Unstamped vape stock: will you clear it by 31 March 2027?

Short answer: you can keep selling unstamped vaping products until 31 March 2027, but only stock that was produced in or imported into the UK before 1 October 2026, and only if you can show that. From 1 April 2027 you must not hold or sell any of it. The calculator below tells you, line by line, whether you'll sell through in time at your current rate.

Check each line

Enter figures for one SKU at a time. Use your average weekly sales over the last 8–12 weeks, not your best week.

The calculator runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

What the result means

• Clears with weeks to spare: keep going, but review it monthly. Sales often drop after a price rise, and October's duty adds £2.20 per 10ml to new stock, which changes what customers buy.
• Won't clear: act now while you have options. In February you'll have far fewer.

The options for stock that won't sell in time, in the order most wholesalers try them:

1. Sell it faster to the trade. Bulk and trade discounts are still allowed after 29 October 2026. A clearance price list for your trade customers is normal business.
2. Return it to the supplier. Easier in November than in March, when every wholesaler is asking.
3. Export it, where the product can be legally sold in the destination market.
4. Destroy it lawfully and keep the evidence. Single-use devices have their own recycling rules, which you'll already be following if you cleared stock after the June 2025 ban.

Be careful with consumer promotions. From 29 October 2026 it's an offence to sell vaping products at a substantial discount, or give them away, where the purpose or effect is to promote them. DHSC's guidance says normal discounting and clearing unsold stock at a reduced price are still fine.

Keep the evidence while you sell through

During the grace period your records have to explain why a product is unstamped. For every unstamped line keep:

• the supplier invoice and delivery note, with dates before 1 October 2026
• batch or production details where you have them
• the goods-in check you did and who did it
• what you did with any stock that didn't sell: sold, returned, exported or destroyed, and when

Keep all of it for at least six years. HMRC expects electronic records to be exportable in a readable format on request.

Making this automatic

Doing this check once in a spreadsheet is fine. Doing it every week for hundreds of SKUs is where it breaks. The trade portals we build do it for you: a weekly weeks-of-cover report on every unstamped SKU, unstamped stock picked first, and a hard block on unstamped sales from 1 April 2027. See how it works in a 20-minute walkthrough, or read the full Vaping Products Duty guide for wholesalers and the duty stamp goods-in checklist.

Sources

• HMRC, Handling wholesale or retail vaping products in the UK (updated 30 September 2026)
• HMRC, Keeping records for Vaping Products Duty and the Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme (updated 30 September 2026)
• DHSC, Selling vaping and nicotine products
• DEFRA, Single-use vapes ban

Last reviewed 5 October 2026. This guide explains published government guidance and isn't legal or tax advice.