The Business: EU Commerce Regulation Changes Has Implications For Indie Publishers

The following comes from Imperium Press on Telegram:

Something weird has happened with shipping low priced items (like books) to the EU. Looks like the EU is putting up barriers to entry to reward Amazon and punish companies like us who sell direct. Thought people would like to know.

Starting in July the EU two things happened:

1. EU removed the €22 VAT free threshold for imported goods and
2. the buyer is no longer responsible for paying VAT; now the seller is

The EU has implemented an electronic system for sellers to pay these fees monthly. Non-EU businesses normally need to appoint an EU-established intermediary to fulfil VAT obligations. Everyone needs to apply for an identification number.

The details are really kafkaesque and boring. The TL;DR is that there's now a lot more red tape involved than before in importing most things to the EU. Don't worry, we've got this sorted and will still ship to our continental European fam. Other sellers might just give up though. And this is the point.

The EU is butthurt over Brexit and this is a fuck you to Britain. Moreover, it's a way to reward e-commerce giants like Amazon, centralizing commerce through a few portals all with the same censorious policies. This is how soft totalitarianism is implemented: through bureaucratic measures nobody understands, 10,000-page omnibus bills nobody reads, and legislation passed in the wake of a crisis when nobody's looking.

Read more about the EU changes if you like:

https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/ioss_en

This is aimed more as the publishers than the authors, but even the authors should be paying attention since this will serve to hem in viable options- especially if you're trying to diversify away from big players like Amazon. There are ways around it, but that involves corporate structure shenanigans that--while legal--nonetheless still add a hassle to your business affairs regarding getting books into readers' hands.

This is your heads-up. Time to ask around for more info.