De Minimis Explained: What Changed in 2026 and Who It Affects
For years, Section 321 of the Tariff Act gave small importers a quiet advantage: any shipment worth $800 or less entered the United States duty-free, with no formal customs entry required. No broker, no bond, no paperwork. A seller could ship a $50 sample from Shenzhen and it would clear customs in hours with zero fees.
That's over.
The $800 de minimis threshold was suspended for Chinese goods in May 2025, then expanded to cover all countries in February 2026. Today, every package entering the US — regardless of value or origin — requires a formal customs entry with full duties, fees, and brokerage costs applied.
If you're a small importer, an Amazon FBA seller, or a dropshipper, this is probably the single most disruptive tariff change of the past decade. Not because the duty rates are the highest, but because the fixed costs of compliance now hit hardest on the smallest shipments — the ones your business runs on.
What De Minimis Was
Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930 established a threshold below which imported goods could enter the US without formal customs entry. Congress raised that threshold to $800 in 2016, up from $200.
The intent was simple: it costs CBP more to process a formal entry on a $30 package than the duty it would collect. De minimis was an efficiency measure.
But usage exploded. By 2024, roughly 4 million packages per day — over 1.4 billion per year — entered the US under de minimis. That's more than triple the volume from just five years earlier. Platforms like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress built their entire US logistics model around shipping individual orders direct-to-consumer under Section 321, bypassing the duty system entirely.
The scale made it politically untenable. Domestic manufacturers argued they were competing against imports that paid zero duty. Congress and the administration agreed.
The Timeline: How It Ended
May 2, 2025: De minimis suspended for goods originating in China and Hong Kong. All Chinese shipments, regardless of value, now require formal entry. This was part of the broader fentanyl enforcement executive order.
February 2026: De minimis suspended for all countries of origin. The rationale: goods were being transshipped through third countries to avoid the China restriction. The blanket suspension closed that loophole.
March 2026: CBP published final guidance requiring full formal entry — including HTS classification, country of origin declaration, and duty payment — for every inbound shipment. The informal entry process that small packages used to glide through no longer exists for commercial goods.
The change was fast. Sellers who had been shipping low-value goods for years with no customs interaction suddenly needed a broker, a bond, and an HTS code for every SKU.
Who's Affected Most
Amazon FBA Sellers
If you source products overseas and ship them to Amazon fulfillment centers, every inbound shipment now carries formal entry costs — even small test runs and restock orders. The economics of low-ASP (average selling price) products shifted overnight.
Amazon made it worse. On January 1, 2026, Amazon discontinued its US FBA prep and ship-from-China services, which had previously handled customs clearance on behalf of sellers. You're now responsible for your own import compliance, and if you weren't already working with a freight forwarder and customs broker, you're scrambling.
Dropshippers
The dropshipping model — where individual orders ship directly from a Chinese supplier to a US customer — was built on de minimis. A $20 item shipped in its own package cleared customs for free. Now that same package requires formal entry. The per-package compliance cost often exceeds the product cost.
For most low-value dropshipped goods, the math no longer works.
Small Ecommerce Importers
Anyone ordering samples, small batches, or test inventory from overseas suppliers. A 50-unit test order that used to arrive with zero customs friction now requires the same entry process as a full container load.
The Real Cost: It's Not Just the Duty
The duty rate gets all the attention, but for small shipments, the fixed fees are what hurt. Here's what a formal entry actually costs:
| Fee | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Customs broker fee | $50 - $150 per entry | Minimum charge regardless of shipment value |
| Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) | 0.3464% of value, minimum $31.67 | The minimum applies even on a $10 shipment |
| Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF) | 0.125% of value | Ocean shipments only |
| Customs bond | $50 - $100/year (continuous) or $5-10 per single entry | Required for every formal entry |
| Applicable duties | Varies | MFN rate + Section 301 + Section 122 + fentanyl duty |
Example 1: A $15 Item from China
| Cost Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Product cost | $15.00 |
| Broker fee (minimum) | $50.00 |
| MPF (minimum) | $31.67 |
| Duty (estimated 55% effective rate) | $8.25 |
| Total landed cost | $104.92 |
That's a $15 item that now costs over $100 to import as a single shipment. Even consolidated with other entries, the broker fee and MPF minimum don't go away. In a best case where you're already on a continuous bond and your broker batches entries, you're still looking at $19 - $25 all-in for that item — a 27% to 67% increase over the product cost alone.
Example 2: A $500 Test Order from Vietnam
| Cost Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Product cost | $500.00 |
| Broker fee | $75.00 |
| MPF (0.3464% of $500) | $31.67 (minimum applies) |
| Section 122 duty (10%) | $50.00 |
| MFN duty (estimated 8%) | $40.00 |
| Total landed cost | $696.67 |
That's $196.67 in additional costs on a $500 order — a 39% increase. And if that test order were from China instead of Vietnam, the duty alone would push total additional costs to $300 - $400.
Before the de minimis change, both of these shipments would have entered duty-free with no broker, no bond, and no MPF.
What to Do About It
The de minimis change isn't going to reverse. Both parties in Congress supported it, the domestic manufacturing lobby wants it, and the revenue it generates is significant. Here's how to adapt.
1. Consolidate Shipments
Stop shipping small parcels individually. Batch your orders into larger, less frequent shipments. The broker fee and MPF minimum are per-entry, not per-unit — a single entry covering 500 units costs the same in fixed fees as one covering 5 units. Work with your supplier on consolidated packing and shipping schedules.
2. Get a Continuous Customs Bond
If you're importing more than twice a year, a continuous bond ($50 - $100/year) is dramatically cheaper than single-entry bonds ($5 - $10 each). It covers unlimited entries for 12 months. Your broker can set this up.
3. Find a Customs Broker — Now
If you've been importing under de minimis, you probably don't have a broker relationship. You need one. A good broker will correctly classify your products (getting HTS codes wrong is expensive — see What Happens If You Use the Wrong HTS Code), file your entries, and flag duty-saving opportunities like exclusions or trade agreement rates.
4. Recalculate Your Margins
This is the hard one. Add the real landed cost — duties, MPF, broker fees, bond — to every SKU. If a product doesn't clear your margin threshold at the new cost, either raise prices or drop it. Running the old margins is a path to losing money on every sale.
Free tool: Look up your HTS code and see the full duty breakdown →
5. Evaluate Domestic and Near-Shore Sourcing
For products where the landed cost from Asia now exceeds 50% of the retail price, domestic or Mexican (USMCA-qualifying) sourcing may pencil out for the first time. USMCA-qualifying goods from Mexico enter duty-free and are exempt from the Section 122 surcharge.
6. Monitor for Changes
The tariff landscape is still shifting. Section 301 investigations into 16 additional countries could raise rates on Vietnam, India, Thailand, and others by mid-2026. New exclusions get published regularly. A rate change on your HTS code can make or break your margin overnight.
Related Articles
- The Complete Guide to US Import Tariffs in 2026 — the full picture of every tariff layer
- FBA Seller's Guide to Import Duties in 2026 — specific guidance for Amazon sellers
- How to Find Your HTS Code — step-by-step classification guide
This article is updated as de minimis policy evolves. Last updated April 8, 2026.
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