The $800 De Minimis Exemption Is Dead — Here's What Every Importer Needs to Know
If you've been importing small shipments duty-free under the $800 de minimis threshold, that era is over. The exemption was suspended for China in May 2025, and as of February 2026, it's gone for all countries worldwide.
Every shipment entering the US — regardless of value — now requires a formal or informal customs entry with full duties and fees applied.
What De Minimis Was
Section 321 of the Tariff Act allowed shipments valued under $800 to enter the US duty-free with minimal paperwork. This was the backbone of:
- AliExpress and Alibaba small orders
- Temu and Shein's entire business model
- Amazon FBA sellers doing small test orders
- Dropshippers sourcing individual items from overseas
- Small businesses ordering samples
In 2024, roughly 4 million packages per day entered the US under de minimis. That's over 1.4 billion shipments per year that paid zero duties.
The Timeline
| Date | What Happened |
|---|---|
| May 2025 | De minimis suspended for China (Executive Order) |
| August 2025 | De minimis suspended for all countries |
| February 2026 | Formalized — full customs entry required on all imports regardless of value |
Who's Hit Hardest
Amazon FBA sellers who built businesses around duty-free small-batch sourcing. A seller who used to order 100 units at a time from China now pays:
- Customs broker fee ($50-150 per entry)
- Merchandise Processing Fee ($27.75 minimum)
- Harbor Maintenance Fee (0.125% of value)
- Applicable duties (10-50%+ depending on product and country)
- Bond costs ($50-100/year)
For a $500 test order of products from China, the additional costs can be $150-$400 — potentially exceeding the product margin.
Dropshippers are effectively dead. The model depended on shipping individual items from Chinese warehouses to US customers with zero import friction. That friction now exists on every single package.
The Numbers
- A $15 item from China that was previously duty-free now costs $19-$25 after duties, fees, and brokerage
- Amazon FBA sellers report landed costs up 20-50% on low-value inventory
- Amazon discontinued all US FBA prep services as of January 1, 2026
- Small-business bankruptcies rose 11% in 2025, with tariff costs cited as a primary driver
What You Should Do
-
Consolidate shipments. Instead of 10 small orders, make 1 large order. Brokerage fees are per-entry, not per-unit — one $5,000 shipment costs far less in fees than ten $500 shipments.
-
Get a customs bond. If you're importing regularly, a continuous bond ($50-100/year) is cheaper than single-entry bonds ($50-100 each).
-
Find a broker. If you've been self-importing small shipments without a broker, you now need one. The entry filing requirements are not DIY-friendly.
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Recalculate your margins. Every product's landed cost changed. If you haven't updated your pricing since the de minimis suspension, you're losing money on every sale.
-
Consider domestic sourcing or near-shoring. For some products, the duty + brokerage costs now make domestic or Mexican sourcing competitive.
Source
White House Executive Order (Feb 2026) | Unicargo FBA Tariffs Guide | eFulfillment Service Analysis
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