Vaping Products Duty is here. So why haven’t our prices increased?

TL;DR: Vaping Products Duty officially begins today, but that does not mean every vape product has to increase in price overnight. We spent months planning and building stocks of products made or imported before 1st October. These can legally remain on sale without the new duty until 31st March 2027, allowing us to protect our customers from the full impact for as long as possible. Duty-paid stock will gradually enter our range as existing supplies sell through, so price changes will happen at different times for different products.

For months, we have been warning customers that Vaping Products Duty would arrive on 1st October 2026 and significantly increase the cost of vaping.

Today is 1st October. The duty is now in force. Yet, if you have visited our website expecting every price to have shot up overnight, you may be wondering what all the fuss was about.

The short answer is that the tax has arrived, but careful planning means its full impact on our customers doesn't have to hit all at once.

What changed on 1st October?

Vaping Products Duty, or VPD, is a new excise duty charged on vaping liquid, whether or not it contains nicotine. The rate is 22p per 1ml of liquid plus VAT.

From today, vaping products newly released onto the UK market must be duty-paid and carry the appropriate vaping duty stamp. However, the rules include a six-month sell-through period for legitimate stock that was already in the supply chain before the duty began.

That means products manufactured or imported before 1st October 2026 can continue to be sold without a duty stamp until 31st March 2027. From 1st April 2027, all vaping products held or sold by UK retailers must be stamped and duty-paid.

This transition period exists for a sensible reason. The vaping supply chain could not simply discard millions of perfectly legal products at midnight on 30th September, nor could every retailer replace its entire range overnight.

The duty applies to vaping liquid, not the hardware itself. Empty vape kits, devices, tanks, coils and other hardware are not subject to VPD. Prefilled pod kits are different because they include vaping liquid, so the liquid they contain is liable for duty.

We planned for this moment months in advance

Although the change may look uneventful from the customer side, that is certainly not because nothing has happened behind the scenes.

We have spent months forecasting demand, working closely with suppliers and carefully increasing our stocks of the products our customers buy most often. Our aim has always been to use as much of the legal sell-through period as possible, rather than passing the new cost on to customers from day one.

That preparation means we currently have strong availability of legitimate, pre-duty stock across our range. While those supplies last, we can continue selling those products at their existing prices.

In other words, the lack of a dramatic overnight change is not evidence that VPD was overhyped. It shows our planning worked.

Will everything stay at its current price until March?

Unfortunately, no. The sell-through period gives retailers time to manage the transition, but it does not provide an unlimited supply of pre-duty products.

Different products sell at very different rates. We have planned as meticulously as possible, but some of our most popular e-liquids and prefilled pods or pod kits could sell through their pre-duty supplies sooner than anticipated. Once a product's legitimate pre-duty stock is gone, any replacement stock entering the market will be subject to VPD.

The same applies to new vaping products launched during the sell-through period. A new e-liquid, prefilled pod, or prefilled pod kit released after 1st October cannot come from pre-duty stock already in the supply chain. It will therefore be duty-paid from launch, even while older products remain available at their pre-duty prices.

As a result, duty-paid products will gradually appear over the coming months, alongside the pre-duty stock that remains. Some prices may change sooner than others, and the transition will depend largely on how quickly individual products sell.

We will not hold back existing pre-duty stock simply to impose a blanket price rise across the website. Where we can continue offering a product at its current price, we will.

What does this mean for VIP Club points?

From 29th October, we are also changing the way Vape UK VIP Club points are earned and redeemed. Members will continue to earn points on the value of the products they buy, but points cannot be awarded on the Vaping Products Duty portion of the price.

While you are buying pre-duty stock, you should notice no difference to the points awarded. The change will become more visible as pre-duty supplies sell through and duty-paid replacements enter our range. From that point, points will be calculated on the product value before VPD is added, rather than on the full duty-inclusive price.

As with the price transition, the effect on points will appear product by product as each line moves onto duty-paid stock. You can read the full explanation in our guide to the Vape UK VIP Club changes.

Why did we warn customers so far in advance?

Because VPD remains a substantial and permanent increase in the cost of vaping liquid. It was important that customers understood what was coming and had the opportunity to plan, particularly those who rely on vaping as an alternative to smoking.

The six-month transition does not make the tax disappear. It delays its effect on individual products until older stock has sold through, with the final legal deadline arriving on 31st March 2027.

Our earlier warnings were also vital to our preparation. Accurately forecasting what hundreds of thousands of customers might need over six months is no small exercise. Too little stock would bring price rises forward unnecessarily. Too much could leave perfectly legal products unsold when the sell-through period ends.

We have tried to strike the most responsible balance: securing enough pre-duty stock to give customers meaningful protection, while managing it carefully enough to remain fully compliant.

What should customers expect next?

For now, pre-duty stock is fully available across all ranges, and the prices shown on our website are always the prices you will pay.

Over the coming months, you may notice price changes on particular products as their pre-duty supplies run out and duty-paid replacements arrive. This will not happen everywhere at once, and we'll keep customers informed as the transition progresses.

There is no need to panic buy, but this is still a sensible time to plan ahead. If you already know which e-liquids or prefilled pods you regularly use, adding a little extra to your usual order could help you take advantage of current prices without buying more than you genuinely need.

Before ordering, please check our temporary delivery update and monthly purchase limits, which are helping our remaining pre-duty stock reach more customers.

If you have a particular favourite, especially a bestselling product, keep in mind that its pre-duty stock may sell faster than slower-moving lines. We cannot guarantee exactly how long the existing price of any individual item will last.

What we can promise is that we have done everything reasonably possible to soften the immediate impact. VPD may have officially arrived today, but thanks to months of preparation, its full effect on our customers has not.

That was always the plan.