Seller rule and fee changes, October 2026 to February 2027

This page lists the rule, customs and fee changes between October 2026 and February 2027 that we have confirmed from an official source and that affect sellers shipping from China direct to consumers, with one thing to check for each. Carrier charges we could not confirm on the carrier’s own page, including any FedEx or UPS peak-season changes, are not listed. We found no official 2027 Spring Festival holiday dates as of 5 October 2026, so they are not listed either. Last checked 5 October 2026. Every date comes from the official source linked in its row; confirm each change for your own routes, products and accounts before you act on it.

This is a dated planning summary, not legal or customs-brokerage advice. Your carrier, customs filer or tax adviser decides how a rule applies to your shipments.

The changes in date order

DateChangeWho it affectsWhat to checkOfficial source
to DHL Express charges a Demand Surcharge per kg of billing weight; DHL publishes the rates by service and, for Time Definite International, by origin and destination. Sellers shipping with DHL Express from China or Hong Kong. FedEx, UPS and postal routes are not covered by this row. Open DHL’s demand-surcharge page for the country your DHL account is billed in, find the China/Hong Kong origin row for your destination region, and add the per-kg surcharge to shipments in this window. DHL Express: Demand Surcharge (MyDHL+ Guatemala)
to USPS temporary holiday prices apply to Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage and Parcel Select, from 12 a.m. CT on 4 October 2026 to 12 a.m. CT on 17 January 2027. Sellers whose US last mile is USPS, or whose fulfilment partner pays USPS rates for those four products. Check your carrier or fulfilment partner’s rate card against the USPS temporary prices, and confirm whether the 8 percent surcharge from 26 April 2026 is already in your quotes before you reprice for the holidays. USPS Newsroom: Temporary price change for the 2026 holiday shipping season (25 August 2026)
US mail shipments subject to another government agency’s requirements, or to Chapter 98 or Chapter 99 duties, or claiming Chapter 98 or Free Trade Agreement duty-free treatment, can no longer use the postal informal entry process. They need formal entry or CBP’s voluntary Entry Type 13 test. Sellers sending China-origin goods to US consumers by international mail, valued at $2,500 or less, where the goods fall into those groups. Express and courier routes fall under a separate rule. Ask your mail carrier or customs filer which US mail parcels carry Chapter 99 (for example Section 301) duties or need another agency’s data, and confirm they will file them by formal entry or through Entry Type 13 after 22 October 2026. U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Indefinite Suspension of the De Minimis Exemption for Mail Shipments and New Postal Informal Entry Process (FR Doc 2026-12669, 24 June 2026)
Certificate data for CPSC-regulated consumer products arriving by international mail must be eFiled in ACE as a Full or Reference PGA Message Set with the entry. Sellers mailing consumer products that must be certified under a CPSC rule, ban, standard or regulation (for example children’s products) direct to US consumers. The importer is responsible for the filing. List every SKU you mail to the US that falls under a CPSC rule, ban, standard or regulation, have its certificate data elements (16 CFR 1110.11) ready, and confirm with your US importer of record or customs broker that a Full or Reference PGA Message Set will be filed with the entry. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: CPSC eFiling Guidance for Mail Shipments (1 September 2026)
For merchants using Shopify Tax or Tax Platform in the United States, return shipping fees are taxed like any other shipping charge. Shopify stores using Shopify Tax or Tax Platform that ship to US addresses and charge customers return shipping fees. Review any manual workaround for tax on returns before 23 October 2026 so tax is not counted twice, and tell customers or your support team that return shipping fees may now carry tax. Shopify Changelog: Tax is now calculated on return shipping fees (25 September 2026)
EU customs declarations for goods sold in distance sales of imported goods must carry, for each item, the merchant product identifier, the non-standardised manufacturer product identifier and, where one exists, the standardised one (such as an EAN). Sellers shipping China-to-EU consumer parcels declared as distance sales of imported goods, with no value distinction. The rule covers goods sold in distance sales of imported goods, not every import. Give each EU-bound SKU its merchant product identifier (on a marketplace, the identifier the marketplace gives the product itself, the same for every seller of that product and usable by customers to find it on the site, not your own seller code or a per-seller offer or listing number; on your own store, a stable model- or variant-level identifier customers can see and search on your site; never a batch, unit or per-order code), the factory’s own model or item code and, if one exists, its standardised manufacturer identifier (declare the manufacturer’s EAN if the product has one, rather than Y081). Ask your fulfilment provider or carrier who lodges the declaration for your parcels, and get written confirmation that the identifiers will be passed on as C127/C128/C129 (or Y081 where no standardised identifier exists). European Commission (DG TAXUD): Guidance on the EUR 3 temporary customs duty, version of 2 June 2026 (PDF)
USTR’s extension of 178 Section 301 exclusions runs through 11:59 p.m. EDT on 9 November 2026. After that the exclusions end unless USTR issues a further notice; none was found as of 5 October 2026. Sellers shipping from China to US consumers whose products fall within the 178 listed exclusions. Check each product’s 10-digit HTS code and its product description against the annexes of FR Doc 2025-21671 (an exclusion’s scope is set by both the code and the description) and recheck USTR and the Federal Register for any extension notice before 9 November 2026. If an item is listed, plan landed cost without the exclusion for entries after that date. Office of the U.S. Trade Representative: Notice of Product Exclusion Extensions: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation (FR Doc 2025-21671, 1 December 2025)

Each change in detail

What does DHL’s Demand Surcharge from 1 October 2026 add?

DHL Express publishes a Demand Surcharge for 1 October 2026 to 5 February 2027, charged per kg of billing weight; the Time Definite International rates vary by origin and destination.

