Answering your Brexit related questions about ordering and shipping to the UK

Hey, photographer! Just for starters, if you don’t regularly order to the UK this will (most likely) not apply to you - if you still wish to continue reading however, there might be some useful information regardless :)

Photographers in the UK, we hear you. We’ve been following the ongoing shipping situation closely, so to clear the air a little we’ll be answering some general questions on the topic. Of course, should you have any questions that are not listed here feel free to contact us about them.

You can watch a short and sweet video version of this below, and can return to each section above it as needed.

Let’s get the most important one out of the way. Are there any additional charges due to Brexit?

Things have undeniably changed, but we’re currently trying to alleviate as much of it as possible on our end to give you less to deal with, including the paperwork. The short answer is no - but for the long answer, it simply depends.

• If you are not VAT registered in the UK, this expense will be covered by us.
• If you are VAT registered in the UK you will be asked to pay the VAT cost - this cost can be claimed back by you when doing your yearly tax returns.

Are shipping times affected?

At the moment, shipping may take a little longer due to UK border customs checkups, which are simply outside of our control. Please also keep in mind that the effects of the covid pandemic may still affect shipping, depending on the location.

On the other hand, we are currently working on giving you more options for shipping, which may soon result in the option to use DHL, who have proven to provide an accurate tracking service. They’ll be joining Fedex and UPS as one of our available couriers when ordering.

Has Northern Ireland been affected?

If you are planning to ship to Northern Ireland, you’ll be pleased to hear that the legal agreements have functionally stayed the same, meaning that we ship there as usual - just make sure to set Northern Ireland as the country for the shipping destination when ordering.

Will an EORI number be necessary?

It shouldn’t be, save for a few very extreme circumstances - nevertheless, it’s a good idea to have it set up just in case. An EORI number can be made on the UK government website free of charge. Read more about it here.

Will orders ship with a physical invoice?

There will not be any paper invoices included, so you can ship directly to your client without worry. However, if you need a paper version, you can have it set up as such under your account settings.

How come wall decors can’t be ordered with other photo products?

Wall decors have a distinctive packaging shape and method, which when combined with other products causes physical constraints that pose a risk of damage for both the wall decor and other products during transport. On its own however, this packaging ensures safety for the wall decor product line no matter where the order is sent.

Large orders

Unfortunately, orders that reach a certain size/weight threshold may be limited in terms of shipping providers. This normally occurs due to one or more providers placing an exceptionally high fee on a higher weight bracket, not accepting packages after a given size, or simply due to the option being disabled as a result of our extensive testing done for shipping reliability. We are aware that some shipping options may be more or less beneficial to you depending on your general location, which is why we're continuously working on improving our overall shipping options & finding new shipping partners over time.

This also means that if a particularly large order is placed, it may sometimes be cancelled on our end and requested to be sent as two separate orders - more information on why this happens can be found below.

Combining multiple existing orders / splitting orders

Once multiple separate orders are paid for & sent to production, combining them into one package (eg. intending to save on shipping costs, ordering an additional item as a part of a larger order, etc.) will become unavailable. The reason behind this is that each set of ordered items needs to be treated as a separate "instance" of an order by our ordering system, so that each item can be correctly listed in its shipping & payment documentation respectively.

With the recent customs changes made by Brexit, a single parcel can't have two or more documents of this nature applied to it, requiring us to manually rewrite this documentation into one order - otherwise, the shipment is at risk of being returned, or customs charging you extra without letting us know, sometimes for a higher fee than the value of the product itself.

Avoiding this risk puts a strain on several of our departments at a time & requires our accounting team to take care of the newly created paperwork, a process that can take days and extends production time. We are in the process of developing potential solutions to this issue for your future convenience, but do bear this in mind when ordering several products at a time.

To sum it up...

Those were some of the more pressing questions that came up in recent time in regards to shipping - but again, should there be any topic that wasn’t covered or one that needs any clarification, please don’t hesitate to contact us and ask - we wouldn’t exist without you, so we’re always happy to cater to your needs :)