Recently some questions have come up in regards to shipping charges out of our EU Hub as compared to the US Hub. These questions were based on why the Free Shipping threshold pricing was more expensive in the EU as compared to the US. Then add in VAT and you might believe you would get a better deal by purchasing from the US. We started to get a lot of support emails about the same as well.

While this logic might seem correct, I can assure you there are numerous factors not being considered here and I wanted to point them out. Before doing so though I did want you to also know we have recently upgraded shipping charges to the Free Shipping threshold to make it more inline with both locations so everyone is still happy. Now if you buy $75 worth of product from US or EU Hubs (for most EU countries) you meet the threshold and therefore qualify for free shipping. Some EU and outlying areas of Europe (Estonia Latvia Lithuania Norway Russia Serbia Ukraine) are priced higher, but there is nothing we can do with that.

1. VAT: We pay VAT just like you do. We cannot claim every package, regardless of size, is less than $24. I do realize there are companies doing this, but eventually it will catch up. Getting blacklisted is not an option. The good news here is we pay an average of 9%* and so pass that savings along to you. Its a heck of a lot better than 18-25%.
2. Insurance: By low-valuing orders, t protect you from getting hammered with VAT, we basically render our 3rd party insurance useless. If I ship you out a $200 order that's only valued at $24 and it goes missing, guess how much we get back from insurance? If you said $24 you are correct. But try and tell that to a customer who just lost a $200 order. Its not your fault the package didn't arrive and you don't want to hear anything about how we can only replace $24 worth of the $200. I totally understand this and thank God not many packages do go missing.
3. Shipping: In the EU you get Express Shipping for free at $75 (2-5 days). In the US you get regular mail for that same $75 (30-60 days). If you think by ordering from the US you'll save VAT I can assure you it won't work. We are required to include a ridiculous amounts of paperwork, signed and bonded by me, stating what's in the packaging with official invoices. Maybe that's why some other companies are having difficulties shipping stuff internationally and, to my knowledge, nobody does it as fast or Free like XS does. For each international order shipped it requires 5 pages of documentation for the first product with 2-3 additional pages for each additional product thereafter.
4. Candles/Plastic Bottles: I'm not sure why anybody would think its a good idea to be deceptive with descriptions. We don't do it! I've done probably 80 hours worth of research on how to get products shipped smoothly thru customs and its paid off. You cannot fill a container with gasoline and then claim it as a plastic container-its not, and labeling it as such puts people in danger! An extreme example but the idea is the same. That's why we can ship our orders to Mexico, Brazil and other very tough customs markets. We follow the rules and make every effort to do the right thing. Lots of paperwork, but it gets through. Anyone remember when no orders from any pheromone company were getting thru to Australia? No orders, except XS orders. We did the right thing and all is well.

I am not harping here on what others might or might not be doing, only that we've been through all the scenarios and have been taking steps towards sustainability so whether its next week or next year the orders will get to you quickly with very little VAT or extra charges. Proactive rather than reactive. When we are done getting it right in the EU we have plans for hubs in Asia and Australia. We already are working with a close friend in Hong Kong setting things up (its still maybe a year off) but lots of progress has been made.

Please understand I am doing everything I can to get you to spend more on products than on shipping and other charges. Shipping costs us money as does VAT. There's no getting around it-its money paid to other services out of our hands. So while you might get shipping for free it still costs money and that's the worst part of it, its money that cannot be used for anything like molecule exploration and research.

I love our community and my pledge has always been to be as open as possible to why we do things as a business.

* We actually pay 20%, but its based on manufacturing costs as opposed to retail sales.