There is no single rate: for China/Hong Kong to the Americas, the Guatemala page lists USD 2.25 per kg and the Portugal page lists EUR 2.00 per kg, both for Time Definite International.

Check the page for the country your own DHL account is billed in. Contract rates and account-specific exemptions are not settled by the published table.

Official sources:

When do the USPS holiday prices apply?

USPS filed a temporary price change on retail and commercial Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage and Parcel Select, from 12 a.m. CT on 4 October 2026 until 12 a.m. CT on 17 January 2027. It is filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission as Docket CP2026-10.

A separate 8 percent transportation-related, time-limited increase on the same products runs from 26 April 2026 to 17 January 2027.

Increases vary by product, zone and weight, and whether you pay them depends on your contract or your fulfilment partner’s rates.

Official sources:

What changes on 22 October 2026 for US mail?

22 October 2026 is the compliance date for 19 CFR 145.12(a)(2)(v) and (vi): mail shipments subject to another agency’s requirements, and goods subject to Chapter 98 or Chapter 99 duties or claiming Chapter 98 or Free Trade Agreement duty-free treatment, need formal entry. The rule itself took effect on 24 July 2026.

After 22 October 2026, filers can use formal entry or join CBP’s voluntary Entry Type 13 test, which runs until CBP announces its end in the Federal Register. The entry is filed by the owner or purchaser of the goods, or a licensed customs broker they designate.

Chapter 99 duties include the Section 301 duties on goods from China, which CBP names as an example alongside Sections 232 and 201, so China-to-US mail sellers should check this date first; whether a given product carries them depends on its HTS classification. Goods under quota or anti-dumping and countervailing duties are not part of the 22 October 2026 date: they already needed formal entry and remain ineligible for Entry Type 13.

Official sources:

What changes on 22 October 2026 for CPSC certificates on US mail?

From 22 October 2026, CPSC requires eFiled certificates for mail shipments, through a Full or Reference PGA Message Set filed with the entry (formal entry or CBP’s new Entry Type 13). The date comes from CPSC guidance issued on 1 September 2026, not from CPSC’s Final Rule.

Mail was not exempt before that date: since 8 July 2026 the Final Rule has required certificate data for products imported by mail to be entered in CPSC’s Product Registry before arrival. Entries from a foreign trade zone follow on 8 January 2027.

Only consumer products subject to a CPSC rule, ban, standard or regulation that must be certified are covered, and the importer is responsible for the filing.

Official sources:

What changes for Shopify return shipping on 23 October 2026?

Starting 23 October 2026, merchants using Shopify Tax or Tax Platform in the United States will have return shipping fees taxed like any other shipping charge.

Stores on other tax apps, and stores that do not charge return shipping, are not covered by this change.

Official source:

What must EU customs declarations show from 1 November 2026?

From 1 November 2026, declarations for goods sold in distance sales of imported goods must carry, for each item, the merchant product identifier (the identifier assigned by an online seller, marketplace or platform), the manufacturer’s non-standardised identifier and, where one exists, the standardised one such as an EAN.

Commission guidance says these go in data element 12 03 000 000 ‘Supporting document’ as codes C127 (merchant), C128 (non-standardised manufacturer), C129 (standardised manufacturer) or Y081 (no standardised identifier exists), whenever additional procedure code F48, F49 or F53 is used.

Operators could provide the identifiers voluntarily from 1 July 2026, without sanction for missing or incorrect data during that period; effective enforcement starts on 1 November 2026. The limited tolerances in the guidance apply by commodity code and are not a general grace period.

Official sources:

When do the US Section 301 exclusions for China goods end?

USTR extended the 178 existing Section 301 exclusions through 11:59 p.m. EDT on 9 November 2026. The notice’s narrative and USTR’s press release say “until November 10, 2026”, but the operative text ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT on 9 November 2026.

After that the exclusions end unless USTR issues a further notice; none was found as of 5 October 2026. They cover only the listed HTS codes and product descriptions, and they do not cover other duties such as IEEPA or Section 232 tariffs.

Official sources:

Announced, date not fixed

This change has an official basis and an announced amount, but no fixed start date yet. It stays out of the dated table until one is published.

When will the EU’s Union handling fee start?

Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, published in the Official Journal on 19 September 2026, requires customs to collect a fixed Union handling fee per item when goods sold in distance sales are released for free circulation. A Commission delegated act of 21 September 2026, C(2026) 6694, sets the amount at EUR 2 per item, but it has not been published in the Official Journal and the European Parliament or the Council can still object within 30 days of notification.

The start date is not fixed. The fee applies from 10 days after that delegated act enters into force, which is its day of publication in the Official Journal; the Commission says the fee is expected to start applying in November 2026.

An item means goods in a consignment with the same tariff classification and description (and origin, where the declaration requires it), not a parcel, and the fee is not limited to consignments of EUR 150 or less. Until the EU’s importer-for-distance-sales provisions apply, it is owed by the declarant, typically the person entitled to use IOSS or an indirect customs representative, and it is separate from the temporary €3 customs duty that has applied since 1 July 2026.

What to check: Watch the Official Journal (EUR-Lex) for publication of the delegated regulation establishing the amount of the Union handling fee, C(2026) 6694; the fee applies from the 10th day after it. Count the items per order now, and confirm with your IOSS intermediary or customs representative who will be billed as the declarant.

Official sources:

Continue with

Fulfilment from China to Europe: transit times, IOSS and the €3 customs-item duty → How the EU €3 duty is counted per customs item → Express and Standard shipping times by country → Will my customers have to pay customs or import fees? →

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