The Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) is a tax collection system in the European Union (EU) used to collect upfront taxes on all imported* orders, as long as the value of the goods is below EUR 150.

As a result of these regulations, marketplaces like Etsy are providing sellers with their own IOSS numbers, with the intention that these ID numbers are added to an order’s customs declaration:

However, due to specific technical constraints, the IOSS number given by Etsy can’t be smoothly passed to the Print Provider and then put on the shipping label of the order.

Since VAT must be added at every stage of the transaction chain, Printify collects VAT from you, the merchant, based on your order’s production and shipping costs. Printify’s IOSS ID number is then used to ensure seamless customs clearance for your customer. Read more about OSS and IOSS here.

*Applies to goods imported to Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the UK, or Norway from other destinations (such as the US).

Can I submit my own IOSS ID number to Printify?

Currently, it is not possible to submit your IOSS ID number to Printify. Our VAT ID submission system is designed for submitting your VAT IDs, not IOSS numbers, as they serve a different purpose.

Why can’t I add my IOSS ID number to the address field?

The IOSS ID number should be kept confidential and should be declared only on the electronic customs declaration. For this reason, we discourage you from disclosing your IOSS ID number on the order shipping label.

Why do both Printify and Etsy apply VAT to imported orders?

This is because, unlike sales tax, VAT is added at every stage of the transaction chain. In the EU, VAT exemptions exist only for certain product groups; there are no general exemptions for resale as found in US sales tax regulations. The responsibility for covering the tax can only be shifted to the customer by registering and reporting the tax within the EU.

What can I do if I’m selling on Etsy?

Since this situation only occurs when orders are imported from the US into European countries, here are some options to consider:

• You can adjust your retail price to accommodate these scenarios. VAT rates differ across European countries (see below), with an average of 21% (calculated from production and shipping prices in Printify). Alternatively, consider a slight increase in shipping costs for European countries exclusively.
• You can manually adjust your shipping profiles on Etsy to limit sales to international customers. To do this, go to Settings → Shipping settings in Etsy and edit each shipping profile, excluding international destinations.
• Additionally, you might think about creating separate product listings specifically for European customers. Set a higher retail price that already includes VAT. In this case, we recommend increasing your profit margin by around 21-25% to cover the VAT. Note that this is an estimation; due to varying VAT rates, it won’t be possible to collect the precise tax amount from each customer.