Ed. note: This article was corrected on Aug. 18 to further clarify rules surrounding the international postal network.

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Vintage and secondhand lovers are set to get hit with more tariffs on most parcels after the United States government announced it will remove a rule that allows low-value packages to enter the country duty-free.

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On Jul. 30, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that packages arriving into the U.S. valued at or under US$800 would be charged tariffs, import duties and taxes as of Aug. 29.

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The de minimis exemption, also known as Section 321, currently covers a large portion of the vintage, antiques and secondhand goods from independent sellers being sent into the U.S.
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How much each parcel will receive in tariffs and duties — or whether it will receive tariffs and duties at all — depends on how it is shipped into the U.S.

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For packages shipped via express or commercial carrier (such as DHL, UPS and logistics providers), “all applicable duties” will apply. This means the tariff rates that have been adjusted in 2025 for more than 180 countries, plus any pre-existing duties.

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For packages shipped through transportation carriers that use the international postal system (such as ChitChats DDP and Stallion Express DDP), tariffs will be applied in one of two ways, determined by the carrier: via the tariff rate that corresponds to the package's country of origin, or, for a period of only six months, via a special rate of US$80 to US$200 per item in the package.

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The breakdown of the latter is as follows: Packages containing products of origin from countries with a tariff rate of less than 16 per cent receive duty of US$80 per item. For countries with a tariff rate between 16 and 25 per cent (inclusive), the duty will be $160 per item, and for countries with a tariff rate above 25 per cent, the duty will be $200 per item.

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Vendors using transportation carriers such as ChitChats DDP and Stallion Express DDP will be required to pre-pay tariffs and duties at time of shipment, meaning buyers are off the hook for at-the-door fees.

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For packages shipped via postal service (such as Canada Post), duties and taxes will apply, but delivery duty unpaid will remain available for an unspecified period as the post offices in the dispatching countries work toward implementing systems to collect duties and remit to the U.S. government.

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The move is intended to earn revenue on the 1.36 billion de minimis shipments that enter the U.S. every year, mainly from large e-commerce companies such as Temu and SHEIN. In 2015, only 134 million de minimis shipments entered the U.S — a difference of over 900 per cent.

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On May 2, the Trump administration already removed the de minimis exemption, also known as Section 321, for goods that were originally made in China, Hong Kong and Macau.

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It's already had an effect on volume: Reuters reported in July that the amount of shipments arriving via air cargo from Asia has decreased by 10.7 per cent since the de minimis exemption was lifted.

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For all you need to know on how this may affect you as a buyer or a seller, who pays the tariffs and what you can do about it, visit our main resource on this topic: How tariffs work in the vintage & secondhand market — and what's affected.

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