UK Vape Products Duty: What It Means for You and How We're Here to Help

What Is the Vape Products Duty?

Big changes are coming to the UK vaping industry, and we want to make sure you're fully informed ahead of time. The UK Government is introducing a Vape Products Duty (VPD) — a brand-new excise tax specifically targeting e-liquids and vaping products. This is one of the most significant legislative changes the vaping sector has ever faced, and it will affect every vaper in the country. We believe in being completely transparent with our customers, so we've put together this guide to explain exactly what's happening, when it's happening, and — most importantly — what we're doing to help.

Let's Be Clear: This Is Not Us Putting Up Our Prices

We want to be absolutely upfront about this: any price increases you see are not coming from us. We are not increasing our margins or profiting from these changes. The Vape Products Duty is a Government-imposed tax, applied on top of the VAT you already pay. Just like the duty on tobacco or alcohol, this is a levy introduced by HMRC that we, as a retailer, are legally required to pass on. We would never choose to make vaping more expensive for our customers — but sadly, this is out of our hands. What is in our hands is how we respond to it, and we'll come to that shortly.

Key Dates to Know

Here are the critical dates you need to be aware of:

• 31st May 2026 — Deadline for us to place bulk and pre-orders with our manufacturer for duty-free stock to be delivered in September 2026.
• 1st October 2026 — The Vape Products Duty officially comes into force. From this date, any new stock ordered will be subject to the full duty rate.  We then have six months to sell any non-duty stock.
• 1st April 2027 — It becomes illegal to sell any unstamped (duty-free) stock. From this point, all e-liquids sold in the UK must be duty-paid, and the new prices will apply universally across the industry.

How Will the Duty Affect You as a Customer?

The impact on pricing is significant and unavoidable. The duty is charged at a flat rate based on volume, which means:

• Every 10ml of e-liquid will cost approximately £2.64 more than it does today.
• The duty applies to all e-liquids — whether they contain nicotine or not. Nicotine-free liquids are not exempt.
• It also applies to any ingredient sold separately, which means DIY e-liquid makers are affected too — including base liquids, flavour concentrates, and nicotine shots purchased individually.

There is no way around it: vaping is going to become considerably more expensive as a direct result of this Government policy.

Real-World Price Examples

To put the numbers into perspective, here's what the duty will mean in practice for some of our most popular products:

Zoo Juice Nicotine Salt Range

Currently, when you buy four bottles for £10.99, that works out to just £2.75 per bottle. After the duty comes into effect, the same bottle will cost around £5.38 — nearly double the current price.

Zoo Juice 50/50 Range

Our 50/50 range, currently priced at £2.19 per bottle when bought in a 10-pack, will rise to approximately £4.83 per bottle once the duty is applied.

100ml Shortfill E-Liquids

A 100ml shortfill that currently costs £12.99 — including two free nicotine shots — will cost around £45.00 after the duty. That's more than a threefold increase on a product that many vapers rely on every day.

Every single one of these price increases is a direct result of a Government tax on vaping. We want that to be crystal clear.

Our Plan to Support You

We know how much these price increases will affect our customers, and we are doing everything within our power to soften the blow. Here's our plan:

We are bulk purchasing duty-free Zoo Juice stock ahead of 1st October 2026, so that we can continue selling to you at the current, lower prices for as long as legally possible — right up until 1st April 2027, when it becomes illegal to sell unstamped stock. Any orders we place after 1st October 2026 will be for duty-paid stock only, as manufacturers will no longer be able to supply products without the duty stamp.

We do want to be honest with you, though: we expect demand to be extremely high. Many customers are already thinking ahead and looking to stock up before the duty kicks in. There is a genuine risk that our duty-free stock sells out well before April 2027, so we cannot guarantee availability all the way through to that date.

We've already heard from a number of customers who want to place significant pre-orders right now — and we completely understand why. Our manufacturer has set a deadline of 31st May 2026 for us to submit our bulk and pre-orders, with delivery planned for September 2026. The reason for this early deadline is simple: the surge in industry-wide demand is enormous, and manufacturers need to begin production now in order to fulfil orders in time.

We will be sending out pre-order invites to our customers very soon. If you're interested in securing duty-free stock at today's prices, keep an eye on your inbox — you won't want to miss it.

We're With You Every Step of the Way

We know this is frustrating news. Vaping has been a vital tool for many people in quitting smoking, and making it significantly more expensive feels like a step in the wrong direction. But we want you to know that we are doing absolutely everything we can to support you through this transition — from bulk-buying early to offering pre-orders to being completely transparent about what's coming and when.

We will continue to fight your corner, keep prices as low as we possibly can, and make sure you have every opportunity to stock up before it becomes illegal to sell unstamped products in April 2027.

If you have any questions about the upcoming changes, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our team — we're always happy to help.