International Postal Services Scramble To Sort Out Tariffs & End Of De Minimis, With Some Pausing US Shipments

International postal services are scrambling to catch up with the latest changes to tariffs and the end of the duty-free de minimis exemption for low value packages with some temporarily pausing shipments into the US as a result.

After President Trump signed an executive order moving up the end of the de minimis exemption to August 29, 2025, US Customs and Border Protection has issued new guidance about how incoming international postal shipments will be processed – including putting the burden of collecting duties and taxes for shipments which no longer have de minimis exemption on to the international postal services directly.

In response, Norwegian, Swedish-Danish and Belgian postal groups Posten Bring, PostNord and bpost have announced they are temporarily pausing shipments to the US while they seek clarity on the new policies and work to put systems into place to handle the processing requirements.

“Due to the short timeframe to adapt to the new requirements, PostNord is temporarily halting shipments,” the company owned by the Swedish and Danish governments said in a statement.

“The details surrounding this have not yet been clarified by the US customs authorities, and no system solutions have been developed that postal companies can use,” Norway’s state-owned Posten Bring said in a separate statement.

Bpost said in its statement that the pause would only affect shipments containing goods, not letters without goods.

Royal Mail in the UK is advising shippers they are “working closely with the US authorities and international partners to manage the impact of these changes” and will be introducing a PDDP (Postal Delivered Duties Paid) service for account customers to use when exporting to the USA. 

What does this mean for UK customers exporting goods to the USA?
If you only send personal correspondence to the USA, you are not affected by these changes and can continue to send these items to the USA, without a customs declaration.

If you ship goods to the USA and currently complete a customs declaration, we understand that the following changes will apply on the 29th of August 2025:

• Senders in the UK will have to calculate, collect (or account for) duties at the point of sale. You may want to consider doing this by integrating a ‘landed cost calculator’ at your online checkout to calculate ‘landed cost’ (taxes and duties). Landed cost calculators can also collect those taxes and duties. The duties are then payable to US Customs in advance of items entering the USA.
• Decide how you will account for these duties with your customers (e.g., you can choose to pass the cost of duties on to your customers or absorb it) and ensure your customs data is accurate.
• We understand that the required duties for UK postal shipments will be based on an item’s value and the country-based tariff (country of manufacture rather than country of shipping).

How will Royal Mail support customers with these changes?
Royal Mail is working closely with the US authorities and international partners to manage the impact of these changes which will affect everyone who sends goods to the USA.

• To enable you to continue to export goods to the USA, Royal Mail will be introducing a PDDP (Postal Delivered Duties Paid) service for account customers to use when exporting to the USA.
• This is an extension of our Royal Mail PDDP services, which are currently in use to some EU destinations. This will allow continued ‘postal clearance’ into the USA with the same labelling, tracking and customer notifications. This will replace existing services and support compliance with the new requirements.
• Our shipping platforms will be updated to capture necessary data to comply with the new requirements (much of which you already provide).

And Canada Post has still not issued any official statements about how they plan to navigate the situation, with alarming reports that Canadian business owners who have called Canada Post for more information are being hung up on according to Etsy seller and ecommerce consultant Cindy Baldassi.

Etsy has finally advised sellers that they are suspending shipping label purchases from the platform for Australia Post, Canada Post, Everi and Royal Mail for US-bound packages, effective August 25th.

Given recent changes to tariffs in the US, many postal providers will be suspending service or changing delivery options to the US. In light of this, effective August 25, Etsy will be suspending shipping label purchases on Etsy for Australia Post, Canada Post, Evri and Royal Mail for US-bound packages.

We are in close contact with these carriers and will reactivate label offerings on Etsy when they are able to support orders into the US with DDP options.

Sellers are advised to keep an eye on Etsy’s Seller Handbook for additional updates and will need to make their own shipping arrangements with Delivery Duties Paid (DDP) or stop selling to the US until Etsy is able to provide a solution to re-enable label purchases for these postal services.

eBay has promised to protect sellers from late shipping defects and negative or neutral feedback related to tariffs but the actual payment of duties once the de minimis exemption ends will still depend on the carrier/postal service being used.

eBay Updates International Sellers On US Tariff & De Minimis Changes, Promising Support & Protections

eBay is getting ahead of tariff & de minimis changes, updating international sellers with latest info & promising protection for defects & feedback.

In the UK, shipments which use eBay’s Global Shipping Programme will have the duties calculated and charged to the buyer at checkout, but listings using any other international shipping method will not.

For other countries, eBay says: “Duties, import fees, and personal information are typically collected by carriers after checkout. Prices displayed to buyers on eBay may exclude these costs.”

You can check country-specific eBay help pages:

Mercari is warning users that items shipping from Japan via their partnership with BEENOS will have estimated customs duties added into item prices.

I’ll be keeping this post updated with the latest news from various international postal services and online marketplaces. Stay tuned and let us know in the comments below how the end of de minimis is impacting your ecommerce business!