From the United States

EU fulfillment for US brands: ship to Europe from inside Europe

To ship to Europe from the US without sending every order across the Atlantic, import your stock into the EU in bulk, clear each shipment through customs once and fulfill orders from a warehouse inside the EU. At Primepack in Gothenburg, Sweden, those orders are picked and packed the same day and reach customers in the EU with no customs on the way.

Get a quote How it works

Two ways to ship

How to ship to Europe from the US: two ways

You can send each European order from the US as its own international parcel, or import stock into the EU in bulk and ship orders from there. Here is what each route means for your customers, your paperwork and your inventory.

Aspect	Each order shipped from the US	Orders shipped from stock in Sweden
Customs	Each parcel is a separate import into the EU, cleared on its own.	Each bulk shipment is cleared in Sweden. Orders to EU customers after that involve no customs inside the EU.
Duty	Since July 1, 2026, a temporary flat duty of €3 per item type on parcels worth up to €150, whichever VAT scheme you use. Above €150, the product's normal rate.	Your product's normal EU rate, due when the bulk shipment is cleared. The flat parcel duty does not apply.
VAT	Without IOSS, charged at import and often collected from your customer before delivery, sometimes with a carrier clearance fee on top. IOSS covers parcels up to €150 and needs an EU intermediary.	Charged at checkout and reported in your Swedish VAT return, plus the One Stop Shop for sales to other EU countries.
Delivery time	Each order crosses the Atlantic on its own and waits for its own customs clearance in the EU.	Picked and packed the same day, then typically 1–2 business days to the Nordic EU countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland), 2–3 to Germany and Benelux and 3–5 to the rest of the EU.
Returns	Each return means another trip across the Atlantic to your US address – or a refund without getting the item back.	Customers return to an address in Sweden. We receive, inspect and restock approved items.
Inventory	One stock in the US serves every market.	A second stock to plan and replenish – usually by sea, which takes weeks – in exchange for shipping EU orders from inside the EU.

Wondering what the Swedish side adds up to? See our pricing model – storage per pallet or shelf location per month, pick & pack per DTC order, returns per DTC return, and B2B orders, receiving and stock counts by the hour.

The 2026 parcel rules

The end of the EU de minimis: why shipping parcels from the US got harder in 2026

The EU's long-standing duty exemption for parcels worth up to €150 – often called the EU de minimis – ended on July 1, 2026, and more changes for parcels shipped from outside the EU are already scheduled. If you send EU orders from the US one by one today, this is the timeline that affects you.

July 1, 2026
Low-value parcels lose their duty exemption
Parcels worth up to €150 going from outside the EU to EU consumers are now, as a rule, charged a temporary flat customs duty of €3 per item type (items sharing the same tariff line, description and origin). It applies whatever VAT scheme you use, IOSS included. Current plans have it running until July 1, 2028.
September 2026
An EU customs reform is adopted
It will make non-EU online sellers and platforms responsible, as importers, for customs on goods they sell directly to EU consumers, with its rules phased in over the coming years.
Late 2026
A handling fee per item
Goods sold directly to consumers from outside the EU are due to carry an EU handling fee per item from late 2026. Unlike the flat duty, it also covers parcels above €150.
July 2028
Import VAT moves to the seller
Sending low-value parcels to EU consumers without IOSS will, as a rule, make the import VAT your liability rather than your customer's. Normal duty rates are also due to take over from the flat duty around then.

And if you use IOSS?

IOSS lets you charge the customer's EU VAT at checkout and report it in one monthly return, instead of the VAT being charged when the parcel is imported. For a US seller it comes with its own overhead:

You generally have to appoint an EU-based intermediary – businesses based in the US are not exempt.
It covers VAT only. The flat duty applies either way.
Consignments above €150 can't use it; they go through normal import clearance.

What the parcel rules don't touch: genuine stock

The new parcel rules target goods sold while they are still outside the EU. Inventory you bring over in bulk and clear before anyone buys it follows the ordinary import rules instead: your product's normal duty rate plus import VAT, due when the shipment is cleared – and no flat parcel duty.

