From 1 November 2026, the European Union will require Product Identifiers (PIDs) on business-to-consumer (B2C) shipments imported into the EU from outside it (for example, UK→EU or US→EU), regardless of the order value. If the required identifiers are missing, customs can reject the declaration and your parcel may be held at the border or destroyed.
What are PIDs?
A Product Identifier (PID) is a code that helps EU customs identify exactly what is inside a parcel, down to the individual item. Instead of relying only on a general category (the HS/tariff code), customs can now trace a specific product. There are three types of PID:
PID type | What it is | Where it comes from | Required? |
Merchant PID (M-PID) | Your own internal code for the item (your SKU or listing ID) | You, the seller | Mandatory |
Non-Standardised Manufacturer PID (NS-PID) | The manufacturer or supplier's own part number or model number | The factory / supplier | Mandatory |
Standardised Manufacturer PID (S-PID) | A recognised retail barcode such as a GTIN, EAN, UPC, ISBN or ISSN | A standards body (e.g. GS1) | Required if the product has one |
Top tips for adding PIDs
Your SKU can used as the M-PID, so if your products already have SKUs, that part is covered.
The NS-PID (manufacturer part/model number) is the field most sellers are missing; it's worth collecting these from your suppliers early.
If a product genuinely has no standardised barcode, that's fine. The S-PID is only required where one exists.
Adding Product Identifiers to Products
Veeqo maps your existing product information to the three PIDs wherever possible:
M-PID → your product's SKU
S-PID → your product's Barcode (you may be asked to confirm the barcode type: EAN, GTIN, UPC, ISBN or ISSN)
NS-PID → a product field for the manufacturer part or model number
You can add PIDs to your products in two ways:
Add PIDs to individual products
Add PIDs to individual products
Go to the Inventory page.
Search for and click on the product you want to update.
Add or check the following details:
SKU: used as your Merchant PID (M-PID).
Barcode: your Standardised PID (S-PID), if the product has one. Select the barcode type (EAN, GTIN, UPC, ISBN or ISSN).
Manufacturer part or model number: your Non-Standardised Manufacturer PID (NS-PID).
Save your changes.
Veeqo will reuse these saved values automatically the next time you buy a label for an EU-bound shipment.
NOTE: You can also add PIDs from the shipping page! Simply click on the product and "edit customs information" from the orders table and add the relevant fields there.
Add product identifiers in bulk by CSV
Add product identifiers in bulk by CSV
If you have lots of products to update, it's quicker to export your catalogue, add the details in a spreadsheet, and import it back.
First, you need to export your products. To do this:
Go to the Inventory page. You can either select all products or just the ones you ship to EU.
Click Actions.
Click Export CSV.
Select the best options for your products and locations you want to update. You do not need to update stock levels to do this.
Open the downloaded CSV in your spreadsheet editor.
NOTE: We recommend against exporting product description, as some products may contain HTML code that can corrupt the file and lead to longer export times.
Now, you need to add your product details:
Fill in the columns for each product. The identifier columns are:
sku_code: your SKU (this will be used as the M-PID).
upc_code: your barcode (used as the S-PID).
upc_code_type: optional unless upc_code supplied. Leave it blank and Veeqo works out the type from the barcode. OR enter EAN, GRIN, UPC, ISBN, or ISSN. Any other value will cause an error.
model_number: this is the manufacturer part / model number column (NS-PID).
Remove any columns that are not needed, for example stock columns. If you re-upload the CSV without removing stock it will be updated to the amount in the CSV. Do not delete the below columns as they are mandatory:
product_id
sku_code
product_title
variant_title
sales_price
tax_rate: the tax rate as a decimal (e.g. 0.2 for 20%); this can't be left blank — enter 0 if there is no tax
Save your CSV
You are ready to import your product details. To do this:
On the Inventory page, click Upload.
Select the relevant location and click Next.
Click Upload data from file and select your CSV.
For “Does this row contain column names?”, click Yes.
Check that each column with data shows ✔ Confirmed mapping. To map a column, click Edit, choose the matching Veeqo field, and click Confirm mapping.
Click Review to check your data. Use Only show rows with problems to spot and fix any errors.
Click Yes under Are you ready to submit?
Veeqo will email you once the import is complete, or let you know if anything needs fixing.
NOTE: For more information on updating products by CSV, check out this guide.
Troubleshooting
I am seeing an ineligibility reason of "Shipping service is not available for shipments from outside the EU into the EU" when trying to ship international EU-bound shipments.
Some shipping services don't carry PIDs which is required information for shipments entering the EU so they're being withdrawn for EU-bound orders in advance.