This is not one of our usual blog posts and, unless you are an EU resident or have an interest in post-Brexit trade, this is probably not relevant to you. Normal service will be resumed next time…

We are beyond grateful to all our customers, worldwide, for all their support. Without you we couldn’t do any of this! Whether it’s hosting knitalongs in our new Knitalong Hub, or creating videos that teach knitters new skills, we are proud to share these resources without outside advertising, and it’s you, our customers who make that possible. Thank you so, so much. And we particularly want our EU customers to know that we will be doing everything in our power to make your shopping experience with us as straightforward and transparent as possible in the future. We value you, and we hope you will stick around. I don’t think it’s much of a secret, that not least because Jen studied in Marseille under the Erasmus scheme as part of her degree, that we didn’t want Brexit to happen. That said, we are where we are, and we will make the best of the situation.

As it stands, there is no trade deal between the UK and the EU. The UK will leave the customs union and EU internal market at the end of 2020. If you live in the EU, buying from the UK is going to be different. I am still trying to wrap my head around what might happen and what I need to do in running the business to reduce any disruption to our customers. Guidance from our government is incomplete in places, so what I’m going to describe here is my best attempt at making sense of it. I will divide up our products into 3 groups so that you can see what is what.

Digital products (no change)

For us, this is digital patterns and eBooks. EU residents will usually need to pay tax (VAT/TVA/MWSt, etc.) on these, but you will not notice a difference because we use tax-inclusive pricing. We have a mechanism in place to deal with this. You can continue to purchase these products without any concerns.

Print books (no anticipated change)

I don’t think much should change with print books, but I am not entirely certain. Since print books are rated as 0% for VAT in the EU, I would expect that book-only orders will pass through customs without any charge. As soon as we are certain about this, we will confirm it.

Anything else you might buy from us: yarn, notions, etc. (definite change)

Above a certain threshold value (I believe it is currently €22, rising to €150 in July 2021), you may be charged customs duty and import VAT on your parcel before it is delivered to you. This will be handled by your local postal service. Furthermore, customs checks could mean that processing of the parcel is slower than you are used to.

We want to make your shopping with us as transparent as possible and remove these additional charges as far as we can. At the moment, we cannot charge import VAT at source in a similar way to digital products. It is not that it is impossible, but it is impractical. It would require us to register for and file taxes in every EU country we sell to. There is a plan for a single registration and filing process from July 2021. This has already been delayed once and could well be further delayed. Once it is available, we will work hard to incorporate it in our shop and keep you informed.

I think that covers the main points. If I am wrong in any of this, or you need clarification, please do contact us using the contact form, although please bear in mind that we are taking a bit of a break over the holiday period.

We hope that this post provides a bit of clarity on how things will be next year. And once again, thank you very much for all of your support. It means a lot to us.