All countries have rules about what happens if you order something online from another country. You may have to pay tax, and for larger orders there may be duty payable. In addition, there may be a handling charge.
For a long time the USA has had quite a generous scheme, whereby an individual could received up to US$800 value in shipments on any one day, regardless of which country the goods had originated from, and there would be no charges levied at all.
However back in May 2025, this exemption was removed for all shipments from China and Hong Kong. Then, at the end of July 2025, the USA announced that the scheme (known as the De Minimus scheme) would be completely suspended for ALL shipments to the USA at the end of August 2025.
So, starting from the beginning of September 2025, if a customer in the USA orders any item online from any other country, customs charges will be levied when it reaches the USA. In other countries, the courier or shipping company - once it has been told by customs what charges apply - will contact the customer and request payment before delivering the parcel.
However at the moment this is not how it will work in the USA. My guess - and it is only a guess - is that the carriers have not had enough notice to set up the process of collecting payments from customers. Instead the carriers will only accept shipments to the US on a 'duties paid' basis, and this means that they will simply pass the customs charges back to the shipping company (our warehouse here in the UK in our case).
So our web site has been adjusted so that when you place an order (assuming you are in the USA) the customs charges will be added at that point - you will see a new entry on the invoice called 'duties'.
