For Dutch webshops selling to Spain
A parcel of Union goods from the Netherlands to mainland Spain or the Balearic Islands needs no customs declaration. Zineps imports the order, applies a Spain rule on your own PostNL, DHL, DPD, GLS, UPS or FedEx contract, and sends tracking updates. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla wait for review, and returns come back through one portal.
Valencia · Rule applied
Rotterdam · Rule applied
Las Palmas · Waiting for review
Example queue. Orders, carriers and statuses are illustrative, not a live account.
A parcel of goods already in free circulation, sent from the Netherlands to mainland Spain, stays inside the EU customs union, so it needs no customs declaration and no import duty. VAT is a separate question: above an EU-wide line of €10,000 a year, excluding VAT, the Spanish rate can apply. Zineps imports the order, applies a Spain carrier rule and creates the label on your own contract.
General information from the sources below, not tax advice and not legal advice. The €10,000 line applies only in the cases the European Commission page describes: one EU country of establishment, the current and the previous calendar year, and distance sales dispatched from that country. It does not cover goods shipped from stock in another EU country, B2B sales with a VAT number, a marketplace that accounts for the VAT, or the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla. Goods subject to excise duty can still count toward that VAT line. The excise duty itself is a separate tax. A seller may choose the customer's country below the line, and that choice then applies for two calendar years. On the Commission's territorial-scope table, mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands follow EU customs, VAT and excise. The Canary Islands stay inside the EU customs territory and outside EU VAT and excise. Ceuta and Melilla are outside EU customs, EU VAT and EU excise. Goods sent there from the Netherlands are subject to export formalities. Check that table before you open those lanes.
Sources for this page:
The carriers you already use, with a Spain rule on top
Zineps is shipping software for webshops in the Netherlands and Belgium. Label creation, tracking updates and the returns portal sit beside PostNL, DHL, DPD, GLS, UPS and FedEx, so mainland Spain is one more destination rule in the same queue rather than a second carrier portal with copied addresses.
The problem
Spain is a large consumer market, and the first Spanish orders often ride on the Dutch carrier setup. Union goods to mainland Spain need no customs declaration, but someone still has to choose the carrier, watch the €10,000 EU VAT line and give a return a label without an email thread. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla are a separate check. Zineps does not do VAT or packaging.
The carrier set up for the Netherlands also takes the Spanish parcels, because changing it per country means changing the shop. Nobody compared PostNL, DHL, DPD or GLS on Spanish lanes, and the exception is made by whoever is packing that day.
A Spanish address falls into one of three customs and VAT regimes: mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, or Ceuta and Melilla. A checkout that only asks for a postcode lets a Tenerife order slide into the mainland lane. The VAT line has no owner either: the shop, the accountant and the warehouse can each assume someone else watches the €10,000 total. Zineps does not calculate it.
For many online purchases, an EU consumer can withdraw within 14 days of delivery. Some goods are excluded, and return postage sits with the consumer unless the shop says it pays. Without a portal the Spanish customer emails, and the label is made by hand.
The €10,000 line
Since 1 July 2021 one EU-wide threshold of €10,000 a year, excluding VAT, covers intra-EU distance sales of goods to consumers plus cross-border TBE services, when the seller is established in only one EU country and the total stays under the line this calendar year and the previous one. Above it, the customer's country sets the VAT, and the Union One-Stop Shop can report that in one return. Goods shipped from stock in another EU country sit outside the line. Zineps does not calculate VAT.
Under €10,000 a year
While the threshold still applies, home-country VAT can stay on distance sales dispatched from the one EU country where you are established. TBE means telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services, and those supplies count toward the same line. The shipping work is the carrier: a rule sends orders for mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands to the carrier and service you chose, by destination, weight or the promise made at checkout. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla wait for review. Zineps does not decide whether you are under the line.
Above €10,000 a year
Above the line, the customer's country sets the VAT on distance sales to consumers in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands. The Agencia Tributaria states that the general IVA rate is 21%, the reduced rates in force are 10% and 4%, and a 0% rate applies to certain operations. Which rate your products fall under is for your accountant. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla are outside this €10,000 case. Zineps keeps orders to mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands easy to pick out. The OSS return stays in your accounting tools.
What you get
Zineps imports orders, applies carrier rules by destination country, creates labels on your own carrier contracts, sends tracking updates and runs the returns portal from one queue. VAT calculation, OSS filing and packaging-scheme registration stay with your shop and accountant. They are not shipping features, and this page does not claim them.