One catch: pre-sold orders don't count. Goods a customer had already bought before they were imported are distance sales in the EU's eyes, even if they come in on the same shipment as your inventory.

Customs duty

Do US goods pay customs duty in the EU?

There is no EU–US free trade agreement. Since July 1, 2026, however, the EU has applied a 0% customs duty to many US-origin industrial goods, and better access for certain food and seafood products, under an EU regulation that implements the 2025 EU–US Joint Statement.

To benefit from it:

The goods must be of US origin, and the importer must be able to prove it.
According to Commission guidance, they must be shipped directly from the US – or stay under customs supervision if they pass through another country.
Goods made elsewhere and only shipped from the US do not qualify.

The measure is time-limited and can be suspended, and import VAT still applies. Check the current rate for your tariff code in TARIC before you ship, and agree with your customs agent what proof of origin they need.

Made in Asia, sold by a US brand?

Duty follows origin – where the goods were made, not where they ship from. Products made outside the US don't get the 0% rate for US-origin goods, even if they pass through your US warehouse. Their duty is set by their tariff code and the country where they were actually made, and certain products from certain countries also face extra duties, anti-dumping duties for example. Since shipping them via the US doesn't change their origin, your EU stock can also go to Gothenburg straight from the factory.

How to look up your rate

Pin down the commodity code of each product.
Check the duty for that code and origin, free of charge, in TARIC (the EU's tariff database) or the Commission's Access2Markets tool (My Trade Assistant). Swedish Customs offers the same data in its Tulltaxan search.
Percentage duties are worked out on the customs value – as a rule, the goods' value plus freight and insurance as far as the EU border. Import VAT is charged separately.
Not sure which code fits? Your customs agent can advise. You can also apply for a Binding Tariff Information (BTI) decision, generally valid for three years throughout the EU.

Before the first container

Selling in the EU as a US company: what to set up first

Four things to have in place before your first bulk shipment leaves for Sweden. Work on them in parallel rather than one after another.

Customs: an EU agent lodges the declaration

As a US company, you generally can't lodge the EU import declaration yourself: Swedish Customs states that a business established outside the EU cannot be the declarant, apart from limited exceptions. An EU-established customs agent files it for you, declaring in the agent's own name (indirect representation), under a power of attorney you agree before the goods ship.

That agent can be one of our customs partners. We line up the clearance of your bulk shipment with them, and they can lodge the import declaration for you as your customs agent. Your agent will also tell you whether your company needs an EORI number of its own for this import. If it does, you apply in the EU country of your first customs activity that requires one; for a first import through Sweden, that means Swedish Customs (Tullverket), at no charge.

Have ready for each shipment:

Commercial invoice and packing list
Bill of lading or air waybill
A commodity code per product
Proof of US origin, if you claim the 0% rate

EORI numbers for non-EU brands

EU VAT: a Swedish registration plus OSS

A US company selling to consumers from Swedish stock will normally need a Swedish VAT number and charge Swedish VAT on sales in Sweden. Sweden's small-business VAT exemption doesn't apply to businesses based outside the EU.

VAT agent. Unless an exception applies, a company owing Swedish VAT with no Swedish establishment must have a VAT agent (ombud) approved by Skatteverket, the Swedish Tax Agency. For a US company, treat it as part of the plan and get it confirmed by Skatteverket or your tax advisor.
Sales in Sweden go in your Swedish VAT return.
Sales to other EU countries carry each customer's own VAT rate, as a rule from the first sale – the €10,000 distance-selling threshold doesn't help businesses outside the EU. The One Stop Shop, registered in Sweden, lets you declare that VAT in one place; without it you would normally register in each country.
Import VAT on your inbound stock normally goes in your Swedish VAT return and is deducted there, to the extent you have a right to deduct – provided your Swedish VAT registration is in place at the time of the customs decision. Otherwise it is paid to Swedish Customs.
Marketplace sales can work differently: the marketplace may be treated as the seller for VAT on those sales.

You do the registering; we walk you through it and can put you in contact with accounting partners.

