Everyone’s worried about the EU’s new customs laws.
They’re looking at the wrong thing.
You’re not losing money on the big regulations. You’re losing it on the £5.00 surcharge you didn’t even know you paid yesterday.
Real talk: most brands are bleeding cash on invisible taxes.
Your carrier invoices are hiding fees that add up fast.
Things like the £3.50 to £5.00 “UK Border Fee” carriers quietly add for handling EU shipments. Or the £15.00 to £20.00 surcharge for Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) services when your paperwork is wrong.
Then there are the classic address correction fees.
These aren’t ‘costs of doing business.’
They’re taxes on bad data. Every single time.
So, why are you paying them?
It comes down to one thing.
A typo in a German address doesn’t just look bad. It triggers a manual review by a customs agent.
That means a delay. And a carrier surcharge.
Every. Single. Time.
This is where your Cost Per Order gets destroyed. A single bad address turns a profitable sale into a loss.
It’s not just your bottom line. It’s the customer experience.
Unexpected shipping costs are why 36% of all carts are abandoned.
When these hidden fees lead to delivery failures or surprise bills, you’ve lost that customer for good.
This isn’t theory. I’ve seen a small business owner stop shipping to the EU entirely because the costs and documentation killed her margins.
The stakes are real.
The good news? The fix isn’t complicated. You can do it today.
Here’s how to stop the bleeding:
- Pull your last three carrier invoices. Look for “Address Correction,” “Border Fee,” or “Handling Surcharge.” Add up what you’re spending. You’ll be surprised.
- Check your checkout. Are you validating addresses for each EU country’s specific carrier format? Or just doing a basic postal code check? The latter isn’t enough. A valid postal code doesn’t mean the street name is right for DHL in Germany.
- Use carrier-grade validation. This means checking addresses against the exact format the final-mile carrier requires, not a general postal database. It catches the small errors that trigger manual reviews and fees.
Forrester tells retailers to audit their shipping costs to find savings. This is your first step.
Now, why is this so urgent?
Because it’s about to get worse.
The EU is set to abolish the €150 duty exemption threshold.
This means customs will scrutinize every single package.
The tolerance for error is disappearing.
On top of that, countries are adding their own fees. Denmark already charges a €5 national handling fee on small packages. France is planning a similar €2-€5 fee.
The system is getting stricter.
Manual reviews are about to become automatic fines.
You won’t have a choice. Perfect data will be non-negotiable.
That’s it. Go fix your checkout.
