DHL suspends B2C shipments over 800 USD until further notice

[gip]

And very soon that will apply to packages with values below $800 as the de minimis exemption is being phased out I reckon. Not exactly business-friendly, the government should be able to handle the load before enacting these rules at least.

[teeray]

> the government should be able to handle the load before enacting these rules at least.

No, no… that’s the point. We often think of costs in monetary values only. Costs are two-dimensional: money and time to acquire the good. This is a tariff on time.

[syntaxing]

So...you can't buy anything over $800 to the US now from other countries?

[rietta]

You have to satisfy the business requirement, which may be pretty easy to do. I am not sure. Just indicate it's for your side hustle business.

[londons_explore]

You just have to ship with another carrier, not DHL.

And it is the carrier who does most of the customs work these days - government delegates most of the enforcement to carriers.

[londons_explore]

Reading between the lines, it's pretty clear they're telling everyone to declare values as $799.

[tpm]

that exemption will expire in 2 weeks

[anamax]

A couple of months ago, I saw something about Temu paying the tariffs for all of their shipments to the US in bulk but still shipping them individually.

The basic idea was that they'd figure out the tariff on everything they shipped during a time period as if it was done in one shipment, pay that, and then do individual shipments.

I suspect that something like this will happen.

Of course, there will be auditing to ensure that companies don't pay tariffs on $10M worth of goods when the actual total is $100M, but that's doable.

[flyflewflaw]

Australian businesses collect a value added tax (called GST) on almost all sales (some exempt goods). The same tax is payable on sales in Australia and imports.

For big intl retailers the effect is as you describe, they collect and remit the tax, then their shipments are considered tax paid when imported otherwise they would be held at customs.

It probably wouldn't be that hard to audit just with data from the major payment processors.

[hsbauauvhabzb]

Please as ‘shipments to the US’ in the title. DHL operates globally and the title is misleading.

[h05sz487b]

Bye bye USA. Was nice trading with you.

[master_crab]

Wouldn’t be surprised if UPS and FedEx follow suit. The frequently shifting tariff silliness is forcing companies to sit things out.

[AStonesThrow]

I mean, how often is it really necessary for an ordinary consumer to directly import stuff?

The last time I imported from an overseas order, I was enthralled by a hot blonde Irish singer and buying all her CDs, but most of them were also on eBay from American sellers who already did the messy work of importing goods.

[cantrecallmypwd]

The footgunning unravels the US economy in myriad ways with unintended consequences. Brain drain, tourism, and higher prices with stagflation are just the beginning. It will take a few months to a year, but I think the disillusionment will slowly sow the field for competency and compassion.

[Arainach]

>I think the disillusionment will slowly sow the field for competency and compassion.

What do you mean by this, and why do you consider it plausible?

The mass media and way too many people continue to say "surely the Trump administration will see reason and admit failure" when they have NEVER ONCE done that in the last 9 years.

[ummonk]

I’m guessing a lot of customers are being tardy in paying tariffs, leaving DHL to deal with packages that won’t clear customs. Probably a much bigger issue for B2C shipments than B2B shipments.

[wffurr]

Nothing to do with tariffs, which is clear in the first paragraph:

Effective April 5, 2025, all shipments to the U.S. with a declared customs value over USD 800 require formal entry processing - down from the previous USD 2,500 threshold due to new U.S. Customs regulations.

[rietta]

How does a home-based business demonstrate their business bona fides here? Having a business account with DHL? Having a business name?

[TechDebtDevin]

You can get an Biz entity(and anyone who shoukd have one likely already does or has been meaning to) for < $50.00 and you can bet your ass that number will be coming down as the economy falls apart. During the covid crisis I could register LLCs in Colorado for $1.00 with a yearly renewal fee.

[cantrecallmypwd]

DUNS number and/or EIN.

[malcolmgreaves]

It’s a bad era to do business in the US :(

[ndsipa_pomu]

It's a bad era to do business with the US :(

[zombiwoof]

The maga destruction continues

[gbin]

I cannot imagine the scale of the economical damage of all this...

[trhway]

In the StarTrek style future you could get anything you need for free. We're just exiting the era where we were having anything we wanted for $9.99 or whatever low silly price the people in Guangdong and Dongguan were ready to accept. Is there a difference between the free and low silly price? Yes, the low silly price still makes you not-that-wasteful like the free could. Anyway, it is the end of an era.

And it wasn't just era of cheapness, it was also an era of variety, as many trinkets which were economical to produce for the whole world wouldn't be economical to produce in/for the walled tariff gardens.

[ac29]

It doesnt apply to businesses.

And, consumers importing amounts over $800 is probably fairly unusual.

[kylehotchkiss]

DHL for consumer mail in USA is a minor player compared to USPS, FedEx, and USPS. IIRC, they don’t even own the planes they fly here, just charter them. Those are the ones to watch for shipment suspensions.