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Updated . A plain-English summary of the published rules, not legal advice: your carrier or customs agent has the last word.

Royal Mail Click & Drop: SKU and manufacturer ID for EU parcels

Since 26th October 2026, Royal Mail Click & Drop won't apply postage to an item going to the EU as E-Commerce Goods, or by Parcelforce, until it has a product SKU and a Non-standardised Manufacturer ID. From 1st November 2026, goods sent to shoppers in the EU are declared with these product identifiers. Save them on your products in Click & Drop once, and every order picks them up.

What Click & Drop asks for

Royal Mail also asks you to move off the old "Sale of Goods" and "Mixed" customs categories: use E-Commerce Sale of Goods (B2C) for sales to consumers. The rule does not apply to parcels from Northern Ireland to the EU.

Filling them for every product

  1. Give every variant in Shopify its own SKU, with no duplicates or placeholders.
  2. Add the maker's reference for every variant, and the barcode where there is one.
  3. Fill in the HS code and the country of origin while you are there: Click & Drop asks for both too.
  4. Download the Click & Drop file and import it into your product catalogue (Products, then Import), matching each column to the Click & Drop field of the same name.

PIDReady checks all five codes on every variant, fills what your store already knows, and downloads the Click & Drop file with the columns Identifier (SKU), Non-standardised Manufacturer ID, Standardised Manufacturer ID, Customs code, Country of origin, Customs description and Customs declaration category. Variants without a SKU are left out, because Click & Drop matches products by SKU. If a field is not offered when you import, you can add it on the product in Click & Drop.

Common questions

Why won't Click & Drop apply postage to my EU parcel?

Since 26th October 2026, Click & Drop asks for a product SKU and a Non-standardised Manufacturer ID on items to the EU declared as E-Commerce Goods (and on Parcelforce services), and postage cannot be applied until both are there. Royal Mail says this is so that parcels already in its network on 1st November are not stopped for missing data.

What is the Non-standardised Manufacturer ID?

The maker's own reference for the product, such as its model or part number: the NS-PID in the EU rule. If you make the product, it is your own reference for it. What counts as an NS-PID

Do I need the Standardised Manufacturer ID?

Royal Mail says it is optional but recommended when your product has one. It is the product's barcode: an EAN, UPC, GTIN or ISBN. Leave it empty when there is none.

Does this apply to parcels from Northern Ireland?

No. Royal Mail says these changes do not apply to shipments from Northern Ireland to the EU, nor to items sent outside the EU.

How do I add them to hundreds of products at once?

Fill them in Shopify (PIDReady checks every variant and fills what your store already knows), download PIDReady's Click & Drop file, and import it into your Click & Drop product catalogue. Saved on the products, they apply to every order that contains them.

Check your catalogue

PIDReady is a Shopify app that checks every variant for the three identifiers, the HS code and the country of origin, helps you fill the gaps one by one or in bulk, and downloads a file for your carrier. The free plan does every fix, for any size of store.

Questions about the rule, app or no app? Email support@pidready.com: we reply within one working day.

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