What changed on 1 July 2026
Until this summer, parcels worth €150 or less came into the EU free of customs duty. You still paid VAT, but there was no duty. That relief is gone.
Since 1 July 2026, a flat €3 customs duty applies per distinct item on eCommerce packages valued at €150 or less arriving from outside the EU — and that now includes Great Britain.
- €3 per distinct product, not per parcel. Three different items in one box means €9.
- Identical items count once. Two of the exact same pair is still one €3 charge.
- The €3 is added before VAT is worked out, so you pay VAT on the duty as well.
The three charges, in the order they hit you
- Customs duty — €3 per item under €150. Above €150 the normal tariff applies instead.
- VAT at 23% — charged on the goods, the delivery cost AND the duty combined, not just the shoe.
- The carrier's handling fee — An Post charges €6.95 as of February 2026. Couriers like DHL, UPS and FedEx typically charge more.
Tip · The handling fee is the one people forget. It is charged by the carrier for doing the customs paperwork, it applies even on a cheap pair, and it is not refundable if you return the shoes.
A worked example: a €150 pair from the US
Say you find a pair at €150 with €20 shipping. The goods are €150, so the low-value rule applies and duty is €3.
VAT is calculated on €150 + €20 + €3 = €173. At 23% that's €39.79. Add An Post's €6.95 and the charges come to €49.74.
Your €150 pair costs €219.74 delivered — and roughly €50 of that appears only after the shoe is already in the country, as a bill you have to pay before it will be released to you.
Over €150 it gets less predictable
Above €150 the flat €3 stops applying and the real tariff takes over. For footwear that rate depends on the exact TARIC classification and the country the shoes were made in, and it ranges from roughly 3% to 17%.
That's a wide spread, and nobody can tell you which end you'll land on from the product page alone — it turns on construction and materials. VAT at 23% and the handling fee still apply on top.
Buying from the UK is not the workaround
Since Brexit, Great Britain is treated the same as any other non-EU country, so a parcel from London is charged like a parcel from Los Angeles.
The EU–UK trade deal does allow zero duty, but only on goods that originate in the UK. Sneakers are almost always made in Vietnam, China or Indonesia, so a UK retailer simply posting them on does not make them UK-origin. The zero-duty rate does not apply.
How to not pay any of it
None of this applies to a pair that is already inside the EU when you buy it. There is no import, so there is no duty, no import VAT bill and no handling fee — the price you see is the price you pay.
That's the honest case for buying domestically, and it's worth doing the sum before you assume an overseas price is cheaper. A pair that looks €40 cheaper on a US site is usually more expensive once it lands.
Tip · Before you check out abroad, add roughly 30% to the total for anything under €150. If it's still cheaper than buying in the EU, go for it. Often it isn't.
Please double-check your own case
This is general guidance, accurate as at July 2026, not tax advice — and the rules genuinely did change this summer, so older articles you find will be wrong. Revenue publishes the current rules and a calculator at revenue.ie, and An Post lists its own fees. If a charge looks wrong, both will tell you how it was worked out.