Believe me, there is nothing I would love more than to make your shopping experience at my shop as easy as possible. But unfortunately I'm not yet able to afford the hefty costs of registering to collect VAT in the EU and the up-keeping of this commitment.

When you order, you will pay the price you see, plus shipping. Then as I understand it: once the product reaches your country's Customs, you will be contacted by them to pay for the VAT, Custom duties fees (for orders from outside of the EU and/or above €150) and possibly an extra handling fee.

These extra fees are for your government, not me, I have no way to calculate this for you, and as I understand it varies from country to country.

Please remember it is your responsibility to:

1. Understand my shop policies and the information of the product you are buying.
2. Provide accurate contact and shipping information.
3. Keep an eye on the tracking.
4. Pay the additional taxes and fees to the relevant authorities.

Abysm Internal won't be responsible for items returned because the carriers or your country’s Customs were unable to contact you or charge you the additional fees.

You can still find some of the same or completely different products on my RedBubble page, the items may be more affordable, the delivery faster and without VAT uncertainties.

I just can't speak for the quality as they have their own printers. They also have their own customer service.

Why, why indeed?

The short answer is always bureaucracy.

In Canada, I just had to register to collect VAT for free, I collect, and I send back to the Canadian Revenue Agency, as a sole trader, for free.

In Europe, I can only collect VAT from you and save you from this hassle if I’m registered as a company and acquire a VAT id or IOSS number, I would have to spend hundreds of euros to hire a professional, then I’d have to pay for the registration itself, then I’d have to pay for both every year for the upkeep of the accounts, and finally I have to also pay the corporate taxes. At this moment doing the VAT registration is a sure way for me to end up living under a bridge.

By the way, one way or another I am also forced to increase the shipping prices in order to be able to pay VAT I get charged by the printers.

The European tax and commerce system seems designed to keep the poor poor, while only established business with numerous employees and a more solid financial situation have a chance of paying for all this, grow and succeed. As a single person I just can't.

No wonder we are in recession.

As an artist/designer/illustrator, I dream for the day when me and other creatives can make enough sales that we can sustain a life with a shop, but the reality is that the current world is crushing and extinguishing individual creatives like me before we even get started, and then AI came into the picture..... yay!

All that said, I still hope that humanity will see the light eventually.

More bureocracy!

Unfortunately, Kimonos don't ship to Germany at the moment due to the necessary papework brought forth by the Germany Packaging Act.

Don’t get me wrong! It’s a great effort with a good cause, but it’s the paperwork and registration what makes things complicated.

My printing partners that make the kimonos have decided against doing it due to the cost and hassle, at least for now.