Hello ; At first, let me thank you for the time taken to write for us here. About the shipping methods, it changes depending on countries regulations and customs rules, for some countries only DHL is available but it could be solved as sooner as we get a safe and secured shipping service. For the UK here are the possible delivery options : **To** <span class="highlight"></span> **UNITED KINGDOM** **via** *   **DHL Express Priority**  **€13.74**2-4 business days *   **DHL Express Standard**  **€12.10**4-6 business days *   **FedEx International Priority**  **€8.17**6-8 business days *   **DHL Express Priority (DDP)**  **€20.17**2-4 business days *   **GB Special Air Mail(RoyalMail)**  **€4.39**12-16 business days

@MikeDB, "As all orders going to the UK after January 1st have to have duty prepaid or they will be returned/binned..." Could you post a link to where you found this information please? Thanks

It was on the gov.uk website but has been removed in the past few days, possibly as a result of the EU agreement as it will need rejigging for EU countries but probably not for China.   Most of the details are here : [https://tamebay.com/2020/06/hmrc-propose-scrapping-uk-vat-free-imports-force-marketplaces-collect-vat.html](https://tamebay.com/2020/06/hmrc-propose-scrapping-uk-vat-free-imports-force-marketplaces-collect-vat.html)<br> <br> Note the key change that all goods are not non-VAT exempt. The gov.uk page did say that goods arriving without duties pre-paid would simply be returned to sender as the effort to collect VAT on something costing under £15 wasn't worth it.  Above that it depended on if the receiver was registered for VAT, in which case they would pass it, or not (which I imagine most people here aren't) it would be returned.  Obviously individual Chinese companies not on eBay/AliExpress/etc would find it offputting to register for UK VAT so having the couriers do it for was deemed acceptable.

@MikeDB, Thanks. I wonder how many people are going to get caught out by that and many of the other improvements to UK trade that Brexit is bringing to help Britain prosper mightily? ;)

Hi! This is the same problem in my country. And I assume that the problem is all around in Europe as Finland belongs to EU. This is the first time this year when I have needed to pay taxes and import duties from JLCPCB and LCSC orders and it was not cheap! So, please try to get the cheaper prepaid DHL working as soon as possible, thanks! Regards, Markus Virtanen HW / Electronics Designer

@markus_jidoka, Maybe the new China - EU trade deal will  help?

@markus_jidoka @andyfierman The cheapest option here in the UK was called Europacket.  This prepaid the customs duty (which suspiciously was less than the DHL option charged) and arrived reliably within 10 days via Royal Mail.   I don't think any trade deal will help matters - VAT is always chargeable and I don't mind that, it's just the inflated service charges that some carriers add for collecting this that annoys me.

I don't know why but it looks like only DHL is now being used for deliveries to the UK by a lot of online retailers.

@andyfierman  I know.  DHL truly are the worst of the worst so no idea why so many use them.  I hate to admit it but I now buy a lot of stuff via Amazon simply because their deliveries are so much more reliable.

Not saying much but from my experience DHL are still better than Hermes... Maybe DHL are just better prepared and have seized the opportunity. Oh. Just looked up Europacket. Owned by DHL.

@andyfierman Ah yes, I'd forgotten Hermes.  They're so bad I don't even consider using them. Didn't know that about Europacket.  Odd that it always arrived by Royal Mail.  Maybe DHL just did the exporting from China and then handed over to local carriers.    But still a good service at low cost which is sadly missed.  Next order is going to cost me a fortune (once JLCPCB get a certain component back in stock - but that's a different thread !)