Shipping a Parcel to the USA in 2026: Costs, Duty and What You Need

Asking what it costs to ship a parcel to the United States used to have a simple answer: check the carrier’s rate card and you were done. Not any more. Since the US suspended its de minimis exemption, postage is only the first of three costs you end up paying — and usually the smallest. Worse, depending on which country you post from, your national postal operator may not accept the parcel at all. Here is what changed, what you will actually pay, and what to prepare before you ship.

What changed: the end of de minimis

For decades, a shipment worth up to 800 USD entered the United States free of duty and without a formal customs entry. That regime — de minimis — was suspended for all countries on 29 August 2025. Since then practically every shipment containing goods is dutiable regardless of value: a five-dollar phone case just as much as a laptop.

The immediate consequence was that national postal operators across Europe had no way to transmit the new US data set or collect duty up front, so they stopped accepting goods parcels to the US altogether. Express carriers were unaffected in principle — DHL Express, UPS and FedEx have always filed formal entries — but their shipments became noticeably more expensive once duty applied to everything.

The postal route is back — but only partly

Postal services are returning one country at a time, and the conditions differ. Two illustrative examples from Central Europe:

• Czech Post stopped accepting goods on 22 August 2025 and resumed on 1 July 2026 — but most shipments now require pre-clearance through a dedicated app that calculates and collects duty in advance and issues a declaration ID valid for five calendar days. Without that ID the counter will not take the parcel.
• Slovak Post reopened more cautiously: printed documents from spring 2026 and, since 21 April 2026, gifts worth up to 90 USD. Commercial goods parcels remain suspended.

The practical lesson is the same everywhere in Europe: check your own national operator before you rely on the postal route, and expect some form of advance customs data and prepaid duty. If the post office is closed to your shipment, a broker or an express carrier is the fallback — see our guide to sending parcels abroad.

What shipping actually costs

For a small parcel (say 30×20×15 cm, up to 2 kg) sent from within the EU, indicative prices look like this:

Option	Indicative price	Delivery
National post (where available)	~€15–25	1–3 weeks
Broker / consolidator (Eurosender and similar)	~€35–60	3–6 working days
Express (DHL Express, UPS, FedEx)	~€60 and up	1–3 working days

Treat these as guidance rather than a rate card: the actual price depends on weight, dimensions, fuel surcharges and the destination state — a delivery to California costs more than one to the East Coast. For a side-by-side look at the two most common express options, see our comparison of DHL Express and FedEx, and the United States shipping page for the wider picture.

Add duty and clearance fees

This is where the difference between “postage” and what actually leaves your account appears. Every goods shipment now carries:

• Duty on the value of the goods. The rate follows the product category and its origin; for EU-origin goods it currently sits around a 15% ceiling under the EU–US trade arrangement. Steel and aluminium are taxed considerably higher.
• A clearance or brokerage fee charged by the carrier — or, on the postal route, by the pre-clearance service (typically a small fixed fee plus a percentage of the duty assessed).
• Storage charges if the parcel is held because the data you supplied was incomplete.

A worked example: you ship goods worth 120 USD by courier. Shipping €45, duty at roughly 15% (€16) and a brokerage fee on top — the real cost lands near €70 for a €45 shipment. On cheap goods you can easily pay more in duty and fees than the contents are worth, which is why fewer, larger consignments now beat many small ones.

What to prepare before you ship

• A specific description of the contents. “Cotton T-shirt, 1 pc” works; “gift”, “sample” or “clothing” does not. Vague descriptions are the single most common reason parcels are held — see how to describe parcel contents.
• An HS code and a realistic value. Tariff classification is no longer optional: without it duty cannot be assessed. Under-declaring value is a customs offence, not a saving — our HS code guide explains how to find the right one.
• The recipient’s phone number and email. US clearance frequently stalls without a reachable recipient.
• A check that the contents may be shipped at all. Food, cosmetics and supplements fall under FDA rules — see prohibited items in parcels.

Three things that save money and hassle

• Consolidate. Clearance fees are charged per parcel, so one 5 kg shipment almost always beats three 2 kg ones.
• Ship DDP where you can. Prepaying duty (delivered duty paid) means the recipient is not ambushed with a bill and a handling fee on the doorstep — the goodwill is usually worth more than the price difference.
• Insure valuable goods properly. Postal liability is nominal; for anything worth several hundred euros an insured courier service is the sensible choice — see parcel insurance and compensation.

If you are shipping the other way — buying from US retailers and importing into Europe — the rules are different again, and we cover them in customs and VAT from the USA to Europe. And if you are unsure which option fits your particular parcel, our advisor will suggest one based on weight, value and urgency.

Quick facts

Shipping a Parcel to the USA in 2026: Costs, Duty and What You Need

schedule Updated 05/08/2026

Summary

Shipping a parcel from Europe to the United States changed fundamentally on 29 August 2025, when the US suspended its de minimis exemption for all countries. Goods worth under 800 USD used to enter duty-free; now practically every shipment is dutiable and needs a formal customs entry. European postal operators suspended goods traffic to the US in response, and they are coming back one country at a time and with new pre-clearance requirements — so the postal route is no longer guaranteed. Express carriers (DHL Express, UPS, FedEx) and brokers never stopped. Budget for three costs, not one: shipping (roughly €35–60 by broker, €60+ express for a 2 kg parcel), duty (currently capped around 15% for EU-origin goods) and clearance fees.

De minimis suspended

since 29 Aug 2025 — no duty-free threshold, any value

Postal route

suspended EU-wide in 2025, returning country by country

Always available

express carriers and brokers — formal entry as standard

Duty on EU-origin goods

around 15% ceiling under the EU–US deal

Shipping cost (2 kg)

~€35–60 broker, ~€60+ express

Best practice

ship DDP (duty prepaid) and consolidate parcels