USA shipping update - August 2025

The latest information available to me is more positive. It looks as though Royal Mail will be using the percentage based system for everyone and they are working on an update to their processes that will allow the tariff to be collected at the time of placing an order. Further updates will become available over the coming days.

The US government has also advised that all charges must be paid prior to goods arriving in the US. If they are not they will be returned to sender.

However due to the current uncertainties I have decided to temporarily (hopefully) pause shipping to the US until it is clearer how this is all going to work. I’ll update again as soon as I can.

US shipping will be changing at the end of August 2025. The following is my best understanding of what will be changing and how it may impact you and any orders you place with Eldenwood Craft.

What's happening?

 

The US government is making changes to how it handles small parcels arriving from overseas. Until now, parcels valued under $800 haven't been charged customs duties when arriving in the US, but from 29th August 2025, that exemption is going away.

This means that even lower value parcels (like all of mine) will be subject to customs charges and it's the customer's responsibility to pay these fees upon delivery. 

 

 

For the first six months there are two possible ways the US could calculate fees:

 

A flat fee per parcel between $80–$200 (for UK parcels this would likely be $80 based on current US tariff classifications), or a percentage based fee, calculated according to the value of the item and the US tariff rate currently applied to UK goods (currently 10%). 

 

For small orders like the ones that I send out to you the percentage based fee will be significantly lower than the flat fee. 

 

As I understand it, it is the postal company that determines which system will be used on a month by month basis. 

 

After six months only the percentage based system will remain in place. 

 

 

I'm contacting Royal Mail (who I use to ship your orders) to find out which system they'll be using, whether they will be consistent with their approach, and whether they'll be applying the lower value based fee option for small parcels like yours.

Once I know how Royal Mail plans to handle things, there are two likely scenarios: 

All US orders placed up to today have been shipped, so if you are waiting on an order it should arrive well before the end of August.

What you need to do

 

For now you don't need to do anything other than be aware that unless the decision is reversed customs fees will apply to all parcels from late August onwards and these charges will be payable by you, the recipient.