The price on a UK checkout screen is now the first line of the bill for a US-bound parcel, and the rest of the bill arrives with the parcel. The $800 duty-free treatment that used to carry small parcels into the US ended on August 29, 2025, per DHL's import duty guide [1]. CBP's own guidance confirms the suspension reaches merchandise valued at $800 or less arriving via all modes, the international postal network included, unless specifically excepted pursuant to a separate authority [2]. Mail picked up a layer of its own on top of that in June 2026, when a federal rule suspended the exemption for the mail channel indefinitely and added a new informal entry process taking effect July 24, 2026 [2] [3]. The dates changed the bill, and it is computable from the goods value, the shipping method, and a rate you can look up before ordering.

What can appear on the bill

Four kinds of charges can attach to a parcel traveling from the UK to a US address.

The first kind is duty on the product itself. Customs ties that duty to where the goods were made, so a UK store shipping headphones made in China is charged by the headphones' origin, and a UK-made item is charged as UK origin [5]. DHL's US guide puts standard duty rates between 0% and 37.5% depending on the product line, with most everyday consumer goods in the 2.5% to 6% band [5].

The second kind is the tariff-policy layer. DHL describes a 10% baseline surcharge introduced in April 2025 on goods from countries without a US trade agreement, plus country-specific reciprocal rates that replace the baseline where they apply [5]. Both figures are DHL's. The split runs on country. The product enters through the category exemptions DHL lists for the baseline, automobiles, steel, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and energy products, and through product-level reductions on the reciprocal side [5]. Which layer reaches a UK-made parcel is decided per country, and the HTS line does not answer it. DHL's MyGTS tool calculates import taxes and duties for a specific shipment before it leaves, so the pre-order estimate is what settles the country layer for a specific order [5].

The third kind is excise duty on regulated goods such as alcohol and tobacco, charged by quantity rather than value [5]. The fourth kind is process cost. Sea freight can carry a 0.125% harbor maintenance fee [5], entry processing fees attach to the entry type [5], and the logistics provider typically collects the charges at clearance or prior to delivery [5]. Almost all shipments now owe duty regardless of value [5], and customs applies it before the parcel is released for delivery [1], which puts these charges between the parcel and the door.

The base the percentage applies to

The percentage never applies to the sticker price alone. The base is the CIF value, the invoice value of the goods plus insurance during shipment plus freight charges paid to the logistics provider [5]. DHL's worked example stacks three items at $300 each, adds $50 of shipping and $10 of insurance, and 900 plus 50 plus 10 gives a $960 duty base [5]. A $60 order with $12 of shipping is therefore taxed on $72 before any fixed fees. Splitting the bill into goods price, shipping, insurance, duties and fees shows which part feeds the percentage and which parts ride on top. Reading the declared value on the seller's invoice and adding freight and insurance reproduces the same base before you pay [5].

The gift lane that survives

Not every parcel owes the full stack. DHL's list of surviving exemptions covers gifts, samples with no commercial value, unaltered US goods being returned, and temporary imports under bond [5]. The one a shopper meets is the gift lane. A bona fide gift worth up to $100 enters without standard duty, or up to $200 when sent from Guam, American Samoa, or the US Virgin Islands, provided it travels from one individual to another and is declared as an unsolicited gift [5]. DHL's own worked scenario marks a $99 unsolicited gift of UK origin as exempt [5]. The dollar ceilings are DHL's figures. The parcel must be unsolicited, individual to individual, and declared as a gift. An order shipped by a store fails the individual-to-individual condition.

Post or courier, two different customs routes

The shipping method decides more than speed. A postal parcel enters through the mail process, which changed on July 24, 2026 [2]. From January 20, 2027, mail shipments that owe Section 201, 232 or 301 duty or touch a partner government agency's rules must be filed electronically as Entry Type 13, and formal entry is required otherwise [4]. CBP states there are no changes to mail entry procedures before that January date and encourages filers to use the electronic process voluntarily in the meantime [4]. The tariff layer also takes a different form on the postal side. DHL describes it as a per-item flat fee, $80, $160 or $200 depending on the applicable tariff band, and states it does not apply to express couriers [5]. A courier parcel is broker-cleared instead. The broker or logistics provider sets the entry type, and the shipper generally does not choose it [5]. Formal entry applies to commercial shipments over $2,500 or goods subject to other regulatory controls, while personal shipments are generally handled under informal entry, depending on the declared value and type of goods [5].

When you pay, and what a held parcel means

The two routes differ in when the bill reaches you. Where the checkout shows no duty line, the carrier's request arrives before the parcel does, and the parcel moves after it is settled [5]. If the fees were included upfront, the doorstep request drops away [1]. Timing is also where holding gets expensive. Missing or incorrect paperwork can lead to delays, storage fees, or fines [1], and charges that first surface at delivery arrive when the options are fewest [1].

The five checks before you order

  1. Find the HTS line. Search the product on hts.usitc.gov, the official US tariff schedule site [5], or run it through DHL's MyGTS tool, which estimates duties before a shipment leaves [1] [5]. You have a 10-digit code and a rate, or the estimate does not exist yet.

  2. Build the base. Take the invoice value and add shipping and insurance [5]. That sum feeds the percentage. The sticker price alone does not.

  3. Read the shipping method line at checkout. Post points to the mail process and, per DHL's guide, the per-item flat fee mechanics [4] [5]. A courier points to broker-filed entry [5]. You can say which route the parcel takes, the mail process or the broker's, before you pay.

  4. Ask who collects. Duty is collected before delivery, typically by the logistics provider [5]. If the fees were included upfront, the carrier's request drops away. If not, budget the request into the order.

  5. Keep the invoice. The declaration of goods value, shipping and insurance is the same set the CIF calculation uses [5], and paperwork gaps are what turn a held parcel into storage fees [1].

What settles the bill before you order

The arithmetic is short. One lookup gives the rates, three numbers give the base, and the shipping method names the route. What ended in August 2025 was the empty customs line on small parcels. What replaced it is a duty estimate you can size yourself, while you still control the inputs. DHL's own range keeps the duty layer modest for most everyday goods, 2.5% to 6% [5], so the point of the pre-order math is precision rather than alarm. Fixed process fees still vary by channel and entry type, and the HTS line plus the checkout's shipping method remain the two facts that turn a UK order's final cost from a delivery-day question into a checkout-day answer.