Selling across borders is a software problem.
Eolas Labs builds the systems that let a store sell outside its own country without manual work on every order. We know because we wrote the one behind Eolas Prints, the factory we came out of, which checks out in 235 countries and territories, 112 currencies and four languages — inside the EU, where the problem is VAT, and outside it, where the problem is customs.
Inside and outside the EU are two different problems
This is the most expensive confusion in this field, and stores and suppliers make it equally often. Selling to Germany and selling to Switzerland have almost nothing in common, even when the parcel leaves the same warehouse on the same day.
Inside the EU: no customs, but VAT
There is no customs border between the 27 member states: no duties, no HS code, no declaration. What there is instead is a VAT problem that surprises almost everyone the first time.
- There is a single €10,000 annual threshold covering all your distance sales across the EU combined.
- Below it you can keep charging your own country’s VAT. Above it you must charge the buyer’s country rate.
- The One Stop Shop (OSS) lets you declare all of it at home rather than registering in each country.
- The rate varies by country and sometimes by product. That belongs in the checkout, not in a spreadsheet.
Outside the EU: an actual border
The UK, Switzerland, Norway and the rest of the world do have one. This is where everything people associate with “international” appears, and where a badly built store loses money on every shipment.
- Every product needs its HS code, which determines the duty payable.
- DDP means you collect the taxes and the customer gets no surprises; DAP means they are asked for them at the door.
- Customs documentation has to generate itself and travel with the parcel.
- Defaulting to DAP because DDP was never wired up is the fastest route to a return and a one-star review.
What has to be built
These are the pieces we assemble, roughly in the order they become necessary. None is optional if you genuinely want to stop touching orders by hand.
Tax at the checkout
The right rate for the buyer’s country, calculated before payment rather than after. With the record your accountant needs to file the OSS return without rebuilding it by hand every quarter.
Getting paid in the currency you quoted
Showing the price in the buyer’s currency is the easy half. The other half is receiving it without converting every order at whatever spread your bank decides that morning — which means holding accounts in the currencies you actually sell in, and choosing when to convert instead of having it done for you.
HS codes per product
Assigned once, on the product, and carried into every customs document. If they live in somebody’s head, that person can never go on holiday.
Duties calculated and collected
DDP at the checkout wherever the carrier covers the destination: the customer sees the final total and does not get a letter asking for money two weeks later. Where it does not, DAP should be a decision you make — not one the absence of an integration makes for you.
Labels and paperwork, automatically
Multi-carrier, generated when the order is confirmed, with nobody copying an address from one system into another.
One stock figure
The store and the ERP looking at the same number. The moment each keeps its own, you start selling what you do not have, and that costs more than any duty.
Returns that also cross the border
A return from outside the EU is an import. If nobody planned for it, the parcel sits in customs and someone spends a morning on the phone.
How we know it works
Because it is ours. Eolas Prints manufactures filament in Reocín and sells it alongside 3D printers, laser engravers and scanners, through a checkout that works in 235 countries and territories, 112 currencies and four languages, with multi-currency accounts behind it so the money lands in the currency it was charged in. Both halves of this page are ours every day: duties in the price inside the EU, and outside it a UPS/Shopify DDP integration that is built and has run in production — where UPS covers the destination, turning it on is a setting rather than a project. That store runs DAP outside the EU today: a commercial call, not a technical limit, and having the choice is the part worth paying for. Simientes Infinitas runs on the same machinery, into 27 EU markets. We ship nothing ourselves — we wrote the systems, and it is not an integration we delivered once but the one we use every day.
See the Eolas Prints project
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to register for VAT in every EU country I sell to?
No, if you use the One Stop Shop (OSS). Once you pass the common €10,000 annual threshold for distance sales within the EU you must charge the buyer’s country rate, but OSS lets you declare and pay all of it from your own country in a single return, without registering in each member state.
What is the €10,000 threshold and when does it apply?
It is a single threshold covering all your distance sales to consumers in other EU countries combined, in force since July 2021. Below it you can keep charging your own country’s VAT; above it you charge the destination country’s. It replaced the separate per-country thresholds that existed before.
Are there customs duties when selling within the European Union?
No. The 27 member states form a customs union: no duties and no customs formalities between them. Duties, HS codes and customs paperwork appear when you ship outside the EU — to the UK, Switzerland or Norway, for example.
What is the difference between DDP and DAP?
Under DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) the seller collects import taxes and duties up front and the customer receives the parcel with nothing more to pay. Under DAP (Delivered At Place) the carrier asks the customer for them on delivery. DAP is cheaper to implement and considerably worse to receive: it is one of the most common causes of refused parcels.
What does building all of this cost?
Our starting point for a store is €6,000, and from €12,000 when it has to be wired to an ERP, which is where the real work sits. The two-week discovery costs €4,500 and ends in a fixed quote, credited back in full if we build.
Is Shopify suitable for selling internationally?
Yes for almost every store, and we say so even though it is not the most expensive option. Shopify handles the shop window and part of the tax question; what has to be built is the connection to your ERP, your warehouse and your carriers, and the duty and documentation rules your particular business needs.
Tell us your idea.
A 20-minute call or a WhatsApp message. We will tell you what we would build, how long it would take and what it would cost.
Or email us at info@eolasprints.com
We reply within one working day · ES / EN
- ✓ Two-week discovery at a fixed price
- ✓ If we build it, the discovery is credited back
- ✓ Maintenance from €150/month
- ✓ No lock-in on retainers