Orders from Shopify, WooCommerce, bol.com and Amazon land in one queue, so a Spanish label starts from the order instead of a copied address.
A rule sends parcels for mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands to the carrier and service you chose, by destination, weight or the promise made at checkout. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla stay off that rule until your team reviews them. Changing the rule does not mean changing the shop.
Create the label for PostNL, DHL, DPD, GLS, UPS or FedEx from the same queue. Which services each carrier offers to Spain is confirmed with the carrier.
When the label is created, the tracking update goes to the customer and back to the shop. Support stops reading a carrier page out loud.
The customer starts the return, a label is created, and your team sees the status next to the original order. Return options from Spain depend on your carrier contract and are reviewed on a demo.
Bring the contracts you already have. Rates, Spanish service levels and delivery options come from your contract, not from Zineps.
Tracking updates
Your shop
Order #10482
Tracking update sent. Example status, not a live order
Example tracking update sent to the shop and the customer.
Getting started
Shipping to mainland Spain in Zineps starts when orders are imported from your webshop. A carrier rule decides which carrier and service a Spanish parcel gets, Zineps creates the label on your own contract and sends tracking updates to the customer, and returns come back through the same portal. VAT stays in your shop and accounting. Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla addresses wait for review.
01
Shopify, WooCommerce, bol.com or Amazon. Orders are imported into one queue.
02
Bring the carrier accounts you already use. Check with each carrier which services they offer to Spain.
03
Decide which carrier and service a Spanish parcel gets, and which orders, such as the Canary Islands, wait for review before they ship.
04
Labels are created, tracking updates go out, and the returns portal stays on the same queue.
How a Spanish parcel gets its carrier
A carrier rule decides what happens to a Spanish parcel before anyone opens it. The example below illustrates that logic for a Dutch webshop. It is not a live account, not a customer result and not a statement about what any carrier offers.
Example rules
The same queue as your other destinations
Say a Dutch webshop sends some of its parcels to mainland Spain. Today the carrier is whatever the shop was set up with for home orders. With a rule, the order is imported, matched to mainland Spain or the Balearic Islands and sent to the carrier and service you chose after comparing, for example, DPD and DHL on those parcels. An address in Palma de Mallorca stays on that rule. An address in Las Palmas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Ceuta or Melilla is not on that rule, so it waits for review.
Tracking updates go to the customer from that same queue. If the parcel comes back, the returns portal is the one your team already uses. Which services apply to your carrier account is reviewed on a demo.
01 IfNetherlands, home delivery
ThenPostNL
02 IfMainland Spain or the Balearics
ThenThe carrier you chose
03 IfCanary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla
ThenWaits for review
04 IfCustomer starts a return
ThenReturns portal, same queue
Review. Orders outside the rules, including the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, wait for your team. Example rules. Your rules are set with you on a demo.
Example rules, not a live account. Spanish services and delivery options are reviewed on a demo for your setup. This page is not tax advice: check VAT, OSS and packaging obligations with your adviser and the sources above.
Works with the carriers and shops you already use
Zineps connects shipping to mainland Spain with the carriers and webshops already named on this site, for merchants in the Netherlands and Belgium. The carriers are PostNL, DHL, DPD, GLS, UPS and FedEx. The webshops and marketplaces are Shopify, WooCommerce, bol.com and Amazon. Which services each carrier offers to Spain is confirmed with the carrier and reviewed on a demo.
International cluster
Related pages
FAQ
These answers cover a parcel of Union goods from the Netherlands to mainland Spain, the €10,000 VAT line, Spanish VAT rates, the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, packaging, a carrier rule and delivery times. What still depends on a contract or an adviser is said so.
01
A parcel of goods already in free circulation, sent from the Netherlands to mainland Spain, stays inside the EU customs union, so it needs no customs declaration and no import duty. VAT is a separate question: above an EU-wide line of €10,000 a year, excluding VAT, the Spanish rate can apply. The conditions are in the VAT answer below. Zineps imports the order, applies a Spain carrier rule and creates the label on your own contract. This is general information, not tax advice.
02
Shipping to mainland Spain in Zineps starts when orders are imported from your webshop. A carrier rule decides which carrier and service a Spanish parcel gets, Zineps creates the label on your own contract and sends tracking updates to the customer, and returns come back through the same portal. VAT stays in your shop and accounting. Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla addresses wait for review.
03
Zineps connects shipping to mainland Spain with the carriers and webshops already named on this site, for merchants in the Netherlands and Belgium. The carriers are PostNL, DHL, DPD, GLS, UPS and FedEx. The webshops and marketplaces are Shopify, WooCommerce, bol.com and Amazon. Which services each carrier offers to Spain is confirmed with the carrier and reviewed on a demo.
