I thought I'd add my two penn'orth as somebody who used to retail to the EU and further afield. I am a one-man-band person who has extended his hobby into a business after retiring from my regular job. The administration required of the retailer, when sending goods abroad, is massive. Unfortunately the customer doesn't see the quadruplicate papers which have to be completed with customs codes, values, countries of origin, VAT status declarations, etc. This isn't something the retailer can be sloppy about for fear of customs rejection and the associated costs. The last order I sent abroad took me at least two hours to process. The profit on that order was about £60, so you can see where I'm going on this. As a one-man-band trader, I have to do everything in addition to the work on the bench. I already spend approximately 25% of my working time preparing invoices, reconciling accounts, dealing with incoming stock, preparing accounts for my accountant and generally keeping the workshop tidy. Then, at the end of the year, I have to wave bye-bye to 20% of my profit in tax, so the £60 I referred to earlier is actually only £48. After Brexit, most small businesses soon found out that it was no longer cost-effective to send goods abroad so the pressure fell on those who were willing to continue. I found the administrative burden so mind-numbing and unproductive that I stopped sending stuff abroad, like the rest of them. I have absolutely no interest in looking up the custom code and origin of manufacture and the constituent components of a £15 lighting switch, and this is the main reason why I stopped trading abroad. However, if I'd continued trading abroad I would have had to charge for my time in the same way I would have had to pay a clerk to undertake the admin which, I would guess, is about £25 per hour. So, either way, the profit on my order is all gone unless I hike up the shipping cost. The 'workaround' that I use is to get the customer to identify a person in the UK who will act on their behalf, then I am trading with a UK person and my contract is with them. How this individual relates and deals with their friend overseas is not my concern. I have noticed that there are various warehouses and onward shipping firms who do this on behalf of some of my customers but, as far as I'm concerned, I'm being paid by a UK bank and shipping to a UK address. At my age I have no intention of employing a clerk (with all the associated employment law hassle) or expanding the business in any way, which is a shame as I used to enjoy my relationship with customers overseas.
