£135 or less: no duty, and the store must charge 20% VAT at checkout.
Over £135: you pay import VAT and any duty to the delivery company before it delivers (or when you collect the parcel), plus its handling fee. Import VAT is 20% of the items, shipping (postage, packaging and insurance) and any duty added together. Duty on most skin care is 0%.
These are the rules for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). Northern Ireland has different duty rules and isn't covered here.
The £135 rule
One amount decides where you pay: £135. For orders of £135 or less, the store charges UK VAT at checkout and there's no customs duty. For orders over £135, normal import rules apply: VAT and any duty are collected when the parcel arrives. A change has been announced, but it isn't in force yet (see below).
VAT: since 1 January 2021, stores charge it at checkout on orders of £135 or less.Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Customs duty: none on goods worth £135 or less.Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
What counts toward the £135
It's the value of the whole consignment (everything sent to you together), not of each item: the store adds up all the items in it.
It's the price the goods were sold for.
Shipping and insurance count only if included in the price and not shown separately on the invoice. A shipping fee shown on its own line doesn't count.
Other taxes and charges that can be identified don't count either. YesStyle's prices already include VAT. We read this rule as leaving that VAT out, so the calculator takes it off before comparing with £135.
The no-duty limit of £135 uses the same value, for everything in one consignment to one person.
An order worth more than £135 must not be split into several parcels to stay under the limit.
No official page we found says which exchange rate turns a price in US dollars into pounds for this test. This site uses the European Central Bank's reference rates (of 9 October 2026 for the examples below), so a cart close to £135 may land on the other side at checkout.
Value used for the VAT test: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Value used for the duty test: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Orders of £135 or less: VAT at checkout
VAT is 20%, the standard rate for most goods. Cosmetics and skin care aren't among GOV.UK's examples of goods taxed at a lower rate.Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
A store selling to you directly: the seller charges it at checkout. Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
A store that is an online marketplace: the marketplace charges it at checkout, not the seller behind it. Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
This is VAT on the sale, so no import VAT is due at the door, and there's no customs duty.
Shipping: general UK VAT guidance says a delivery charge is taxed like the goods it delivers. No page we found says this also applies under the £135 rule, so treat it as our reading. Olive Young Global and YesStyle both say they add VAT to the shipping fee.Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Olive Young Global VAT on shipping: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
YesStyle VAT on shipping: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
If a store doesn't charge VAT on an order of £135 or less, we couldn't find official guidance on what happens to you, for example whether the delivery company then asks you for it. The calculator doesn't add a charge at the door in that case; it shows a warning. We couldn't confirm whether Stylevana charges VAT at checkout, so its totals below leave VAT out on orders of £135 or less.
Orders over £135: duty and VAT at the door
Import VAT: you pay it to the delivery company (Royal Mail, Parcelforce or a courier) before the parcel is delivered or when you collect it. Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
It's 20% of the items, shipping (postage, packaging and insurance) and any duty added together. Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Where a product pays customs duty, it's charged on the price paid for the items and shipping (postage, packaging and insurance). Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Duty rates for beauty products
The rate depends on the product's commodity code, the customs code for that type of product. Most K-beauty skin care is in the first line.
Code
Products
Duty
Checked
3304 99 00 00
Other beauty and skin care: toners, serums, creams, sunscreen, sheet masks
Skin washes (3401 30 00 00) normally pay 4% duty. Since 18 July 2025, that rate has been suspended to 0%. The suspension covers only liquid or cream hand or skin washes put up for retail sale, and it may not cover kits or sets made up of different products. It has an end date, after which the normal rate returns unless it's renewed. Some cleansing oils and balms may fall under 3304 or 3401 depending on what's in them.
An upgrade to the UK–South Korea trade agreement has been negotiated but, at our last check, it isn't in force yet. It makes no difference to these products today, because their duty rate is already 0%.Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Handling fees
The delivery company pays the VAT and duty for you and adds its own fee. Royal Mail charges £8 for this (Parcelforce: £12).
