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MastodonNew #Mastodon merch just dropped! Responsibly sourced cotton t-shirts, enamel pins, mugs, and vinyl stickers with cute, exclusive designs! Get them while they're hot and support the development of Mastodon!
R.I.Pienaar@Mastodon Any chance for a EU based merchant? Using a merchant on a tiny island that chose to globally isolate itself and now having to charge everyone insane delivery fees and import taxes isnt great :(
Henry Henderson@ripienaar For real. I’d be more willing if we knew Mastodon got any of that €19 for EU shipping, but I assume the supplier just pockets the excess. There’s no way it costs that to mail a shirt pin to Sweden…
ay@henryhenderson @ripienaar Even for stickers it's €17 + probably import tax. Merch is nice, but I'd wait for EU based. (Edit to add: delivery costs are included in import tax calculations).
Eugen Rochko@henryhenderson @ripienaar No, we don't get the shipping money, the shipping company gets them. I couldn't get lower shipping rates. I understand the manufacturer being in the UK is not ideal for many and apologize for the inconvenience.
@Gargron Eh, you can't make everything convenient for everyone. Since these are kind of limited, it's no biggie. The people who want them bad enough will pay for it anyway. I'm happy to support via Patreon still 🙂
hugh@henryhenderson @Gargron As someone that runs an e-commerce store I'd be interested to know what the EU shipping options were 🙂 Was it IOSS?
The UK options were tracked only, which is more expensive, but in line with what I'd expect (although I'd have been happy with untracked) Unfortunately freight and handling prices have gone significantly up with a combination of COVID (constrained capacity), Ukraine (oil prices) & general inflation (labour, materials).
Eddie Coldrick 💻@Gargron @henryhenderson @ripienaar I appreciate your work... can't wait to get the merch! I also think that it would have been the same the other way around if you went with e.g. a US company, because then shipping to the EU/UK tends to be about £30, (and has been long before Brexit), so I think it's a good compromise :)
C. StäbeI think for the EU https://supergeek.de/de/ would be the right (nerd) store.
Here are many artists and creatives such as @ralphruthe with his store: https://supergeek.de/de/ruthe/
Attached is a screenshot with an overview of the delivery areas with shipping costs.
Raccoon🇺🇸🏳️🌈@Gargron @henryhenderson @ripienaar
This is also a problem in the US: the total for a shirt was over $50, nearly half of which was shipping. This was on top of the mugs being sold out.
Any way you can get a North-American vendor in on this? I'd definitely accept this price if I could get a shirt and mug for it.
Paul
JdeBP@henryhenderson @ripienaar @Gargron
And yet it does.
Using a branch, it costs £12.65, not inclusive of whatever VAT then applies, for Royal Mail Standard Tracked Signed shipping of a parcel to Sweden.
https://www.royalmail.com/sending/international/country-guides/sweden
Welcome to #Brexit.
Arctic (back up - see pinned)@ripienaar @Mastodon the shipping fees are definitely a little crazy, even if you were in the UK shipping for a pin would be almost as much as a pin
Jiří Eischmann 
@ripienaar @Mastodon yeah, paying £14 for shipping a £14 mug is really off putting.
Bennytek@ripienaar For sure, shipping over here to Australia wasn't great either :(
Then again, that may just be an us problem 😅
🌈 karbuziran 🇪🇺@ripienaar
Exactly what I thought when I checked from where it is being shipped!
And isn't @Mastodon originally created here in Germany? So why use a GB-/Brexit-(Is)Land-Warehouse to ship their goods and *not* take advantage of the much more affordable conditions and wider clientele/audience of the Rest of the European Continent?
That's a very disadvantageous Business Decision there, i.m.h.o., too! 
@ripienaar @Mastodon Mhmm I'm not sure that the alleged isolation is responsible for "insane delivery fees", but I've also not seen what they are.
Taxes would be payable in any case.
@ripienaar @Mastodon The import "duties" are generally VAT, which would be payable within the EU Single Market. I don't know if IOSS is being offered, but if so then the correct rate of VAT will be collected and remitted as for any other transaction within the EU SM.
I bought something and paid UK VAT. If I buy something in France and import it to the UK I have to pay UK VAT on it. If I buy something from the UK and import into France, I have to pay French VAT.
@ripienaar @Mastodon I run an e-commerce business. I'm all too painfully aware of the additional costs we bear to sell into the EU (accountants for IOSS VAT returns), and the additional friction.
But the requirement to collect and pay VAT hasn't changed, it just works differently now.
@crablab @Mastodon indeed VAT is needed you are right but now there are customs formalities in the destination country.
We have customs duties for over €150 and we have to pay a processing fee for getting stuff through customs on a €150
Item those handling fees can be around €30 depending on a few things.
