Temporary Pause in Shipping to the USA.
Starting 16th August we are pausing shipping to the USA.
As of August 29th the U.S. government is removing the de minimis exemption of $800 on goods coming into the USA. This means that all orders, no matter the value will be charged import taxes and fees when they arrive.
We have heard that these fees could be quite high and the last thing we want is our valued American customers to have an unwelcome surprise with these extra costs for their order to clear customs.
In addition to this, if a parcel is refused due to non-payment of the tariffs, we will have to pay for the return shipping. For a small business like ours, this is a risk and we would not be able to absorb these costs.
Finally, it is likely that shipments to the USA will be subject to delays when the new regulations come into effect, we are nervous that parcels will be stuck at customs so it is beneficial to pause shipping whilst the process settles down.
For these reasons, regrettably we have to pause shipping to the USA whilst we figure out the best way forward. The last few years have been a challenging time for all businesses shipping and receiving goods internationally. It is exhausting reading government export and import changes and it is so frustrating when something completely outside of your control affects your livelihood.
This change is a huge blow for us, so many of our wonderful customers are in the USA and we are looking forward to sending our packages of beautiful papers your way again as soon as possible. Thank you for being such an important part of our story.
For anyone interested to know a little more about the history and issues faced read on!
De minimis is a legal doctrine by which a court refuses to consider trifling matters. The name of the doctrine is a Latin expression meaning “pertaining to minimal things” or “with trifles”.
History of De Minimis
The U.S. de minimis exemption was originally established in 1938 primarily to avoid wasting resources on tiny value shipments. Under the Tariff Act of 1930 almost every product entering the U.S was subject to customs and duty. The de minimis exemption allowed shipments with a value of $1 or less to be exempt.
Over time, as international trade evolved, the threshold was raised to $200 in 1993, helping simplify the process for small parcels and cross-border commerce. Then, in 2016, the limit was significantly increased to $800 under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act— a move that helped boost eCommerce and made it easier for U.S. customers to shop from small international sellers.
On July 30th 2025 President Trump signed an executive order to suspend the de minimis exemption globally, meaning any shipment into the U.S. (no matter how small or where it comes from) will now face tariffs or a flat import charge.
What this means for us
At Quince & Quill we sell a variety of products from different parts of the world, among others there are:
Japan Silk-screen printed papers (Chiyogami) and Stencil-Dyed papers (Katazome-shi)
India Hand block printed papers
Italy Decorative patterned papers
Nepal Handmade lokta papers
UK Decorative patterned papers
Every product will now be subject to a tariff when being imported to the U.S.
The U.S. government has applied different tariffs to countries. At the date of writing this article, goods manufactured in the UK or Nepal, for example, have a 10% tariff, Japan and Italy a 15% tariff and India, potentially a huge 50% tariff. These charges are in addition to a Share of U.S. Imports charge (between <1% - 4.5% for the countries listed above).
For an order that contains a mix of products manufactured in different countries, the highest level tariff will apply to the whole order.
At Quince & Quill we have previously shipped orders to the U.S. via Royal Mail International Tracked Service. On entry to the U.S. this hands over to USPS.
Currently, USPS simply do not have the infrastructure in place to handle a full import procedure for all incoming shipments, so they have instead been authorised by the US Government to apply a FLAT RATE tariff amount of $80 - $200. This will be in place until the end of January 2026. At this time they will then have procedures in place to handle tariff charges consignment by consignment.
Shipments sent with courier services such as FedEx, DHL or UPS, already have the infrastructure in place and can handle imports individually, as such, they will be calculating the accurate tariff, duty and taxes for each consignment and charging the American consumer directly for these prior to release of the shipment. We haven’t shipped via these courier services before so will be exploring the options, trying to navigate the best way to resume shipping.