Shopify De Minimis Changes 2026: What Merchants Need to Do Now

If you run a Shopify store and ship across borders, the de minimis changes rolling through 2025 and 2026 affect you directly. The US suspended its duty-free de minimis exemption for all countries in August 2025 — and confirmed in February 2026 that the suspension stays. Now the EU is following: its €150 customs duty exemption ends on July 1, 2026. That’s weeks away.

Here’s what changed, who’s affected, and the concrete steps to take in your Shopify admin this week.

This is general information, not legal or customs advice.

What is de minimis, and why did it matter?

De minimis is a value threshold below which imported goods clear customs without duties. For years it was the quiet engine of cross-border ecommerce: shipments under $800 entered the US duty-free, and parcels under €150 entered the EU without customs duty. A small merchant in Canada, the UK, or Australia could ship a $40 order to a US customer and never think about tariff classifications. Those days are over.

What happened to US de minimis?

The short answer: as of August 29, 2025, de minimis no longer applies to shipments into the United States. Duties and import taxes now apply to all US imports, regardless of shipment value.

Executive Order 14324 suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for all countries. In February 2026, a follow-up executive order confirmed the suspension continues — including for shipments sent through the international postal network. There is no reinstatement on the horizon.

In practice, this means:

A $25 parcel into the US is now subject to duties, just like a $2,500 one.
Non-postal shipments of any value must be formally entered through CBP’s ACE system by an authorized filer (usually your carrier or customs broker).
Duty rates depend on what the product is (its HS code) and where it was made (its country of origin) — typically ranging from 0% to over 25%, per Shopify’s guidance.

One detail merchants often miss: tariffs are determined by the product’s country of origin, not your business location. If you’re a US dropshipper whose products are made in China and ship to US customers from abroad, this applies to you too.

What’s changing in the EU on July 1, 2026?

The short answer: the EU’s €150 customs duty exemption for small parcels ends July 1, 2026. From that date, low-value parcels entering the EU are subject to a €3 flat-rate customs duty per consignment line item under an interim system.

The Council of the European Union gave final approval to the new rules in February 2026, accelerating a change originally planned for 2028. A separate €2 customs handling fee per line item is expected no later than November 1, 2026 — bringing the combined charge to €5.

The flat rate is temporary. Once the EU’s Customs Data Hub is fully operational (targeted around 2028), it will be replaced by full classification-based duties — calculated from each product’s HS code and country of origin, applied to all goods regardless of value. Even where flat fees apply for now, accurate HS codes and origin data are becoming mandatory infrastructure for selling into the EU.

Who is affected by these changes?

If any of these describe you, you’re affected:

• Non-US merchants selling to US customers — every shipment now attracts duties.
• US merchants who dropship — products made and shipped from outside the US are imports, regardless of where your business is registered.
• Anyone selling into the EU — flat fees from July 1, 2026, HS-code-based duties behind them.
• Merchants using postal carriers — postal shipments are explicitly included in the US suspension.

Only merchants who manufacture, stock, and sell entirely within one country are largely untouched.

What does Shopify say merchants should do?

Shopify’s core advice: add Harmonized System (HS) codes and country of origin to all of your products. Per the Shopify Help Center, if a product is missing an HS code, duty calculations fall back to the product’s description and category — and if those are missing too, duties aren’t calculated at all, even when you’ve turned on duty collection at checkout.

Shopify’s recommended action list for merchants affected by the US change:

1. Add HS codes and country of origin to all products — individually, in bulk, or via CSV.
2. Review your pricing to evaluate absorbing or offsetting the new duty costs.
3. Consider collecting duties and import taxes at checkout, so customers aren’t surprised by fees on delivery.
4. Choose your fulfillment strategy — Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) labels prepay duties and avoid delivery-day surprises; Delivered at Place (DAP) shifts costs to the customer, often with extra carrier collection fees.
5. Update your shipping and returns policies to reflect those choices.
6. Test your checkout as a US customer would see it.

Steps 2–6 are settings and policy decisions you can make in an afternoon. Step 1 is the bottleneck — and the one that catches merchants out.

What happens if you skip the HS codes?

Missing or wrong HS codes have three predictable costs:

• Customs delays and holds. Parcels without proper classification can be held, returned, or refused entry. 
• Wrong duty calculations. Missing data means estimates based on description guesswork — or no duty collected at checkout and an angry customer paying it at the door.
• Non-compliance exposure. Penalties, seizures, and denial of import are all on the table per Shopify’s documentation.

How do you add HS codes and country of origin fast?

There are three ways: edit each product manually, round-trip an inventory CSV, or use a bulk-editing app. For a handful of products, manual is fine. For a full catalog, it isn’t — Shopify’s product page method means opening every single product, and the CSV route requires exporting, editing in a spreadsheet, and re-importing without breaking anything.

We compare all three honestly in How to Bulk Add HS Codes to Shopify Products

The fast path: HS Code & Origin Bulk Editor lets you set HS codes and country of origin across your whole catalog — filtered by collection, vendor, or product type — directly in the Shopify admin. No CSV export-import cycle, no editing products one by one.

With the EU deadline landing July 1, 2026, the merchants who get their catalog data right this month will clear customs without drama. The ones who don’t will be debugging held parcels in Q3.

FAQ

Is US de minimis coming back in 2026?

No. The suspension that took effect August 29, 2025 was extended by executive order in February 2026, and it applies to all countries and all shipment values, including postal shipments. There is currently no reinstatement planned.

Does the US de minimis change affect dropshippers?

Yes. Tariffs are determined by the product’s country of origin, not the seller’s location. A US-registered store that ships products made in China from an overseas warehouse to US customers pays duties like any other importer.

When does the EU de minimis exemption end?

The EU’s €150 customs duty exemption ends July 1, 2026. From that date, low-value parcels are subject to a €3 flat-rate duty per consignment line item, with a €2 handling fee expected by November 1, 2026. Full HS-code-based duties are planned once the EU Customs Data Hub launches, currently targeted around 2028.

Do I need HS codes on every Shopify product?

If you ship internationally, yes. Shopify states HS codes are required for international orders. Without them, duty estimates fall back to product descriptions and categories — and if those are missing too, no duties are calculated at checkout at all.

What’s the fastest way to add HS codes to a large Shopify catalog?

A bulk-editing app is fastest for full catalogs. HS Code & Origin Bulk Editor applies HS codes and country of origin by collection, vendor, or product type in a few clicks, with no CSV export-import cycle. Manual editing suits small catalogs; CSV suits merchants comfortable with spreadsheet round-trips.

Should I collect duties at checkout or let customers pay on delivery?

Collecting at checkout (DDP) gives customers a final total upfront and avoids surprise carrier fees on delivery — Shopify recommends it where available. Letting customers pay on delivery (DAP) can mean extra brokerage charges and refused parcels. Either way, accurate HS codes and origin data are required for the estimates to be right.

This is general information, not legal or customs advice. Customs rules change — verify current requirements with official sources or a licensed customs broker.

Sources :

• White House: Continuing the Suspension of Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries (Feb 2026) — whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/02/
• CBP: Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries — help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1919
• Shopify Help Center: Duties and import taxes — help.shopify.com/en/manual/international/duties-and-import-taxes
• Shopify Help Center: Adding HS codes to your products — help.shopify.com/en/manual/international/shipping/hs-codes
• European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union: €150 customs duty exemption removal — taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu