Dropshipping Legal Compliance in the EU (2026)

GDPR basics for a dropshipping store

If you sell to EU customers, GDPR applies regardless of where you're based. Requirements: a privacy policy, a cookie banner with granular consent, a way for users to request their data or its deletion, and reasonable security for stored data. Shopify + a cookie consent app covers 90% of the requirements. Budget a Saturday to set up correctly.

VAT on EU sales

If you sell to EU consumers from outside the EU (UK or US based), you need IOSS registration for orders under €150 and must charge VAT at destination rate. Shopify handles most of the collection automatically once configured. Keep clean invoices with VAT breakdowns.

EU-based sellers: register for VAT in your home country, charge local rate until you hit the €10,000 distance-selling threshold, then register in other EU countries as you cross thresholds.

Consumer rights: the 14-day withdrawal

EU consumers can return any online order within 14 days of receipt for any reason. You must refund within 14 days of receiving the returned item. Customers pay return shipping unless you advertised "free returns". This is non-negotiable — violating it invites fines and chargebacks.

Product safety markings and restrictions

CE marking is required for electronics, toys, cosmetics, and PPE sold in the EU. Many AliExpress products are not genuinely CE-compliant despite labels. Sell these at your own risk — customs can seize shipments and fines escalate.

Safer categories: apparel (no CE), home non-electric, kitchen, pet, garden, cosmetics with proper labels.

How ImportFlow solves this

Compliance is less about filing paperwork and more about having accurate product data — descriptions that match reality, safety claims that are true, and correct category mapping for VAT and import.

ImportFlow is a purpose-built Shopify product importer that combines AI rewriting, multi-language translation, bulk import, SEO scoring, and scheduled publishing in a single dashboard. You paste a supplier URL, let the AI rewrite titles and descriptions for your market, set your pricing rules, and publish to Shopify — a workflow that normally takes 20-30 minutes per product happens in under a minute.

Stores using ImportFlow typically ship 7-10× more products per week than stores doing manual listings, and those products launch with proper SEO meta fields, Google Shopping categories, and market-specific copy from day one. Start your free trial at importflow.app and see the difference on your next product import.