How the new customs tax implemented for online shopping from non-EU countries into Ireland affected both An Post and Irish students
Since July 2026, a €3 customs tax has been placed on each item in an online shopping order below 150 euro coming from non-EU countries, including Great Britain.
Before this tax was implemented, no extra tax was placed on non-EU deliveries under €150 coming into Ireland.
An Post stated: “This means a minimum €3 customs duty charge; this is a new EU duty applied to items valued at €150 or less. This charge applies per line item in your parcel. In most cases, this means different product types (e.g. t-shirts and sunglasses) are charged separately.”
So, if a package includes three of the same pieces, only three euros will be charged, but if buying different articles of clothing or accessories, each will be charged separately.
With large retail companies, consumers pay customs tax upfront at checkout.
From smaller non-EU retailers, a customs tax may be charged directly to An Post upon delivery if VAT was not paid at checkout.
Postal services can also charge up to 6.95 euro in additional handling charges upon delivery of packages.
According to Revenue, online shopping from non-EU countries can include Customs Duty, Value Added Tax (VAT), Excise Duty, Anti-Dumping Duty, and Countervailing Duty.
These customs duties were added to promote Irish-owned businesses, to level costs between online clothing and to have fair competition for local businesses.
They also help monitor restricted or counterfeit items entering Ireland.
Finally, they were implemented to reduce fast fashion from cheap warehouses such as Temu and Shein.
However, large non-EU retailers have now set up ‘EU warehouses’ on their sites to keep past consumers continuing with frequent purchases without the added tax.
Amazon.ie is currently making it easier for online shoppers to find Irish brands to avoid the customs charge.
There is a dedicated brands of Ireland store on the Amazon.ie website, with an array of small and large Irish online stores.
Warren Naughton, a postman with An Post for the last six years, said: “There hasn’t been much of an impact on online shopping since the customs charges were added to parcels.”
He added: “When it was first released, we were nervous about the attitude from customers. People do complain about the extra cost, but from my perspective, it doesn’t stop them buying.”
Naughton continued: “We in An Post have not noticed a low in online shopping. It’s a seasonal thing anyways, all online shopping drops for a week or two after summer, and it gets less hectic. However, people will start their Christmas shopping from the end of September, so it won’t stop now.”
He concluded: “As you know, it’s a habit, in some cases an addiction. I have 1400 letterboxes on my route alone, and you can see it’s the same people over the last two years that are the ones ordering frequently.”
According to Dublin Jobs.ie, An Post is looking to recruit 1,600 Christmas staff in anticipation for the weekly volumes of 3.6 billion parcels and seven million letters in early December.
TheCity asked students at TU Dublin about their experience with the customs tax.
20-year-old Erin Glynn said: “The new tax has impacted my online shopping slightly. I used to order frequently from sites such as Shein. Now, if I do want to order, I try avoiding paying the tax by filtering my options to the EU warehouse products, but that limits my options on what I can buy.”
21-year-old Ciara Barnes shared: “No, the tax hasn’t stopped me from ordering online. I use non-EU companies to order clothes. I never really ordered from Shein because I don’t like the quality, but the tax wouldn’t stop me from future purchases.”
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