US orders after the de minimis ends on 1 July 2027: what changes at the packing station

For an Indian D2C brand, the US de minimis has already gone.

Duty-free entry for US shipments worth $800 or less has been suspended for every country since 29 August 2025. What changes on 1 July 2027 is that a US law ends it for good. So there is no point waiting for it to come back.

I would set the packing station up for the way US entry works now.

Checked against official sources on 28 October 2026.

My short answer: every US parcel now needs a customs entry with item-level data, and that data must exist before the parcel reaches the bench.

At the bench, the packer's job grows. Scan every unit, print the customs documents with the label, check the origin mark on each item, and record the weight and a photo. If you send US orders by post, one more date matters: 20 January 2027.

We export to 20+ countries, but mostly by the pallet and the container, not by the single parcel. So I will be honest: the one-parcel US lane is not our daily work.

What we do know well is how one wrong document can hold a shipment. A D2C parcel lane has the same problem, many times a day.

What exactly changes, and when?

1. 29 August 2025: the US suspended de minimis for all countries by executive order. A later order of 20 February 2026 kept the suspension in place.
2. 24 June 2026: US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) made the suspension indefinite in its own regulations, through two interim final rules: one for couriers and cargo (FR Doc 2026-12670) and one for mail. Shipments under $800 must now use formal or informal entry.
3. 24 July 2026: a new postal informal entry for mail items worth $2,500 or less started.
4. 20 January 2027: mail items that are regulated by other US agencies, that attract Chapter 98 or 99 duties, or that claim duty-free treatment under Chapter 98 or a Free Trade Agreement must use formal entry. CBP moved this compliance date to 20 January 2027 in a final rule published on 22 October 2026 (FR Doc 2026-21600).
5. 1 July 2027: section 70531 of Public Law 119-21 ends the statutory de minimis exemption.

The gift and traveller exemptions are not affected.

A sold item is not a gift.

Duty rates are a separate question. They have changed more than once since 2025, including after a ruling of the US Supreme Court on tariffs in early 2026.

I will not predict them. Your courier or broker can give you the rate on the day for your codes.

What does a US entry need from your warehouse?

For every item in the parcel:

1. A plain description of what it is and what it is made of. "Cotton kurta for women" is a description. "Apparel" or "gift" is not.
2. The quantity.
3. The unit value and the total value, at the price the customer actually paid.
4. The country of origin of the item. That is where it was made, not where your warehouse is.
5. The US tariff code (HTSUS, 10 digits). Its first 6 digits are the international HS code, which your 8-digit Indian ITC-HS code also starts with. So your export code is the starting point.
6. For goods regulated by other US agencies, such as food or cosmetics, the extra data those agencies ask for.

For the parcel as a whole: the name and address of the buyer, the weight and the box size.

None of this should be typed at the bench. I mean it.

A packer in a hurry will write "gift" or "clothes". I would put it in the item master, once per SKU, and have one person who understands it check every line.

I would start with one check this week. Take your ten best-selling US SKUs. Look up each one in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule search of the US International Trade Commission. Write the description, material, origin and code next to each. Where a column stays empty, that SKU is not ready for a US parcel.

What changes at the packing station?

1. Flag US orders when they are released to the floor, so they go to a station set up for them. Mixed into the general flow, their documents get missed.
2. Scan every unit. What you declare must match what is in the box. (Our guide on how to cut mis-shipments has the scan-to-verify set-up.)
3. Print the customs documents with the shipping label, from the same data, in one action. Where your courier accepts electronic trade documents, upload them instead of printing. FedEx was reported to be adding a $25 fee for trade documents handed over on paper, from 18 January 2027 (Supply Chain Dive, 21 September 2026). Check the terms of your own courier.
4. If your courier still needs paper documents, put them on the outside of the box in a clear document envelope, so the courier or customs can read them without opening the parcel.
5. Check the country-of-origin mark on each item. US rules require every imported article, or its container, to be marked in a conspicuous place, as legibly, indelibly and permanently as the article allows, with the English name of its country of origin (19 CFR 134.11, eCFR). "Made in India" on the product or its retail pack is the usual way. If an item cannot carry a mark, ask your broker whether marking its container is acceptable.
6. Weigh and photograph the packed parcel with the label in view. If customs or the courier asks a question later, the photo answers it. Keep it.

Point 5 is easy to forget, because no customer in India ever asks for it. I would put it on the station checklist in big letters.

Bundles, samples and mixed origins

1. A gift set with items made in different countries needs the origin and value of each item, not one line for the whole set.
2. A free sample inside a paid parcel is still goods. Declare it. Ask your broker what value to put on it.
3. If you resell a few imported products alongside your own, their origin is the country where they were made. A label printed in your warehouse does not make them Indian.

If you send US orders by post

Postal informal entry has covered most low-value mail items since July 2026.

From 20 January 2027, though, a mail item that another US agency regulates (food and cosmetics are common examples), or that claims a Free Trade Agreement rate, needs formal entry.

Ask your postal channel or consolidator, in writing, how they will file these from that date and what data they need from you. Some brands may find it simpler to move those SKUs to a courier lane.

A side note on the EU

The EU has removed its €150 customs-duty relief for low-value parcels. Since 1 July 2026, a flat €3 customs duty applies to low-value parcels sent to EU consumers by sellers registered in the EU IOSS scheme, until a full system replaces it, expected on 1 July 2028 (Council of the EU, 11 February 2026). The same item data that clears a US parcel will serve you there too.

What to do now

1. Before the end of December 2026: add the customs fields (description, material, origin, HS and HTSUS codes, value) to the item master for every SKU you sell to the US.
2. Before 20 January 2027: if you ship by post, find out how regulated items will be filed, and move them to a courier lane if needed.
3. In the first quarter of 2027: set up the US station, the document printing and the electronic upload. Run a week of US orders through it and look at every parcel that was held.
4. 1 July 2027: if the first three steps are done, nothing on your floor needs to change that day. That is the point of doing them early.

This guide is general information, not customs or legal advice. US rules on duties and entry have changed often since 2025, so please confirm the current position with your courier or a licensed customs broker before you ship.

If a US parcel of yours has been held, tell us the reason it was given, through the contact page. We will keep this guide current with what we hear.