US import duties on AliExpress orders — what changed
The de minimis exemption that let low-value parcels enter the US duty-free ended in 2025. Here is what that means for the price you actually pay.
For years the calculation on a cheap import was simple: the listed price plus shipping was what you paid. Parcels under a threshold entered the United States without duty, which is a large part of why buying a $12 part from overseas made sense at all.
That exemption — de minimis treatment — ended for global shipments in August 2025 and has remained suspended since. Low-value parcels that previously entered duty-free now owe import duties.
What this changes about the arithmetic
The listed price is no longer the price. A $20 order can arrive with a duty bill attached, and the rate depends on what the item is classified as rather than on what the seller called it.
Two practical consequences:
Small orders lost their biggest advantage. The economics of buying a $3 part were built on paying $3. With duty and handling added, the saving against a domestic seller narrows and sometimes disappears.
Larger orders are relatively less affected. Duty is proportional, but the fixed handling and brokerage charges are not. A single $80 order absorbs those fixed costs better than four $20 orders do.
This inverts the old advice. It used to be sensible to split orders to stay under the threshold. Now consolidating is usually cheaper.
Who collects it, and when
This varies by carrier and by how the seller ships, which is the frustrating part — you often do not know until the parcel is in the country.
Some sellers and platforms now collect estimated duty at checkout. That is the better outcome: the number is visible before you commit and there is no surprise at the door.
Others ship without prepayment, and the carrier bills you on delivery, usually with a brokerage fee added on top. That fee is frequently a larger share of the total than the duty itself on a small parcel.
What to check before ordering
Whether duty is collected at checkout. If it is, the total you see is the total you pay. This is worth preferring even at a slightly higher listed price.
Which carrier the seller uses. Postal services and courier companies handle customs differently, and courier brokerage fees are usually higher.
Whether it ships from a warehouse inside the US. Some listings do. Those are domestic shipments — no duty, no brokerage, and days rather than weeks. This is now a much larger advantage than it was.
The total against a domestic alternative. Run the comparison with duty included rather than on the listed price. For some categories the gap is still large; for others it has closed.
Where this leaves cheap imports
Not dead, but narrower.
Still clearly worth it: things with no domestic equivalent at any reasonable price. Specialist parts, unusual components, bulk consumables where the multiple is five or ten times rather than two.
Now marginal: small commodity items where a domestic seller was already within about 50% on price. Once duty and handling are added, the difference is often gone.
Better than before, relatively: larger single orders and anything shipping from a domestic warehouse.
The short version
Stop treating the listed price as the price. Check whether duty is collected at checkout, prefer listings that ship domestically, and consolidate rather than split. The old habit of keeping orders small to stay under a threshold now works against you.
Rules and rates change. Verify the current position with your own customs authority before a large order rather than relying on any site — including this one — to be current.