With the excessive cost of shipping a simple rpg to Europe (sometimes more than the price of the book), not to mention customs charges and VAT, I am looking into Print on Demand.

Does anyone here have experience with POD in Europe? Are these books printed in the EU (idunno France, Poland, ..)?
I'm not counting on UK printing, because by the time e.g. Ascendant is published we will probably be in full Hard Brexit.
If I buy just the pdf, is the quality enough to have it printed myself locally, or is the POD version of a higher quality than a 'standard' pdfs?

Thanks!

Any info on UK POD would be appreciated by me. I've always been a bit wary of the whole thing.

No VAT on books in the UK.
[Thus, RPGs need to be books not games by being in a box with dice. I believe that problem was part of why RQ3 was so expensive in the 80s]

Lulu and drivethrurpg use local EU printers for Europe. I think Lulu's are in Spain. Print quality is very good either way, often better than non-POD especially in binding quality, as they don't skimp on glue the way Chinese printers generally seem to.
IME you are generally better off ordering a printed copy from Lulu or drivethrurpg than uploading a pdf and getting it printed by them. I did this with a Necromancer/Frog God book and there were a lot of format errors.
I don't have experience of taking a pdf to a local print shop; for smaller docs I tend to print & bind at home myself in A5 format with a long-arm stapler. Works well for up to 96 pages; I laser print the main body while an inkjet printed cardstock colour cover makes it look nice.

example: I got Red Hand of Doom from drivethrurpg last year - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/28797/Red-Hand-of-Doom-3e - it looks great and is very solid, it has held up perfectly through 18 sessions of play.
My copy of Stonehell Dungeon from Lulu http://www.lulu.com/gb/en/shop/michael-curtis/stonehell-dungeon-down-night-haunted-halls/paperback/product-5974479.html is the one POD item I have that is fraying a bit, but it has been used for dozens and dozens of sessions, probably over 70, so a bit of wear and tear inevitable I think.

Thanks! I'll probably go for the Crimefighter level (for Ascendant).
I did the numbers for another dtrpg book and shipping is really acceptable.

Quote from: Anselyn;1123755No VAT on books in the UK.
[Thus, RPGs need to be books not games by being in a box with dice. I believe that problem was part of why RQ3 was so expensive in the 80s]

Yeah, Games Workshop made a killing once they started printing the now standard format. I'm still bitter at the poor quality of the Stormbringer binding especially as my CoC 3rd edition is still in near perfect condition.

I can try asking over on BGG as if there is not a thread on it allready then someone likely knows a few.