Unfortunately, I can currently only ship the RCT to nine EU countries, despite the fact that we supposedly have a unified European single market.
This single market exists only in theory and is practically blocked by a multitude of absurd laws. Small businesses and individual developers like myself are particularly affected by this.
The unified European single market is hindered by something as mundane as a cardboard box. Yes, you read that right, a cardboard box. We’re not talking about shipping dangerous goods, just a cardboard box.
To put it simply: If you want to ship something commercially to another country, packaging waste is generated in that country (usually the product and shipping packaging). This packaging waste must be licensed with a local recycling system in that country (in Germany, for example, the „Duale System“ / „Green Dot“).
It sounds simple, but it’s cumbersome and expensive. First of all, each of the 27 EU countries has its own implementation of the EU directive, and many countries don’t even offer an English-language website for registration, yet they impose hefty fines for non-registration.
In two-thirds of the countries, there is an annual minimum fee and a volume-based fee starting from the first box. The price range is from about 30 EUR per year (e.g. Germany) to several hundred euros per year. Additionally, there are a few euros per kg of packaging material and possibly a one-time registration fee. An overview can be found, for example, here.
And as if that weren’t expensive enough, some countries even require a local representative, a notarially appointed „authorized representative,“ to report the total amount of packaging material delivered.
One might think that the EU would strive to harmonize this madness, but quite the opposite: Until 2023, for example, Austria allowed licensing for a 12 EUR annual minimum fee plus volume charges. Since 2023, it’s 195 EUR for registration and 130 EUR annually for volume charges, plus 20 EUR system costs and the actual costs per kg of packaging, along with notarial costs of over 100 EUR. A joke? No, reality, as seen here for Austria and a few other countries.
There are now so-called licensing services that handle registration and reporting – of course – for a fee. Costs of several hundred euros per country are common (e.g. 449 EUR per year and country). This is not a viable alternative. Many small retailers have stopped shipping to other European countries in recent years. As a result, many interesting products are no longer available across Europe.
However, some users have found a solution to this problem by obtaining a German shipping address. As seller, I ship to a clearly German address, and the shipping service provider forwards the package on behalf of the customer.
I would love to ship directly to you, as we used to be able to do within the EU, but unfortunately, this cumbersome and incomprehensible interim solution is now required in an allegedly unified EU single market.
For more details on shipping arrangements, please inquire with the respective shipping service providers. You organize the onward transport from the providers to you yourself.
A few well-known shipping service providers are:
- mailboxde.de (worldwide)
- forward2me.com (worldwide)
- logoix.com (worldwide)
- lieferadresse-deutschland.at (Austria)
- grenzpaket.ch (Switzerland)
- meineinkauf.ch (Switzerland)
I do not guarantee the quality of these providers, so please do your research before using them. The costs are usually no higher than for direct shipping, as these service providers have special conditions with the transport companies. If you ship via a forwarding service, I also give a 50% discount on the postage costs I calculate.