Export Orders

A&K dispatch to some European Countries, we recomened you contact us either by email or phone before placing your order, as due to Brexit this is being updated on a regular basis.

Please be aware A&K will not charge Vat on your order, you will need to pay the Vat and Customs charges before your delivery is made in your own Country. 

DPD will contact you before delivery is made regarding these payments.

The Vat charged is your Country's current Vat rate, and the duties will be calculated and also require paying before your goods are finally delivered. 

DPD will calculate the duties you have to pay when the goods arrive in your Country, but as a guideline, these will be approximately 12% but vary on different products

Brexit: Important Information & FAQs

Export orders must be under £300

Although the UK government has secured a free trade deal with Europe, which means some of your goods may not be subject to additional taxes, depending on the Country of origin of the products you have ordered, duties on some products may be payable. All orders dispatched into Europe and Ireland will now be subject to considerably more documentation. 

All goods will now need to go through the customs clearance process, which involves a significant amount of documentation, A&K Hosiery will prepare this documentation before we dispatch to you.

Please be aware if VAT is applicable on your order, you will be responsible for paying this in your country A&K hosiery will not charge you VAT on your order. As a guideline duties will be approximately 12% but may vary and additional to any Vat due.

DPD will contact you before your delivery is released regarding any VAT or duties that may need to be paid,

FAQ - Brexit

Below we have listed some of the frequently asked questions we are getting since we have now officially left the EU.

We have given some answers below which to the best of our knowledge are correct, but they are for guidance only. 

A&K strongly recommends you should make your own checks in your own country with the relevant authorities. 

A&K will update this page as more information is made clear.

The situation is confusing for a lot of people, A&K is working closely with our accountants, carriers, and advisors to try and make this as clear as possible.

Q&A

Do I need to be VAT registered to purchase from you?

No

Will you be charging VAT on my order.

No, all export goods will be zero-rated from us however in your country you will be required to pay the necessary taxes.

How will I pay these taxes?

Our carriers will contact you once they have your A&K order in your country. You will need to make the payments before our carriers release your order.

How much can I order?

At the moment we are asking customers to keep their orders to a minimum, as we go through this transitional period our Minimum order is £50 and our Maximum for export is currently £300

How will I be notified?

Our carriers will either email you or text you or both. It is important that you look out for these notifications.

What if I do not make the payment.

It is very important that you make this payment if you fail to make the payment within five days our carriers will return the goods to us, and unfortunately you will be responsible for the return carriage to A&K hosiery.

Will I have anything else to pay?

Yes, you may well have duties to pay as well as the VAT before the goods are released.

Why do I need to pay duties when it is a free trade agreement.

Unfortunately, this has confused a lot of people, our understanding is that the free trade agreement only applies to goods that have been manufactured within the EU or the UK.

So what goods will I need to pay duty on? 

Most goods manufactured outside the EU will attract some form of duty i.e. goods from China will incur duty. There are some exceptions to this as some countries outside the European Union and the UK do not have a duty. 

How do I know what goods have a duty as I need to cost the items?

The duty will be calculated according to the commodity codes. A&K hosiery does not currently calculate the duties before the goods have left out Distribution centre, our carriers DPD will let you know the exact duties that need paying. We appreciate this is not ideal and in time we anticipate our website will calculate this for you.

But how will I know how much a particular item has cost?

This is difficult for us to calculate on every product at the moment until our systems are modified, as mentioned above our carriers will let you know the necessary duties but as a guideline duties are currently varying between approximately 2% and 12%.

Do I need an Eori number?

We think You will only need an EORI number if you are VAT registered.

I am already VAT registered.

Our understanding is if you are VAT registered and you have provided A&K with your VAT number then the VAT will not be required to be paid before you receive your order this will be paid at the end of your companies VAT quarter. However, you should confirm this with your accountants.

Please be aware duties will still need to be paid before your order is dispatched from the DPD depot in your country.

Are any goods restricted in my country?

This is possible, we are currently trying to confirm which goods maybe not allowed into your country.

What happens if I have ordered goods which are restricted by my country.

In the event of this and your goods do not reach you because there is a restricted item or items in your delivery, A&K will not incur any carriage charges, if the products are returned to us, A&K will refund you in full.

Your website stated there would be a £15 charge to cover customs and administration is this still the case.

No, we have temporarily decided to suspend this however, it may well be re-introduced at a later stage when our costs of export become more clear.

As mentioned above please note this information may change and only reflects advice we have been given in good faith, it is what we understand to the best of our knowledge. We are working on this constantly to try and make it as clear as possible and help our customers through this transitional period.

If you have any further questions I would please ask you to let us know and we will do our best to update our FAQs

If you are based outside of the UK we now offer a quick delivery service to many European destinations at competitive rates. See delivery charges below for your region.

A&K hosiery offers a Fast Delivery Service to all our European partners at very competitive rates, with daily shipments to Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal,