Can you be more specific on what problems you've had?
As a non-EU company, you are under no obligation to collect VAT & import duties on shipments to the EU. These will often be collected by shipping agent on behalf of the recipient's tax authority, otherwise it is up to the individual to declare their liability.
To claim this as a reason not to trade internationally is a disservice to your potential customers and to your shareholders, and frankly reads as "we have no idea what we're doing, so we're not going to do it, just in case".
If you're really not sure, pay for some basic tax and legal advice who will tell you there's nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, you're loosing potential revenue and future referrals. (Assuming reasonable standards of product quality...)
I spent some time looking into it. Quoting a customer in Europe 1 price (pre-VAT) and then they need to figure out how to pay the extra VAT separately didn't sit well with me. So I want to figure out a way where the customer wouldn't get a 2nd bill when his shirt arrives. This started to get complicated, so I unfortunately have not been able to get to the bottom of it yet.
If you have any advice on how to ship to EU and pay the taxes on my end (so the customer doesn't pay something separately), please let me know!
Thanks rahimnathwani. I had already looked at that -- the fact that they don't link to where you go to sign up for that arrangement didn't look promising for happening in a timely matter.
We also currently ship all our shirts to the US for a variety of reasons (including quality control).
As a non-EU company, you are under no obligation to collect VAT & import duties on shipments to the EU. These will often be collected by shipping agent on behalf of the recipient's tax authority, otherwise it is up to the individual to declare their liability.
To claim this as a reason not to trade internationally is a disservice to your potential customers and to your shareholders, and frankly reads as "we have no idea what we're doing, so we're not going to do it, just in case".
If you're really not sure, pay for some basic tax and legal advice who will tell you there's nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, you're loosing potential revenue and future referrals. (Assuming reasonable standards of product quality...)