This is same for all non EU of course - but order from China and shipment is often free for ex.
I have simply stopped doing business with any UK company.
@crablab @Mastodon prior to brexit we didn’t have these fees at all for any country. But as we are an English language country as non EU imports were not high volume.
The volume of imports from UK is vast and the extra formalities caused by Brexit has resulted in so much extra work and staff that we now pay this on every package from third countries.
So directly Brexit made every import from third countries like 15 to 30 more expensive for us.
Russ Garrett@ripienaar @crablab @Mastodon I'm pretty sure the clearance fees are related to the implementation of IOSS (and the associated removal of the much-abused VAT-free import threshold) and not because of Brexit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Import_One-Stop_Shop
(We also have IOSS in the UK)
@ripienaar @crablab here's the EU's page on that:
@ripienaar @russss @Mastodon Yes, it's certainly true that because the UK is no longer in the SM there will be more volume requiring customs clearance.
But bluntly, that's not the UK's issue to solve.
And the use of IOSS should reduce or eliminate customs clearance fees. Where IOSS isn't available, the use of DDP is often an affordable alternative.
We do all of these things to sell into the EU market so our customers don't bear any additional costs.
@russss @ripienaar @Mastodon Ah yes, I forgot about that threshold although it mainly impacted imports from Asia who were mis-declaring values.
@ripienaar @Mastodon Depends on the carrier and country, but that number for handling fees is far higher than reality.
You can find the postal handling fees here: https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-09/Information%20postal%20fees%20for%20publication%20final.pdf
@ripienaar @Mastodon You didn't supply a currency (DKK vs EUR would be significant, for example) and nor did you provide context on the shipments that band related to, or the country you're in.
Therefore I've supplied the source of truth which shows for the majority of countries the fees are significantly lower than you cited (postal mail, couriers are a law unto themselves)
I'm guessing you're in Belgium?
JB@Mastodon
Instant buy 🔥
Instant buy 🔥
MartLM@Mastodon Had to order immediately! Thanks!
suldrew 🚲🏳️🌈@Mastodon nice!! bought some right away
Mal Porter@Mastodon excellent - in for a mug and a pin! 🙌
LANdalf the Grey> $8 enamel pin
> $14 shipping from UK
Mathias Micheel@Mastodon UK based shipping ☠️
dej@Mastodon yeah not paying 17 euros for shipping a mug to germany sorry mastodon :/
@Mastodon Ship for Brazil?
Nordnick 
freshstore.co ... weird website...
jakalopes@Mastodon I would also love smaller pins!
soloPFL@Mastodon The Store being in the UK makes no sense. Would love to buy a mug or two but importing from post Brexit UK makes shipping and tax so expensive. The Mastodon gGmbH is a German company after all. I don`t get it.
milosz@Mastodon Shipping to Poland is €16.95. This is too much 🙀
hambier@Mastodon Wow, you're a German GmbH, right? Why did you choose a UK based shop? As a EU company you're not obliged to treat EU customers in a totally preferential way, but (practically speaking) excluding them is way off base.
Not A Bird@Mastodon Looks like I'll need to pay > 35$ to get 3 stickers and 1 metal pin. Have to wait for something in US to sell these.
I really hope etsy sellers will get in on these.
Dale Price@Mastodon That freshstore website is rough. No sizing information for the shirts? Item price displayed in $ but shipping price in £? Also ridiculous shipping cost outside the UK.
Tristan@Mastodon can't wait to daydrink straight vodka out of a mug with a cartoon elephant on it!
Johannes Margraf@Mastodon I was about to order a Shirt, but 16€ shipping is too much, imo.
Annie Hsh 👾🖖☕@Mastodon These look pretty cool, and was really interested in both the mug and the stickers, but gonna have to agree with the others about the UK-based merchant, which means extra import taxes in many cases, plus €16.95 shipping even if one gets the stickers alone is a bit much.
Kai Klostermann@Mastodon Ayo, I'd love to buy some, but I don't want to pay my share for Brexit.
taco 🌮
Paulin Basalces@Mastodon I want a cupon discount to get this pins! 😁
Pavol Salgari@Mastodon I stopped buying anything from the UK after brexit. I am not willing to pay any customs fees and be bothered by all import shitshow around it. So I am really surprised by German company to use UK based shop.
benny windolph@Mastodon bin mal gespannt wie die Tassen im real life aussehen 🥹
Jan ☕🎼🎹☁️🏋️♂️@Mastodon Is there any sizing chart? Also, those shipping fees... Ugh.
@Mastodon Ordered immediately!
Sylvia Wright@ai6yr Am I the only one who just thinks "Babar!" when they see this merch
absurd@Mastodon yeah the shipping fees are a bit too much