Cross-border e-commerce

What it means

Cross-border e-commerce means selling goods or services online to customers in other countries. For a Slovak online shop that may mean selling to Czechia, Hungary, Austria or the whole EU, and beyond.

It offers growth beyond the small home market but brings new duties: VAT in the customer's country, translated website and terms, local payment methods, shipping and returns, and compliance with the buyer's consumer law.

Within the EU, uniform VAT rules apply to distance sales, simplified through OSS. Selling to or from non-EU countries adds customs duty and declarations, and for low-value consignments also IOSS.

How it works in practice

Once the common EU distance-selling threshold is exceeded, the shop must charge the customer's country VAT. Instead of registering in each country it can join OSS and declare tax for all countries quarterly in Slovakia.

Consumer prices are shown including the relevant country's VAT, so the shop needs rate settings by delivery country. The accounts must split sales by country and rate.

Selling abroad requires adapting terms, the complaints policy and withdrawal information. Consumers are protected by their home law even if the shop chooses Slovak law.

What to watch out for

The geo-blocking regulation forbids refusing customers from other EU countries merely because of where they are from. A shop need not deliver everywhere but must allow purchases with collection in a country it delivers to.

A common oversight is environmental obligations, such as packaging or e-waste registration in the destination country. Extended producer responsibility applies to foreign sellers too.