The €2 you’re not getting back: the EU handling fee and Black Friday returns
By Frida Wikingsson, Product Manager, nShift
From November 2026, the EU charges a €2 handling fee per item on orders shipped to EU consumers from outside the EU, and customs keeps it when the item is returned. When we work through returns policies with retailers using nShift Returns, we recommend settling two things ahead of peak trading: who owns that €2 fee and what the customer gets back when they return an item.
Fit is the most common reason UK shoppers send online purchases back, at 57.6%, according to The Ecommerce Returns Opportunity, research IMRG carried out for nShift with 1,000 UK consumers earlier in 2026. A jumper bought in a Black Friday sale and sent back because the sleeves are too long is an ordinary return. If it was shipped into the EU from outside, the €2 handling fee paid when it entered is not repaid when it comes back.
What is the EU handling fee?
The Union handling fee is a fixed €2 charge per item on online orders shipped to EU consumers from outside the EU’s customs territory. It comes from the EU’s new Union Customs Code. The European Commission set the amount at €2 on 21 September 2026, and its customs reform page gives 1 November 2026 as the start date.
- It applies at any order value. The €3 customs duty covers parcels worth €150 or less and runs from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2028. The €2 fee has no value ceiling and continues after the €3 rate ends.
- It is charged per item. An item means goods in one consignment that share a tariff classification, description and origin, declared on one line. Five identical T-shirts are one item, and a T-shirt and a belt are two. Counting every unit as €2 would overstate the cost.
- It is non-refundable. Irish Revenue’s guidance says the fee is not repaid when goods are returned, even when they are faulty.
Whether the fee applies depends on where the parcel ships from. It covers orders shipped from Great Britain to EU customers and from Norway to Sweden, Finland or Denmark. It also covers EU brands that fulfil consumer orders from stock held outside the EU. Our guide explains who owes the EU handling fee and the €3 duty, and how the item count works.
What a fully returned order costs
A UK retailer ships a €60 order to a customer in Germany: a jumper and a pair of trousers, which fall under two tariff classifications. Under the rules that apply from November 2026, that order carries €6 in duty and €4 in handling fees: €10 in fixed charges before VAT. If the customer returns both items, the refund goes out in full and customs keeps the €4 handling fee.
The €6 in duty may not come back either. Irish Revenue says the €3 duty is refunded only when the goods are faulty, and under the Commission’s guidance as of October 2026, returned goods no longer qualify for the shortcut of cancelling the import declaration. Ask your customs specialist which repayment routes still apply to your returns.
For the same two items, the €10 in charges is a third of a €30 basket and under 7% of a €150 one, so a returned small basket costs you the most relative to its value.
Who pays the €2 depends on how you ship
Irish Revenue says the fee is paid by the online seller or by the business delivering the goods, and that either may pass it on to the consumer. Its guidance for shoppers describes two routes: some websites collect the duty and fee at checkout, while on others the courier asks for them at the door.
The two routes match two Incoterms, the International Chamber of Commerce’s standard trade terms. Under Delivered Duty Paid (DDP), you handle import clearance and pay the charges, so the €2 is a cost you absorb or build into your prices. Under Delivered at Place (DAP), clearance usually falls to the customer, and the courier collects the duty and fee before handing over the parcel. Incoterms are written for contracts between businesses: they set who handles clearance, and the customer’s refund rights still come from consumer law.
Where the courier collected the charges at the door, the customer paid the courier directly, so your returns policy should state what you will refund and who the customer contacts about the charges you did not collect.
What the customer is owed after a return
Article 13 of the EU Consumer Rights Directive says that when a customer cancels an online purchase within the 14-day withdrawal period, the trader must refund all payments received from them, including the standard delivery charge, within 14 days. If you add the €2 as a line item at checkout, ask your legal team whether it counts as one of those payments. If it does, you refund the €2 to the shopper and cannot recover it from customs.
Return postage follows a different rule: the EU’s Your Europe consumer guidance lets you ask shoppers to pay return postage after a change of mind, provided you told them before they bought. Returning faulty goods is at your cost. List each amount in the refund message: the goods, delivery and any return postage deducted. The customer should be able to follow their refund without knowing how you handle customs.
Set EU return rules before peak
In IMRG’s review of Black Friday 2025, 60% of retailers in its panel launched their campaigns earlier than in 2024, so set return rules for EU markets before the first promotion goes live.
In their research for nShift, 26.2% of UK consumers consider a return fee fair for international orders. As I wrote in an earlier article here on when retailers should charge for returns, a fee that applies to every return can cost loyalty, so set it by conditions on the order, such as its value or date.
If I could set only one rule for EU peak returns, it would be a basket value above which return shipping is free. Fixed charges take the largest share of small baskets, so the shoppers who pay return shipping are the ones whose orders cost you most to take back, relative to their value.
In September 2026 we added a rule engine to nShift Returns, so retailers can give different orders different return terms. They choose the markets and decide the return fees, return shipping fees and return windows. Each rule can depend on the order’s value, date or refund method, or on a field sent with the order, such as customer group. The matching rule is applied when the customer registers the return, so support teams do not have to work out fees case by case during peak.
For peak, you could also give gifts bought during a campaign a longer return window. Claims for faulty items run as a separate flow, so a fee you set for change-of-mind returns does not apply to them.
Check the numbers and run a test return
- Model the charges on last year’s EU returns, using the correct item count.
- Split full returns from partial ones.
- Keep the costs your business carries apart from the amounts collected from customers.
- Place a test order into one EU market, return it and check that checkout, the returns portal and the refund message show the same amounts.
- Include a faulty-item claim and an order where the courier collected charges at the door.
Before you decide who pays the €2, work out what a repeat order from the same customer is worth to you. Read how return fees and windows work in nShift Returns.
Common questions about the EU handling fee
Is the €2 handling fee refunded when an item is returned?
No. Customs keeps it once the import declaration is accepted, including for faulty goods. Your obligation to the customer comes from consumer law and from what you charged at checkout.
Can retailers pass the handling fee on to customers?
Yes. Irish Revenue says sellers may pass it on to the consumer, either at checkout or through the courier at the door. If you show it as a separate charge, confirm with your legal team whether you must refund it when a customer cancels.
Frida Wikingsson is Product Manager for nShift Returns, where she leads the product roadmap for return fees, return windows and the tools used by warehouse and support teams.
