Posting to the US just got more expensive
From 24 July 2026, goods valued at US$2,500 or less arriving in the United States by international mail must be cleared under a new postal informal entry process — a customs entry filed on posted items, with its own rules on who may file, the data required, bonds, payment and deadlines, set out by US Customs and Border Protection. The source is CBP's CSMS bulletin "Updated Global Guidance for International Mail", dated 8 July 2026.
The practical effect for a UK Shopify merchant: posting an order no longer sidesteps US tariffs, and someone — you or your customer — pays them.
This piece is for UK Shopify merchants who post orders to US customers through Royal Mail or another postal service, not for stores already moving stock through commercial freight and a customs broker.
What changed on 24 July 2026?
Until recently, posting was the quiet route into the US: low-value items moved under the de minimis exemption with little entry paperwork and no duty. That route has been closing in stages, and the July change formalises the end of it for postal traffic.
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| 29 August 2025 | The US suspended the US$800 de minimis duty-free exemption for imports from all countries, so posted parcels became dutiable regardless of value (business.gov.uk) |
| 24 July 2026 | Goods valued at US$2,500 or less arriving by international mail must be entered under CBP's new postal informal entry process, with defined rules on filers, data, bonds, payment and deadlines (CBP CSMS bulletin) |
Around the same time, Royal Mail was reported to have told business senders that postal shipments to the US may be assessed for Most Favoured Nation duties, Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs and other charges, and advised sellers to review their customs classifications, product descriptions, declared values and origin data — guidance reported by the trade title ChannelX. We could not locate Royal Mail's own published version, so treat it as trade-press reporting rather than Royal Mail's words. In short: the data on your customs form now sets what your parcel is charged, so it needs to be right.
Which US tariffs can now hit a posted parcel?
More than one, and they stack by classification and origin rather than by how the parcel travelled. We deliberately quote no rates here: US tariff policy moved repeatedly through 2025 and 2026, and the only reliable source for a current figure is the official Harmonized Tariff Schedule entry for your product's classification.
| Charge | What it is | When it can apply to your parcel |
|---|---|---|
| MFN duty | The standard US tariff for the product's HS classification | Any dutiable item, set by classification |
| Section 232 | National-security tariffs on steel, aluminium and other listed materials, including derivative products containing them | Products in scope by their material content — check the current scope against the tariff schedule |
| Section 301 | Tariffs on goods of Chinese origin | Items made in China, wherever they are posted from |
| Other measures | Further duties introduced through 2025–26, applied by country of origin | Depends on origin and the measures in force on the day — verify at dispatch |
Two things follow. First, the country of origin of the goods matters, not the country of dispatch — a China-made product posted from Peterborough is still Chinese-origin to US customs. Second, a wrong or vague HS code is no longer a paperwork nicety; misclassification can mean the wrong duty, and under-declared values invite reassessment.
Who pays the duty — you or your customer?
The decision that actually moves your margin is the delivery terms you sell on. Post has historically meant the customer pays on arrival; a duty bill landing on an unwarned US customer is now large enough to lose the order.
| DDP — you pay | DAP/DDU — customer pays | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays duty and fees | You, collected at checkout or absorbed | The customer, billed before or at delivery |
| When the cost appears | In your pricing and checkout total | After purchase, as a surprise demand |
| Customer experience | One total, no surprises | Refusal, complaints and chargeback risk |
| Margin impact | Direct — duty comes out of your price unless you raise it | Indirect — lost sales, returns and refused parcels |
| Shopify setup | Collect duties and import taxes at checkout where your plan or market setup supports it, or price duty into US totals | Say so plainly on product, cart and shipping pages |
Neither answer is free. DDP protects conversion and puts the cost on you; DAP protects your sticker price and puts the risk on the delivery. What is no longer available is the old default of not deciding, because the old default assumed post was duty-free.
What should a UK Shopify merchant do this week?
Work through the customs data first, then the pricing decision:
- Pull your US-bound catalogue and check every HS classification, product description, declared value and country of origin — the four fields that seller guidance flags, per the ChannelX report.
- Look up the current duty for your main products' classifications on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, including any Section 232 or 301 layer that applies by material or origin.
- Build a landed cost per product for a typical US order: item price, postage, duty and fees. That number, not the postage rate, is what your US customer comparison-shops against.
- Decide DDP or DAP deliberately, set your Shopify checkout and shipping profiles to match, and say who pays duty on the pages customers read before buying.
- Re-check rates before large dispatches. The pattern of 2025–26 is that US tariff settings change; treat any figure older than your last check as stale.
The shape of the problem will be familiar if you dealt with Meta's 2% UK location fee: a cost added outside the dashboards you normally watch, which quietly rewrites your real margin until you put it into the model. If your US pricing, markets setup or checkout needs restructuring to carry duties properly, that is store-build work, not a settings tweak.
Decide who pays before your customer finds out
Shipping cost is rarely one line on its own: the same squeeze from the carrier side is in Royal Mail's new charges.
True Noise is a UK digital agency in Peterborough working with small UK businesses, including Shopify merchants selling into the US.
Decide who pays before your customer finds out
We will model your US landed costs, check your customs data and set your checkout up for whichever duty answer you choose.
Frequently asked questions
Doesn't the US ignore low-value parcels anyway?
Not any more. The US$800 de minimis exemption, which let low-value imports enter duty-free, was suspended for postal items from all countries on 29 August 2025. Value no longer exempts a posted parcel from duty; the 24 July 2026 change is about how those parcels are formally entered and assessed, not whether they are.
Who pays the duty on an order I post to a US customer?
Whoever your delivery terms say. Post has historically moved on delivered-at-place terms, where the customer is billed for duty before or at delivery — which risks refused parcels and chargebacks. The alternative is delivered-duty-paid, where you collect duties at checkout and remit them, which protects the customer experience but puts the cost on your margin unless you price for it.
How do I find the exact duty rate for my product?
From the official Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States at hts.usitc.gov, using your product's HS classification. US tariff policy moved repeatedly through 2025 and 2026, so treat any rate in an article, forum or app as stale until you have checked it against the schedule for your specific classification and country of origin.
My goods are made in China but posted from the UK — does that matter?
Yes. US duty is assessed on the country of origin of the goods, not the country you post them from. Items of Chinese origin can attract Section 301 tariffs even when dispatched from a UK warehouse, which is why the seller advice reported by ChannelX covers origin data, not just values and descriptions. Royal Mail's own published version could not be located, so treat that as trade-press reporting.
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