De Minimis: the $800 Duty-Free Threshold Is Gone

What de minimis used to do

Section 321 of the Tariff Act allowed shipments under USD 800 in value to enter the United States free of duty and taxes, with minimal formalities. It was the mechanism behind an entire business model: sell direct from a Chinese warehouse, ship small parcels, absorb a cheap last-mile cost, and never think about HTS codes.

That model was built on a rule, not on a cost advantage. When the rule changed, the economics changed with it — and no amount of carrier discounting makes a duty obligation disappear.

What importers actually experience now

• Duty applies to low-value shipments. The calculation is the same HTS-based stack as any other commercial import: MFN plus any Section 301 layer, plus the 12.5% forced-labor tariff where it is not exempt.
• Filing applies too. There is a customs transaction behind the parcel, with an importer of record named on it. Under a DDP arrangement that is the seller; under DAP or FOB it is the buyer.
• Fees apply regardless of duty. MPF has a minimum of USD 32.71 per entry, which is disproportionate on a small parcel — and on consolidated e-commerce entries it is charged per entry, not per parcel.
• Carriers pass it on with a fee. Express and postal operators collect the duty and add their own disbursement or handling charge, which is why consumer-facing platforms now show duty at checkout.

What this does to a direct-from-China e-commerce model

The fixed cost per entry is what breaks the economics, not the duty rate alone. Three structures survive, and all three move volume rather than eliminating cost:

1. Consolidate into commercial-scale entries. Combine orders into a single entry so the MPF minimum and the clearance cost are spread across more value.
2. Hold stock in the US. Import in bulk, store at a 3PL, and fulfil domestically. The duty is paid once on the bulk entry at a lower unit cost, and delivery times collapse from weeks to days.
3. Change the product mix. Where duty is now 40% of landed cost, some SKUs simply cannot support the direct model. That is a pricing decision made with the duty stack in front of you, not a logistics one.

Cost out the bulk option with the landed cost calculator, and check the exemption position on the forced-labor tariff page — for some consumer electronics the exemption still applies, and that changes which SKUs are viable.

What not to do

• Do not undervalue. Under- declaring customs value to reduce duty is fraud, and the importer of record carries the exposure even when a supplier or platform set the number.
• Do not split artificially. There is no longer a threshold to stay under, so splitting achieves nothing except more filing cost and more scrutiny.
• Do not rely on last year's freight calculator. Most published e-commerce landed-cost tools were built on the de minimis assumption and have not been rebuilt. Check the date on whatever you are using.

Consumers' attention has moved on, but the compliance obligation has not. Every one of these measures is listed, with its effective date and HTSUS line, on the 2026 duty stack.