First, I'll just say this Brexit uncertainty sucks. Secondly, some background: I'm an American in Ukraine with an Ebay.co.uk account (from the years I lived in London, where I have a house I rent out and use for my account address) and Czech bank/PayPal accounts (also from years living there). I've always considered myself as an Earth citizen firstly. My wife and I sell vintage Soviet domestic goods, and our clients are from all over the world (US/UK/France/Italy/Denmark/Germany/Canada/Australia the most, wherever ex-Soviets have settled), but also 20 other countries around the globe. We also sell on Etsy (seems to be the EU one, as we pay to Ireland) and are planning to launch a Shopify store very soon. My conundrum so far is thus; by being in the UK eBay store and shipping from Ukraine, we are comfortable for European customers who are fearful of US postage prices (which also affect their VAT costs) and also comfortable for American buyers, as shipping from Ukraine is often cheaper prices than shipping coast to coast there (we charge actual post costs + PayPal fee for our shipping cost). But with Brexit, the pound fluctuations already noticeable is annoying, but what I am concerned with is losing seamless selling in the EU, even though my items ship from Ukraine (which just signed a trade deal with the UK that is not in effect yet FYI). Is it likely there will be tariff/taxes on items sold to the EU from eBay UK? Should I switch to eBay US? The WTO rules have high tariffs for 'third countries' which the UK has volunteered to become. It really looks like there will be a no-deal Brexit, and corporate friends I know in the EU have all told me that they have already written trade with the UK off, while most international businesses in the UK have already begun moving headquarters/operations to the EU last winter. One former HSBC currency manager friend of mine in HK has even told me they are expecting a complete pound collapse and have prepared for this scenario becoming reality. I've also heard from a trusted source that eBay UK is preparing to move to Ireland for operations to avoid WTO's brutal rules. **bleep** is going on? Is it time to cut UK eBay out of my sales channels?
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