04
For mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands it depends on where you are established, where the goods ship from, and your total. Since 1 July 2021, a business established in only one EU country can charge that country's VAT on intra-EU distance sales of goods to consumers, together with its cross-border telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services, while that combined total stays at or below €10,000 a year, excluding VAT, in both the current calendar year and the previous one. Above that line, the customer's country sets the rate. The Agencia Tributaria states that the general IVA rate is 21%, the reduced rates in force are 10% and 4%, and a 0% rate applies to certain operations. Which rate applies to your products is for your accountant. You can register in Spain or use the Union One-Stop Shop and file one return at home for the distance sales the scheme covers. You may also choose destination VAT below the line, and that choice then applies for two calendar years. Goods dispatched from stock in another EU country are outside the threshold. Sales to a business with a VAT number, and cases where a marketplace accounts for the VAT, follow other rules. Goods subject to excise duty can still count toward this VAT line. The excise duty itself is a separate tax. The Canary Islands stay inside the EU customs territory and outside EU VAT. The Agencia Tributaria says IVA does not apply there and the Impuesto General Indirecto Canario (IGIC) does. Ceuta and Melilla are outside the EU customs territory and outside EU VAT, and the same agency says the Impuesto sobre la Producción, los Servicios y la Importación (IPSI) applies instead. None of those places is this €10,000 case. This page is not tax advice.
05
Not for goods already in free circulation sent to mainland Spain or the Balearic Islands. On the European Commission's territorial-scope table, the Netherlands, mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands are in the EU customs territory and the EU VAT territory, so an ordinary commercial parcel between them needs no customs declaration and no import duty. That is different from a parcel to the UK or Switzerland. It does not cover excise goods, which follow separate excise rules, or goods that are not in free circulation. The Canary Islands stay inside the EU customs territory and outside EU VAT and excise. Ceuta and Melilla are outside the EU customs territory and outside EU VAT. The same Commission page says goods sent to territories outside EU VAT rules are subject to export formalities. Keep those addresses off the mainland carrier rule until the paperwork and the contract have been checked. Zineps does not file the declaration. The VAT answer still applies to mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands.
06
No. A Spanish postcode does not tell you which tax and customs territory the parcel ends up in. The first two digits follow the province code. INE lists 07 for the Balearic Islands. Postcodes starting 35 and 38 are in the Canary Islands, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. A 1995 order in the BoletÃn Oficial del Estado sets 51 for Ceuta and 52 for Melilla. Orders to 35, 38, 51 and 52 should wait for review instead of using the mainland Spain rule. Postcodes starting 07 stay on that rule. Zineps does not file the declaration or collect IGIC or IPSI.
07
They can. Spain regulates packaging through extended producer responsibility, so a seller who places packaged goods on the Spanish market may have registration or fee duties. Whether a Dutch webshop has to join, and whether it needs a representative in Spain, was not confirmed against an official text on 5 November 2026, so this page states no threshold and no fee. Ask your adviser. Zineps does not handle that registration.
08
No single carrier is best for every Spanish parcel. PostNL, DHL, DPD, GLS, UPS and FedEx are the carriers Zineps connects. Correos and SEUR are not among them. Zineps does not pick a winner. A carrier rule compares the contracts you brought on the same mainland Spanish orders. Prices, transit times and delivery options come from those contracts, so check them with each carrier.
09
Zineps does not set or guarantee a transit time, and this page quotes none. Carriers publish their own estimates, for example PostNL on its international delivery times page and DPD on its online shipping page, and say they can change. Do not copy a mainland estimate onto a Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla address. A business contract can differ, so check it with the carrier before you promise a date at checkout.
10
The Zineps returns portal is the same portal as for other destinations. The customer starts the return, a label is created, and your team sees the status next to the original order. For many distance contracts an EU consumer can withdraw within 14 days of delivery. Your Europe lists exceptions, including perishable and personalised goods, and says the consumer pays the return postage unless the seller offers to pay or failed to say so before the purchase. A longer window is your shop's policy, not a Zineps setting. Which return services your carrier contract includes from Spain is reviewed on a demo.
11
A demo walks through order import, a mainland Spain carrier rule, label creation and tracking updates on your shops. It also compares carrier options for Spanish lanes on the contracts you bring, and which island addresses should wait for review.
Bring your shops and your carrier contracts. We will walk through order import, a Spain carrier rule, labels and tracking updates.
A few details about your shop and your Spanish orders, and we will get back to you.
