Member-only story
I Wanted to Sell a Bobble Hat. Apparently I Need an Overseas Office.
How Selling a hat became an international compliance problem.
For friends who are non-members, the full article can be read here.
Here in the English Shires, I make perhaps three or four bobble or beanie hats a week, usually in the evenings while listening to an audiobook. As small businesses go, it’s a tiny micro-operation. Hobby money at most. If I go downstairs to make a cup of tea, production completely stops.
Occasionally, I might offer a finished hat for sale. Someone gets something warm to wear, I recover a little money for replacement wool, and there is one fewer hat in my spare room. Everybody benefits.
Then I made the mistake of wondering whether I could sell one to somebody located in the EU.
I had imagined putting it in a box, buying the postage online and handing it to the postman. This was an embarrassingly innocent understanding of international trade.
The postage was only the beginning.
First, there are customs details to provide. Fair enough.
What’s in the parcel? A hat.
What’s it worth? Not much.
Is it dangerous? Only if you’ve made some very unfortunate decisions about how to wear it.
