Any experience about importing goods to the UK from Poland?

Does anybody have experience with importing goods form Poland to the UK?

I'll be driving to the UK in a couple of weeks with a large empty van and thought i may as well take some orders from Polish shops etc and load up the van with produce to sell in the UK.

I just had a look at HM Revenue & Customs and its quite confusing.

Any assistance / advice would be appreciated.

in what way.

Post an add on the internet, maybe somebody will be interested to use your service.

Its hard to specifically find the information i need, its all international (in or out of EU) import/export. That tells me that its free movement within EU but i'd obviously like to be sure before i get to Calais.


I may do that, i expect there are distribution centers set up in the UK for Polish produce, even so im sure i could undercut them.

I will get in touch with my sis, she exports to EU on regular basis, so she should know. Will let you know.

That is what European Union is all about, isn't it?
Free movements of people and goods, right?

Just tell them it is all for personal use.

she exports to France and there is NO duty on good, not there should be any for other EU countries.

cheers, what about cigarettes and alcohol though?

Have a look here: hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingeu.htm

Basically: "For excise goods such as alcohol and tobacco, there are no restrictions. However you must meet the conditions below:

* You transport the goods yourself.
* The goods are for your own use or as a gift. If the person you give the goods to pays you in any way (including reimbursing you for any expenses or payment in kind), then it's not a gift and the goods may be seized.

* The goods are duty and tax paid in the EU country where they were acquired."

In the bold print might lay the problem.

You haven't got a chance of importing more than the guidelines with a white van - you're going to get pulled in Dover regardless. Even importing the guidelines in a white van is dodgy.

If you want to import those things, pay the tax - but you've got no chance of making any profit with paying not only UK excise tax, but Polish excise tax too.


There is no duty, but as I recall, you still have to have some paperwork showing where the goods are being exported and imported to - it's not just as simple as loading a van with goods to re-sell.

Thanks for that link, exactly what i was looking for.

So basically as long as its not excise goods namely tobacco or alcohol you can take what you want. I would be more inclined to bring back food anyway.


It could be, i dont see anything to suggest otherwise. As long as you run the profits through a company and pay the taxes no probs. The goods purchased would have had VAT and tax paid on them anyway. As mentioned above thats what the EU is all about.

Would there be a possibility that they'd want to see invoices for the goods under a company name? Would you refund the VAT in Poland?

I'm curious, have never brought anything over the border commercially.

The laws are different for commercial importation though - I seem to believe

Best bet would be to ask on trucknet.org.uk - they're quite knowledgeable on there, and there's one guy called onys from Poland who might know more.

business-int.com/categories/vat-legislation/understanding-vat.asp explains it quite well :)

that is correct.

Be aware that for any animal products (including cheese, honey etc) you need to have the paperwork - namely a Trade Identification Document that states the Polish producers' veterinary number. It's not needed for small imports for personal use, but they look for it for larger consignments. And in my experience, shops and wholesalers demand it too.

I import from pl myself and to be honest what youre trying to do has been tried and done by lots of others before you

the problems you will face are which items to buy, where to buy from, who to sell to and at what price...even today i was talkin to a guy who wants to do it.

First you will need to pay for the goods yourself, i doubt any shop would pay upfront for a guy to bring them in a van... I pay proforma but then i use an established company and a proper spedition firm with all relevent CMR docs

you will not be able to bring back the big money spinners, alcohol and fags, you will no doubt get pulled at dover in a normal white van then checked

also there are cash and carries already all over the uk selling polish goods, they have everything under one roof not to mention buying power so shops will know they can rely on them for stock whereas you may only have a few bits

I agree you could be cheaper but then youd only get £3-4k worth of stock in a sprinter sized van...is it worth the outlay, the trouble of selling it etc for the minimal margins u may make

5 years ago people were making shedloads of money bringin food and drink over in vans cos pl food was new to the uk and there werent so many wholesalers in the uk. I wish i started it then!

if you have any mates with shops in the uk you may be able to buy on their behalf i guess

you will also be paying pl vat at on your purchases cos chances are u dont have a foreign vat number so you will buy something for say 40p + vat @ 22% wheres i will buy it vat free and have a pallet delivered to the uk for 60 euros. Would you still be cheaper? even if you are is it worth the hassle?

I buy free of vat from pl as i have a uk limited company and a uk vat number, i fly out every few weeks for a day or so pick an order and get it delivered. Obviously not every buyer does that. You will already be 22% more expensive after you pay vat then u will need to cover your diesel, ferry, profit etc so you may need to markup your goods by say 70% at which price you will be about the same as one of the uk wholesalers

YOu may get lucky and find a shop willing to work with you

the most expensive goods in the uk at the moment which hardly anybody is supplying are magazines and medicines...u need a lot of money and a good network to sell them tho

also there are spedition websites where people are advertising return loads from pl to uk everyday

If u need any more info let me know

it may be worth your while going into some shops and asking them but im sure theyd wanna see a price list first and even after youve brought the goods into the uk theres no guarantee theyd buy them!

hope you can understand all that its a bit of a mess, im not trying to put u off just giving u a insight from the other side...hope it works for u watever u do

pudliski55
Cheers for the info.

I'm not really looking to start a business out of this, the fact is i have a long wheel base van traveling empty to the UK in a couple of weeks and it seems a waste not to use it.


Thats the most important aspect of making money - TIMING. The best idea isnt worth a thing if the timings out. In terms of missed opportunities i wish i was in recruitment when i first met my Polish wife, 2004-2006 would have been great years. I thought about it in 2002 but didn't follow through damn it..

hi,i just joined polishforums in the last few months,and i just came across your posts about driving your empty van over to the uk from poland,are you going to be doing this again at any time in the near future? as i would be interested in contacting you and going into more detail,i would be interested in some products,

I'm not smuggling cigarettes for you.

I am looking to take on an exclusive distribution to the uk for a company in Poland and I have a meeting next week with the manufacturers. Is there anything that I need to be aware of in respect of a cultural or tax nature. Any help would be appreciated