Small update after reason no.3 - now there is a 2 eur fee too

Ok, small update to my last post, because the news came faster than I expected 😅

From this Sunday, 1 November, the EU adds a 2 eur handling fee on online orders shipped from outside the EU. That's on top of the 3 eur duty from July. And again it's counted per type of product in the parcel (one line on the customs declaration), not per parcel. Brussels Times wrote it up yesterday, here. The 3 eur is temporary until 2028, the 2 eur is supposed to stay and get reviewed every two years.

So a cheap order with a few different things in it now carries 5 eur per line. On paper that sounds like finally some help for small shops 🧐

But the fee is charged to the companies sending the parcels, not to the buyer. They can put it into the price or just swallow it. The big ones can afford both.

And it doesn't touch my other two reasons at all. People still ask ChatGPT where to buy. Black Friday ads are still the same fight with the same big budgets.

So if somebody asks me "would this have saved your store?" - no. A bit fairer, yes. Saved, no.