Ireland is the destination that catches people out, because the distance says domestic and the paperwork says export. Parcel2Go's own Ireland page prices five services and the cheapest is £8.39 on Evri Ireland Standard Parcelshop, read on 10 September 2026, which is more than twice the cheapest UK domestic parcel price on the same market's grids. The difference is not distance. It is that every parcel now needs a customs declaration.
What a courier to Ireland costs on the published page
£8.39 is the cheapest of five services on the page, and it is a drop-off product: you take the parcel to a shop rather than have it collected, which is what keeps it at that figure. Parcelforce publishes an Ireland directory page with service and customs detail and no price. For comparison, the cheapest published UK domestic parcel in this record is £3.04 with Evri and £3.95 with Royal Mail online, so Ireland costs roughly double a domestic parcel for a shorter journey than many domestic ones.
Northern Ireland is a different question again
Great Britain to Northern Ireland is priced domestically by most carriers and this record's cheapest published figure for it is £3.04, but goods moving that way still meet the Windsor Framework arrangements, and what is required depends on what the goods are and who is sending them. A parcel between private individuals is treated differently from a business consignment, and the carrier's own guidance is where to check which you are.
Pallet delivery to Ireland
Above the parcel bands this becomes a pallet or groupage job, quoted per consignment. Nothing in this record publishes a pallet price, but the customs position is the same one: an entry per consignment, and a vague description holds the whole pallet rather than one box. For a business sending regularly, the paperwork is the part worth systematising rather than the rate.
Duty, VAT and the small-consignment problem
Irish import VAT applies to goods arriving from Great Britain and duty may on top depending on origin. The carrier collects it with a handling fee, and on a cheap parcel that fixed fee is often larger than the tax. It is the single most common cause of a recipient refusing a parcel from Britain, and choosing delivered duty paid is the way a sender avoids it.
Questions people ask about parcels to Ireland
How much does it cost to ship to Ireland from UK?
Parcel2Go publishes £8.39 on its own Ireland page, the cheapest of five services it prices there, on a ParcelShop drop-off product, read on 10 September 2026.
Why is Ireland more expensive than sending within the UK?
Customs, not distance. Every parcel needs a declaration, and the cheapest published UK domestic parcel in this record is £3.04 against £8.39 to Ireland.
Is Northern Ireland priced as domestic?
By most carriers yes, and this record's cheapest published figure for it is £3.04. Goods moving from Great Britain still meet the Windsor Framework arrangements, which differ for private and business senders.
Who pays Irish import VAT on a parcel?
The recipient, unless the sender chooses delivered duty paid. The carrier's handling fee is often larger than the tax itself on a cheap parcel.
How much is shipping from Ireland to UK?
No company in this record publishes a price for that direction. Every figure here prices a leg that starts in the UK, including the Ireland page the cheapest service above was read from, so an inbound quote has to be booked and paid for in Ireland. UK import VAT and any duty then fall on the recipient here.