Ship to Ireland without an Irish warehouse in 2026

Ireland is an island at the western edge of the EU. For a shop on the continent every parcel crosses the sea; for a shop in Great Britain it crosses a customs border as well. Both show up in the price and the wait. Below: the measured prices, the paperwork for each kind of shop, and a one-box test.

What does a parcel to Ireland cost? #

Irish domestic parcels are not cheap, but they hardly rise with weight. The index does not measure parcels from the UK, so British shops should compare against their own international rate plus the customs costs below. The live numbers for every country are in the European shipping rates index.

Where your shop is decides the paperwork #

Shops in Great Britain

Since Brexit a parcel from England, Scotland or Wales to Ireland is an export from the UK and an import into the EU. Each one needs a customs declaration; Irish VAT at 23% is due on import, the carrier usually charges a handling fee, and since July 2026 the EU charges a €3 customs duty per product type on consignments of €150 or less, explained in the €3 EU customs duty.

IOSS lets you collect that VAT at checkout on consignments up to €150, so the customer is not surprised at the door, but GOV.UK notes that a business in Great Britain must appoint an intermediary to use it. The alternative is to move the customs work from every parcel to one shipment: a single bulk import into Ireland, after which each order is a domestic parcel. The trade-off is set out in IOSS vs holding stock in the EU.

Shops in Northern Ireland

Under the Windsor Framework, Northern Ireland follows EU rules for goods. HMRC’s guidance is plain: declarations are not needed for goods moving directly from Northern Ireland to the EU. You tell HMRC you trade under the framework and put an XI prefix before your UK VAT number on documents for EU customers.

For VAT, sales to Irish consumers are distance sales. Above £8,818 (€10,000) a year to EU consumers you charge Irish VAT, and you can report it through HMRC’s One Stop Shop Union scheme instead of registering in Ireland. For a Belfast shop, cross-border to Ireland is already close to domestic.

Shops in the EU

No customs at all. Sales to consumers in other EU countries stay taxed in your own country until they pass €10,000 a year across all EU countries together; above that you charge Irish VAT on Irish orders and report it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) at home.

Cross-border or from Irish stock: the sum per order #

From Irish stock you pay the Irish label plus the sender’s fee and the platform fee — about €3.10 together for a small parcel, so about €9.37 for a 2 kg order, before the one bulk shipment that brings the stock over.

For a German shop at 2 kg the gap is modest; it grows with weight, because the Irish domestic price barely moves between 2 and 10 kg. For a British shop the saving is less about the label and more about what disappears: a declaration, VAT and a handling fee on every single parcel.

Get the Eircode right #

Ireland has had a postcode since 2015: the Eircode, seven characters such as A65 F4E2. The first three, the routing key, name the postal area; the last four identify the individual property. Eircode itself says over 35% of Irish addresses share their address with at least one other property, which is why the code matters more here than a postcode does in most countries.

Make the Eircode a required field for Ireland at checkout and check it has seven characters. A parcel that cannot be found costs a domestic re-delivery from Irish stock; cross-border it can mean a trip back over the sea.

Which carriers ship domestically in Ireland? #

• An Post — the Irish postal operator. Standard service to the door, up to 10 kg; the sender drops it at a post office.
• UPS — Access Point to Privat, delivered to the door, up to 10 kg, dropped at a UPS Access Point; UPS Standard takes heavier parcels up to 30 kg.

Both deliver to the customer’s home; there is no pickup-point delivery for Ireland on the rate card today. These are the Irish domestic services on AirPost’s shipping options from Ireland. Which ones your sender uses depends on the carriers they have ticked in their profile.

How long does delivery take? #

On 26 September 2026 the shipping options page listed both An Post and UPS at "tomorrow" inside Ireland. Those are the carriers’ own indications, not a promise. A cross-border parcel adds the sea crossing and a hand-over between networks; from Great Britain, customs clearance can add more.

Returns from Irish customers #

EU consumers can withdraw from an online purchase within 14 days, and that includes Irish customers of a British shop. Cross-border, a return goes back over the sea at an international rate — from Ireland to Great Britain, through customs again. For cheap items that often means refund and write-off.

From Irish stock, the return can go to your sender with a domestic label. Senders on AirPost can switch on returns and set a price per return; their profile shows a Returns badge. The sender reports it with five photos; it stays with them until you accept it. More in returns without a warehouse.

Stock in Ireland and Irish VAT #

How this works with AirPost #

1. 1

   Find a sender in Ireland

   On /en/senders you see each sender’s carriers, measured shipping speed and reviews from other shops. Send a request; stock, orders and tracking then run through one conversation.

2. 2

   Send one box

   About a month of Irish orders of one product, with your own packaging. The stock stays yours: ask for it back and it is returned within 14 days.

3. 3

   Connect your shop

   Connect Shopify and pick Ireland and your carrier. Paid Irish orders then go to your sender without you touching them.

4. 4

   Or offer an order to several senders

   Send one order to all your Irish senders at once; whoever picks it up first ships it. The full address, Eircode included, appears only to the sender who picks it up.

5. 5

   The sender packs and drops it off

   They buy the domestic label, hand the parcel to An Post or UPS, and the tracking number lands on the order in your shop.

6. 6

   Lost or damaged in transit

   We file the claim with the carrier and pass the awarded amount on to you in full.

You pay per shipment: the label, the sender’s fee and a platform fee of €0.85. No storage fee, no subscription, no minimum. The full picture is on local fulfilment in Europe.

When it is not worth it #

• ✕A few Irish orders a month: the bulk shipment and an Irish VAT registration cost more than they save.
• ✕A wide catalogue with a few sales per product: stock spread thin sits still.
• ✓A shop in Great Britain with steady Irish orders: one import instead of customs on every parcel.
• ✓Heavier parcels from the continent, where the cross-border price climbs and the Irish one does not.