Customer Update: Vape Duty & Pre-Tax Prices

Dear DarkStar Customers,

I’m writing to announce a few price increases which will take effect next week, as well as a few which are already live.

As you’re likely aware, especially if you’ve been reading our recent articles, we’re almost at the beginning of Vape Duty coming into force, which will add £2.20+VAT per 10ml to all vape liquids. This is having an enormous impact on the business, as HMRC requires almost every aspect of how we operate to change so it meets their strict rules for manufacturers of these products.

There is a 6 month grace period, where anything made before 30/09/26 (end of September) can be sold duty-free until 31/03/27. The logical response is to build as much stock as possible before that date so we can continue selling to customers at more competitive prices for as long as possible. 

This is a huge effort, and it strains the business in every way you can imagine. Hiring and training temporary workers to assist with the effort, taking additional storage space, borrowing money to pay for the products up front to fill that space, all while making the changes required to comply with the new rules, and servicing a massively increased number of orders from customers who are stocking up on pre-duty products.

As a result, some larger sized products, like 1000ml Bottle Shots, now have a lower discount relative to their smaller but higher volume counterparts. The price difference between 4x250ml and 1x1000ml has become smaller. In other words, some 1000ml prices have gone up.

There are a number of reasons for this, but the main one is that they take away remaining concentrate stock from 250mls, which supply more individuals and are more efficient to produce.

The larger ones are more time consuming to make than 4x 250mls as they aren’t batched in the same way. Each one is typically made to order, unless we expect a high volume of them to sell, and even then it’s not as efficient as the 250ml process.

When we’re this busy with customers stocking up pre-VPD along with everything else, it doesn’t make sense for us to maintain a 25% discount to the 4x250ml price on the 1000ml products.

For some of these products, as will soon be the case for all of them, we only have the ingredients physically on premises to make the remainder of the duty-free products, so we have to use those ingredients in the best way for us to continue operating into the future. Many small vape businesses are closing their doors when they run out of stock. We’re making all the investments and changes needed to continue beyond 2027.

With the particular struggles we have at the moment, both getting orders out on time when there’s a significant influx, and dealing with a major change to how everything operates, it’s not the right time for us to maintain large bulk discounts. I understand that will displease some people. Nobody wants to pay more than they used to for the same product, me included, but we’ve kept those prices very low for a long time, and it’s got to the point where it’s necessary for us to increase some of them a bit.

To be clear, most prices on the site haven’t changed. The vast majority of what we sell is still available at the same prices you’re used to, and will remain so while we still have the duty-free stock and ingredients to support it. If you were already planning to stock up before VPD, the next few weeks are the sensible window to do it.

Besides commodity products which can fluctuate, we haven’t overhauled prices site-wide for a long time. Sometimes we’ve been able to bring prices down, and we have done.

The vaping industry is in a tough spot at the moment. We’ve always aimed to provide the best available at the prices we charge, and I believe we still do that.

Some prices, particularly those on larger sizes of various products, are likely to rise over the coming weeks. It’s not going to be dramatic, but some changes are unfortunately necessary. We’re doing the best we can with what we have.

I appreciate every customer. Those who would happily pay more, those who will only purchase at a steep discount, and everyone in-between. You’ve all helped DS to reach a point where we are able to make a solid attempt at getting past these changes which are causing others to close down. We’re not about to become expensive or start overcharging, but some changes are necessary due to the severity of the current situation.

We look forward to serving you in 2027 and beyond.

Rob Scammell - Managing Director

DarkStar