From 5 November 2026 we've paused direct delivery to the European Union, and to Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino. It wasn't an easy call, so I wanted to explain it properly.
What changed
This year the EU brought in three changes for parcels sent from outside the EU:
- A flat customs duty of €3 on every small parcel, from 1 July 2026.
- A €2 customs handling fee on top, from 1 November 2026.
- New packaging rules, from 12 August 2026. Any business outside the EU that posts packaged goods to customers now has to register its packaging, join a recycling scheme and appoint a paid local representative in every EU country it delivers to.
The duty and the fee we could work around. The packaging rules are the problem. They're charged per country, not per parcel, so a business sending a handful of orders to a country pays much the same as one sending thousands. For a small UK brand like ours, doing that properly across the countries we've shipped to would cost more each year than those orders bring in. The only way to cover it would be to put prices up for everyone in Europe, and we didn't want to do that.
What it means for you
- Orders already placed will be delivered as normal.
- UK customers, including Northern Ireland: nothing changes.
- US, Canada and the rest of the world: nothing changes. We still ship tracked from the UK.
- EU customers: you can't check out on draaft.co.uk for now. If you need help with an existing order, warranty or spare part, email info@draaft.co.uk and we'll sort it.
How we plan to come back
We'd much rather sell in Europe properly than not at all. The plan is to work with bike shops and stockists in Europe, who can bring Draaft into their country and handle the local rules for their own shop. We'll list them here as they come on board.
If you run a bike shop and would like to stock Draaft, email info@draaft.co.uk. And if you're a rider in Europe, tell your local shop about us.
When our European orders grow enough to cover the cost of doing it right, we'll look again at delivering direct, starting country by country.
Thanks for your support, and for riding with Draaft.
Luke
Founder, Draaft
