In this week’s INNELS Amazon Seller News, we look at the EU’s new Union Handling Fee for e-commerce imports from outside the EU. The €2 fee is expected to take effect on November 1, 2026, adding another cost for sellers shipping goods directly from non-EU countries to European consumers. It comes on top of the temporary €3 customs duty already introduced for low-value imports.
The European Commission has introduced legislation for a €2 Union Handling Fee per distinct item on e-commerce goods imported from outside the EU. The fee is part of the EU’s broader customs reform and is intended to help cover the additional customs resources required to process the rapidly growing volume of online imports.
The fee is expected to apply from November 1, 2026. Dutch Customs and Ireland’s Revenue have both published guidance confirming the expected implementation date.
For sellers shipping directly from China, the US or other non-EU locations to European customers, this creates another cost that needs to be considered when calculating landed cost and marketplace profitability.
One of the most important points for sellers is that the new handling fee is not replacing the €3 customs duty introduced earlier this year.
Since July 1, 2026, the EU has applied a temporary €3 customs duty per item to distance sales of imported goods in consignments valued at up to €150. The previous €150 customs-duty exemption was removed as part of the EU's customs reform.
From November, the €2 Union Handling Fee will be added separately.
That means a qualifying low-value import can potentially face both charges, alongside applicable VAT and other costs. For example, Ireland’s Revenue gives the example of a €10 package containing three different items. The €3 customs duty would total €9, while the new €2 handling fee would add another €6, before applicable VAT.
The EU is responding to the enormous growth in low-value e-commerce imports.
The European Commission says almost 5.9 billion items entered the EU through low-value e-commerce imports in 2025. The growth in shipments has increased the workload for customs authorities, including data verification, risk analysis and physical or documentary checks.
The handling fee is designed to contribute toward those costs.
Dutch Customs says the money will support additional customs staff and investments in technology, including scanning systems and AI-based tools that can help customs authorities select shipments for inspection.
The EU also frames the wider reform as a way to improve product safety, compliance and competition between businesses selling into the European market.
The economics of the new fee will depend heavily on the product's selling price.
A €2 charge represents a relatively small percentage of a €100 product. But for a €10 or €15 item, the same fixed fee can have a much larger impact on the final landed cost and margin.
This is particularly relevant for sellers whose business models depend on inexpensive products shipped individually from outside the EU.
For Amazon sellers, this makes the difference between selling into Europe and holding inventory inside Europe even more important.
A seller importing large quantities into an EU fulfillment network can structure its logistics differently from a business shipping individual orders directly from a non-EU warehouse to European consumers.
The new fee adds another reason for sellers to examine European inventory strategies.
Amazon sellers already have several options for positioning inventory closer to customers, including FBA and Amazon Warehousing & Distribution. Moving inventory into the EU can change how products are supplied to customers and can reduce reliance on individual cross-border imports.
The EU customs reform also provides for a reduced handling fee from July 2028 when distance-sold goods are placed in a customs warehouse before being released for free circulation.
This is an important long-term signal: the EU's customs framework is increasingly designed around more structured and traceable import processes rather than millions of individual low-value shipments entering directly from outside the bloc.
For Amazon sellers, the biggest practical issue is not simply the €2 fee itself. It is the cumulative effect of multiple changes to the economics of selling into Europe.
Sellers now need to consider customs duties, handling fees, VAT, shipping, marketplace fees, fulfillment costs, storage and returns when evaluating whether a product remains profitable.
A product that looked attractive under the previous low-value import regime may have a very different margin once all the new costs are included.
This makes landed-cost analysis increasingly important when deciding where inventory should be stored and which European marketplaces are worth entering.
The changes also make the choice between direct shipping and local European inventory more strategic.
Direct shipping from outside the EU can allow sellers to avoid committing large amounts of inventory to a new market. It can therefore still make sense when testing demand.
But as sales volume increases, the additional customs and handling costs can change the calculation. At that point, sellers may need to compare direct shipping against importing inventory in bulk and fulfilling orders from within Europe.
The best option will depend on product value, sales volume, fulfillment costs, VAT structure, storage requirements and the markets being served.
European expansion is becoming less about simply opening another marketplace and more about understanding the full cost of getting each product to the customer. The new handling fee is another reminder that sellers need to look at logistics, compliance and profitability together. A product can have strong demand in Europe and still become unprofitable if the underlying fulfillment model is not right.”— Andrejs Klimovskis, Co-Founder of INNELS
The handling fee is part of a much broader transformation of EU customs.
The EU is also introducing mandatory Product Identifiers from November 1, 2026, designed to improve traceability and help customs authorities identify unsafe or non-compliant goods.
For sellers, this means customs information, product data and compliance documentation need to be accurate and consistent.
This is particularly important for brands selling through marketplaces because customs, VAT and product compliance are increasingly interconnected.
Sellers shipping products directly from outside the EU should review their current European unit economics before the November implementation date.
The first step is to calculate the total landed cost for each major product, including the €3 customs duty where applicable, the new €2 handling fee, VAT, shipping and fulfillment expenses.
Next, sellers should compare that cost against alternative fulfillment models. If a product has consistent demand across several EU marketplaces, holding inventory within Europe may become more attractive than shipping individual orders across the border.
Finally, sellers should review their product data and customs processes to ensure they are ready for the wider EU customs changes taking effect alongside the handling fee.
The EU's €2 Union Handling Fee is another step toward a more structured customs system for e-commerce imports.
For sellers shipping low-cost products directly from outside the EU, the additional charge could put further pressure on margins, particularly when combined with the €3 customs duty already applying to low-value imports.
But the bigger story is the direction of travel. The EU is moving toward greater customs oversight, stronger product traceability and a more level playing field between direct imports and goods brought into Europe through traditional supply chains.
For Amazon sellers, that makes European expansion increasingly dependent on more than demand. Inventory location, fulfillment structure, compliance and true landed cost will all play a bigger role in deciding whether a product is profitable in Europe.
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