International Shipping and Why we are being honest about it

A Note to Our International Community

If you’re an international customer, you’ve likely noticed that shipping costs can feel high, or that they seem to shift. I want to talk about that openly, because you deserve more than a vague policy page.

The Reality of Borders

Every order we send outside the UK carries duties and VAT. These aren’t fees we’re adding to pad a margin; they’re regulated costs tied to moving goods across borders. While we don’t control the tax man, we’ve made a conscious choice about how we handle them:

We make sure that what you see at checkout is the final price you pay.

We’ve worked hard to set up our shipping so that no surprise invoices or import tax bills show up at your door. We believe that when you’re waiting for a parcel, you should be excited for the yarn inside, not dreading a "fees due" note from the courier.

Finding the Balance

What you might not see is how much of those costs we absorb behind the scenes. We genuinely try to keep international shipping as accessible as possible. Sometimes, more often than is comfortable to admit, that means we aren’t making a profit on an order. We fullfil them at a loss because we believe in this community and don't want geography to be a barrier.

That isn’t a sustainable long-term position, and we know that. We are constantly, quietly, looking for that middle ground: a place where international shipping is fair for you and sustainable for us.

Why We Keep Trying

To our international customers who have stayed with us through the costs and the changes: thank you. Roel and I feel that support deeply. It’s the reason we keep trying to solve these logistics puzzles instead of quietly closing the door on international orders altogether.

We’ll get there. And we’ll keep being honest with you along the way.

Aileen Yarn Atelier