TuffWraps & DHL International Logistics

Tuffwraps UK and why we moved to DHL

Ever since the UK left the EU on the 1st January 2021, known as “Brexit”, there have been significant challenges for UK companies to effectively deliver parcels to EU member countries.  As consumers, we have been so used to simply ordering a product from where ever we like in the EU and it just arriving at our door step.  Unfortunately that is now not the case.

Once a parcel leaves the UK there are import duties to apply to the parcel once it crosses international borders, which are related to the value of the products in the shipment.  These taxes are applied at local country rate to the value of the shipment which are the responsibility of the customer, as the “importer” to pay.

This is a very clunky system that creates delays, has unexpected charges and ultimately creates a bad sense of customer satisfaction in relation to their purchase.  

To try and stream line this, the governments created an agreement / system with the EU for UK companies called International One Stop Shop (IOSS).  This allows UK companies to charge and collect the VAT from customers in EU member states so that there are then no delays at the borders and no un expected fees.  This is up to a value of 150 Euro before tax.  Any order above this value is exported normally and the customer is liable for the VAT charge at their countries border.

Now, this sounds amazing and should sort out lots of issues for customers in the EU wanting to purchase from TuffWraps in the UK.  However, being absolutely transparent this has not worked quite as planned and along with us, many other businesses are seeing issues with this system.  

The main issue is with courier companies that do not use 100% their own transport links and pass order details to local delivery agents as the parcel travels on its way.  Here it seems that every now and then the all so important IOSS data is being lost and a customer who has already paid VAT at the time of check out is being charged it again at the border with a admin fee on top.  This is at the cost of the customer who can either pay the charge or deny it so the parcel is returned.  Neither of these two scenarios are great.

To remove the risk of this issue completely, TuffWraps UK made the decision to move all its international shipments to the most well known of all courier services, DHL.

DHL are one of the only courier companies to use all their own hubs and transport links globally, meaning that once we input the IOSS export data into their system, it does not leave it.  DHL collect the parcel and it travels through their network till it’s delivered to the customer.  Since switching to DHL at the start of 2022, TuffWraps UK as a company have now shipped hundreds of international parcels to the EU under the IOSS agreement with zero errors, no additional border taxes and all parcels arriving safely.

Unfortunately the DHL service is slightly more costly than some of its competitors, but at the end of the day what we all really want is a smooth transaction to get the items from us to you the customer.  

We are constantly working on ways to make our delivery service more efficient and hope that the new DHL service treats you as well as it treats us.

James Colwell

#StayTUFF