Read the EU VAT guide for non-EU sellers

An EU responsible person and EU-ready labels

Under the EU's General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), someone established in the EU – an economic operator – has to be responsible for each consumer product before it can be placed on the EU market. Your US company doesn't qualify, so have one in place before any stock is shipped: an EU importer, or an authorized representative holding a written mandate from you.

Show their name plus a postal and an electronic address in every online listing, and on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document.
CE marking only where EU product legislation provides for it – toys, electrical and electronic equipment, machinery, personal protective equipment and medical devices, for example. Other products must not carry the CE mark.
Safety information and instructions that consumers can easily understand, in a language each EU country decides for sales there; for Sweden, that is Swedish.

Labels or inserts missing for the EU? We can relabel products and add inserts in the warehouse.

A store connection and an EU returns flow

On Shopify, our ready-made integration brings orders in automatically, keeps your store's stock levels in sync and pushes tracking back. Selling on another platform or a marketplace? That connection runs via API.

Plan returns around EU consumer rules. EU consumers who buy online can generally change their mind within 14 days, no reason needed, counted as a rule from the day the goods arrive. Under EU rules that member states must apply from June 19, 2026, shops selling through a website or app must also offer a clearly labeled online withdrawal function.

Returns come back to our warehouse in Sweden, where we receive and inspect them and restock approved items.

How the Shopify connection works

Plan your EU setup with us

Time zones

Working with a Swedish 3PL from US time zones

Our team works in English on Central European Time (UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer). How much of your working day overlaps with ours depends on which coast you are on.

US East Coast

Usually 6 hours behind Sweden

Swedish afternoons overlap with East Coast mornings, which is when calls are easiest to fit in.

US West Coast

Roughly 9 hours behind Sweden

Little overlap in normal office hours, so the day-to-day works best in writing, with calls booked in advance.

What does need planning is replenishment. EU stock usually crosses the Atlantic by sea, which takes weeks, so reorder before you run low – especially ahead of your busiest season.

What runs without overlap

Orders from your store reach us automatically and are picked and packed the same day.
On Shopify, stock levels and tracking numbers go back to your store automatically.
Real-time stock visibility, so you can see what is on the shelf without asking.
One dedicated contact person for your account, working in English.

Hisings Kärra, where our warehouse is, lies near the Port of Gothenburg, Sweden's largest port, which handles more than half of Sweden's container traffic. Still deciding between Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany? Compare EU fulfillment locations.

US brands ask

EU fulfillment questions from US brands

Do I charge sales tax or VAT on orders to EU customers?

EU VAT. From stock in Sweden, you charge Swedish VAT on sales to consumers in Sweden and, as a rule, the VAT rate of each customer's country on sales to consumers in other EU countries – from the first sale. The One Stop Shop lets you report those other-country sales in one return. Your US sales tax position is a separate question for your US advisor.

Can I keep fulfilling US orders from the US?

Yes. Your stock in Sweden serves your EU customers, and your US warehouse or 3PL keeps shipping to US customers. With two warehouses, your store has to route each order to the right one, so settle that before launch. Customers in Great Britain, Norway or Switzerland can be reached from the Swedish stock too, but those shipments are exports from the EU and go through customs.

Do I need to set up a company in the EU?

Not necessarily. The setup on this page is built for a business with no EU establishment: a Swedish VAT registration, with a VAT agent approved by Skatteverket that you should plan for; an EU customs agent who lodges your import declaration on your behalf; and an EU responsible person for product safety – an EU importer or an authorized representative. You can also route the import through a company established in the EU, such as a group company. Ask your tax advisor which route fits.

Can I still use IOSS for parcels I keep sending from the US?

Yes, for those parcels. IOSS is optional and covers consignments worth up to €150 sent from outside the EU directly to EU consumers, and a US seller generally needs an EU-based intermediary to use it. Orders that leave your Swedish stock aren't imports, so IOSS plays no part in them. And since July 1, 2026, the low-value parcels you send from the US also pay the flat customs duty, whichever VAT scheme you use.

Shipping from somewhere else? For Canadian brands · For Australian brands · For UK brands

Ready to stock Europe from Gothenburg?

Start with three facts: what you sell, where it is made and how many EU orders you ship today. That is enough for an itemized, no-obligation quote.

Get a quote See how pricing is structured