NEW US SHIPPING INSANITY
If you're in the US and you aren't yet aware of the absolute clusterf*ck happening at the end of August 2025 when the de minimis import threshold is removed then we'd advise you do some reearch on how comprehensively you've been f*cked over by your government.Theres a decent explanation of what is going on HERE.
Up until the end of August the US had a de minimis threshold of $800, which means that US buyers could import up to that value in a single shipment before they get charged any import fees, but as of 29th August this was completely removed so you'll have to pay import fees on absolutely everything regardless of the value, and regardless of where its coming from. This wouldn't be so bad for us as the tariff charge from the UK to the US is only 10%. Its not ideal, but it'd be workable. Unfortunately as far as we can tell this was originally meant to be phased in by 2027, but because the malignant muppet in charge of the US is essentially an impatient toddler, he's demanded it all happens by the end of August. Obviously none of the systems are even remotely ready, so the solution US customs appear to have gone for is to just temporarily treat every single package as if it was worth $800, plus the value on the customs form, possibly just because they already have the systems in place to deal with charging for that. As it currently stands this means that EVERY package coming into the US from the UK that doesn't have tariffs pre-paid (see below for more info on this) will have a minimum $80 customs fee added to it, regardless of the actual value. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that $80 is the same as a 10% tariff on $800. Purchases from other countries will have even higher fees in line with whatever horsesh*t tariff has arbitrarily been set.
Apparently this will be in place for a minimum of 6 months and then it'll change to being a tariff on the actual package value, although obviously things might change at any random point with zero notice if Trump decides that any of this makes him unpopular. If you're in the US then as of September you're probably not going to be able to buy anything of low value from anywhere outside the US without ludicrous costs!
Yes, you are correct... this is clearly absolutely insane and will just destroy millions of small businesses worldwide! We had thought the ridiculous new EU product safety rules were ruinously debilitating and we've taken a massive hit to our income because of them, but this is just a different order of magnitude altogether. Say what you want about the orange narcissist in chief, but he has a real talent for f*cking the entire world on a deeply personal level.
There is a workaround...
Royal Mail have come up with a new Postal Delivery Duties Paid Solution (PDDP) service to the US where US buyers pay the 10% tariffs at our shop checkout, and then we pay this to Royal Mail as part of the postal charges, who then supposedly pass it on the the US authorities. Obviously this is good news for us, but also excellent news if you're the US government and are trying to convince the American public that its other countries imposing these charges or that its the shipper who pays the fees...
What this means is that if you're buying via our shop from the US you're going to see a new 10% tax amount added at the checkout. In theory thats all the difference theres going to be and the package should go through US customs without further charges being added. Thats the theory anyway... In practise we're expecting some confusion and delays, possibly with some incorrectly charged import fees. Please don't hesitate to contact us before buying if you have any questions, or if US customs are demanding extra fees. I'm not sure theres a lot we can do as we're absolutely sure that everything is done right at this end, but we're happy to help out in any way we can.
IMPORTANT - We would advise US buyers to add their phone number in the box at the checkout. This is supposedly a requirement of US customs. They don't seem to be bothering to actually enforce it, but better safe than sorry.
Sorry about all this, but its out of our hands. You can blame Trump.