Royal Mail also says goods valued over £900 need a full customs declaration, with a £25 handling fee. It doesn't say whether that fee replaces the £8 fee or comes on top, whether the value includes postage, or whether it applies to Parcelforce too.
Parcelforce fee: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Full declaration limit: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Full declaration fee: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Couriers such as DHL, UPS and FedEx usually add their own fee for clearing customs. We haven't recorded them yet, so the totals below leave them out and say "at least". Olive Young Global ships to the UK by DHL.Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
If the store already charged VAT
Olive Young Global and YesStyle charge VAT at checkout on all orders to the UK, including orders over £135. On an order over £135, import VAT is also due at the door, so VAT may be charged twice. The examples show the door VAT as a "maybe", not in the total.
Olive Young Global tax at checkout: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
YesStyle tax at checkout: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
YesStyle refunds customs charges you pay at the door as store credit, for orders under US$1,000, if you claim them. You still pay them first. Its policy lists UK VAT as excluded. It doesn't say whether that means only the VAT it charges at checkout or also the import VAT you pay at the door, so the refund may cover only duty and the delivery company's fee.Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
A planned change: low-value imports
The government has announced new rules for low-value parcels. Status at our last check: announced, not in force.
The rule that goods worth £135 or less pay no customs duty: to be removed, by October 2028 at the latest. No date has been set yet.
A new fee on low-value imports: announced, amount not set.
How VAT is collected under the new rules: under consideration.
The government decided against a simplified tariff schedule (a simpler set of duty rates for these parcels).
Until the change takes effect, the rules above apply. For skin care with a 0% duty rate, losing the no-duty rule would add no duty by itself; the new fee would add a cost once it's set.Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
We couldn't confirm whether Stylevana adds tax at checkout for orders to the UK.
Olive Young Global's US$25 shipping fee is its general fee. Its help page doesn't name the UK as an exception, so we assume the fee applies here.
Olive Young Global's pages disagree on whether an order of exactly US$60 ships free ("over" on one page, "or more" on another).
Olive Young Global says VAT is charged at checkout but not whether its prices already include it. We assume it's added on top, as the table and the examples show; a checkout with a UK address would confirm it.
Olive Young Global shipping: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Olive Young Global tax at checkout: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Olive Young Global ships from: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
YesStyle tax at checkout: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Stylevana shipping: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Stylevana tax at checkout: not recorded yet · page read
Stylevana ships from: Last checked: 2026-10-12 · Source
Worked examples
Worked out on 12 October 2026, with ECB exchange rates of 9 October 2026. The cart amount is what your cart shows at the store after coupons, in pounds. The same amount isn't the same basket everywhere: YesStyle's prices already include VAT, while Olive Young Global is taken to add VAT on top (see the note under the stores table). "At least" means part of the total isn't known.
Olive Young Global, cart of £200: over £135, so duty and import VAT apply at the door. Olive Young Global also charges VAT at checkout, so the door VAT is shown as a "maybe": it may be charged twice. Olive Young Global's shipping fees are in USD, so the checkout lines below are in USD too: your £200 cart is US$264.41 at the ECB rate. We haven't confirmed which currency your card is charged in.
Not included: import VAT that may be charged twice and the courier's clearance fee.
See the breakdown
At checkout
Items in your cart
US$264.41
Shipping (DHL)
Free
VAT (20%)
US$52.88
Checkout in GBP
≈ £240.00
At your door
Import duty (0%)
£0.00
Import VAT (20%)May be charged again even though you paid VAT at checkout.
Maybe £40.00
Courier's clearance fee
Not known
Amounts in other currencies are converted at the European Central Bank's reference rates of 9 October 2026. Your card's rate will differ a little.
Olive Young Global's pages disagree on whether you pay in US dollars or in the currency you choose, so the amount on your card can differ a little.
Olive Young Global says it charges VAT at checkout but not whether its prices already include it. We assume it's added on top; if prices already include it, the total is lower by about the VAT on the items.
Couriers usually add their own fee for clearing customs. We don't have a sourced amount for it, so it's left out.