From Royal Mail regarding the new DDP services. The problem is eBay don't have a facility to charge the duty applicable to customers! Add WebInterpret listings into the mix and there are even more issues for sellers! Dear ****
We were recently in touch to advise you about a recent United States Government Executive Order which changes the customs obligations and processes for goods being imported into the USA from 29 August 2025.
The changes to US customs processes are significant. There is very limited time available for all carriers and countries to adapt to these changes. However, we’ve been working intensively, including with US authorities and international partners to provide services which meet the new requirements so you can continue to export to the USA with Royal Mail.
We now want to share what these changes mean for exporting goods to the USA and some practical information about our new Postal Delivery Duties Paid (PDDP) service for account customers.
Key Points of the US Executive Order
From 29 August 2025, the duty-free threshold (‘de minimis’) of $800 will be removed and replaced by tariffs (duties) which must be paid to US Customers and Border Protection (CBP). This means that if you send goods to the USA and complete a customs declaration, there are likely to be duties required for the goods you send. With DDP services, the shipper is responsible for all applicable duties and taxes.
For goods shipped via the international postal system, customs duties will be calculated in a simple way, using just the value of the item/s you’re sending and the prevailing country-based tariff for the item/s, depending on their country of origin (that’s country of manufacture, not shipping).
If you only send personal correspondence to the USA, you are not affected by these changes. You can continue to send these items to the USA, without a customs declaration.
The benefits of using Royal Mail postal services to the USA
For postal imports into the USA via the international postal network, items will be assessed for duties using only the country-specific tariffs (known as IEEPA tariffs). These tariffs work as a % applicable to the value of goods based on the item/s country of origin (manufacture). For example, items with a UK country of origin, will incur a 10% tariff on the value of those items.
Royal Mail will only have duties assessed using country specific tariffs (IEEPA). This is the most cost-effective method for our customers.
With this simplified tariff approach, available only to Postal Operators, the levels of duty applicable to goods is likely to be lower than alternatives.
Information about the new Royal Mail PDDP services to the USA
Royal Mail will have a new USA PDDP service which works similarly to Royal Mail’s existing PDDP services to EU destinations and uses the same product codes. Customers will be able to choose from Tracked, Tracked and Signed and Standard services, as they do now.
The electronic data requirements for the new postal DDP services are largely the same as now and the labelling, tracking and notifications will be familiar to customers.
This service will provide Royal Mail shipping, calculation and payment of actual duties to US CBP, which will enable your items to pass through US customs. Royal Mail will then invoice you for the duties we have paid on your behalf. For more information about the terms of this service, please refer to the International Business User Guide.
Pricing of Royal Mail USA PDDP services
We want to help customers continue to export to the USA with Royal Mail and keep costs to a minimum. Individual postage pricing will remain the same for the new PDDP services as for the current USA export services. We will simply add a 50p per parcel handling charge, to cover the additional costs associated with providing clearance services into the USA. This will be invoiced as a handling fee, in addition to postage costs.
Accessing the Royal Mail USA PDDP services
To enable rapid access for account customers, we plan to upload DDP product codes to the accounts of existing US export customers during 24-25th August 2025. We’ll also upload two supplementary codes (CUE & CUO) which will be used for invoicing you for duties and handling fees. There is more information about the PDDP product codes and service specifications on our website
We plan for the PDDP account services to be available for customers to use on Royal Mail shipping solutions from Thursday 28 August 2025. If you use other shipping solutions or other means to access Royal Mail services, please check with your solution provider.
Using new PDDP services
The new USA customs requirements are effective from Friday 29 August 2025. We are planning to withdraw existing USA export services on Tuesday 26 August 2025. We recommend customers do not send items using existing services from this date, to allow sufficient time for them to reach US customs before the new requirements become effective. We are planning for there to be a short period (1-2 days) between existing services being withdrawn and new services being activated to allow us to clear all items using existing services from the UK and into the USA before 29 August.
We expect the new PDDP services to be available to account customers from Thursday 28 August 2025.
What can you do now to prepare for these changes?
Royal Mail’s PDDP service will calculate and invoice you for the correct duties on your items, but we are recommending customers familiarise themselves with the country tariffs which will apply to the goods they send. Royal Mail will make available simple tools/resources to help with this in the coming days.
If you’re not using a Royal Mail shipping solution/API, customers should speak with their service provider to check the systems you use will allow access the new USA postal DDP services.
More information
We want to help make these changes as simple as possible for our customers so you can continue to export to the USA. You can find out more on our dedicated webpage www.royalmail.com/USAbusinessupdates where we’ll provide regular updates to help you navigate these changes in exporting goods to the USA.
We’ll be back in touch next week with further information and ways in which we can help.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Irwin
Director of Export
Royal Mail & Parcelforce Worldwide |
