I hope they do you proud.

 

[dantheman50_98]

Appreciate it

 

[Thomas_Stewart]

Poland and the Czech Republic is quite possible, but in view of the situation now, I'm not sure how is a good idea...

 

[dantheman50_98]

Yep indeed!

 

[capacitum.com]

Hi
We had a look into this as we had major issues in July 2021 even after being IOSS registered. Customs would reject parcel or charge customers taxes and duty etc. It was a huge mess and very costly.

Shipping from the EU, with goods stored in the EU requires one to be VAT registered in the country your goods will be stored in. So for example if you are going to use a 3pl or open your warehouse in say France, you will need to be VAT registered in France. Then if you are going to sell in other EU countries, not just France then you also have to register for OSS so you can collect the taxes on your online store checkout.

Then each month you will need to provide the necessary sales information to the company that will be handling your VAT returns and OSS submissions and pay the taxes you have collected from each countries sales. Remember VAT rates are different in each EU country so you really want a web platform that can handle that or open an individual store aimed for that specific country.

After looking through all of our options we opted for FRANCE, as it didn't require fiscal representation, it seemed like the quickest time to get our registrations in place and it was the closest to the UK so sending our goods from here to there would be "cheaper and quicker".

We are now able to send our goods to the whole of EU much faster than we ever could from the UK, we can ship to Ireland and other EU countries in 1 day and overall our customers are much happier.

I hope this information helps

 

[The Soup Dragon]

Is it easier / better ( levels of sales permitting) to form a company in the country of interest and ship from yourco to your customers?