SHIPPING UPDATE!
A new EU law is going into effect July 1st which concerns all imported goods. The law itself is a nasty one that will force us, a US based company, to either 1) get an EU VAT tax number and begin assessing VAT tax on all products shipped into the EU, or 2) Enable our logistics company (DHL most likely) to collect and remit this tax as part of their delivery service. We are inclined at this point to explore option 2.
The important aspect of this law is that it will affect all shipments regardless of parcel value. This is VAT tax, it is not import duty. Duty is still something that could affect your product import as well. In short, all EU customers will soon be paying VAT tax on every single imported product… and not just from us, but from anywhere outside the EU.
As this new legal challenge looms, we are already seeing delivery times begin to elongate for EU shipments for normal orders. Imports that normally took 2-3 days are now taking 3-5 days, and it will only get worse until the law goes into effect, at which time we think shipments will stop passing through customs entirely while seemingly unsuspecting customers are challenged to pay VAT on their imported goods. Inevitably this will result in a lot of unclaimed parcels and utter chaos at EU ports.
In order to smooth things for Titan batch 2 customers in the EU, we are diving into our RMA stock to begin shipping Titans to international customers within that economic zone well in advance of the law taking effect. Batch 2 manufacturing is wrapping up now and we do expect to receive those units from the finishers soon™, and from this batch we will replenish our RMA stock and fulfill the rest of the orders for batch 2.
Of course, if anyone in the EU wants to order anything before this law goes into affect, you should attempt to get that order placed within the next 7 days or so. As stated earlier, shipments are already backing up in customs and any parcel stuck in customs processing could get stuck in the queue such that by the time it is processed it will be subject to the new VAT tax law… so plan accordingly.