For a US customer, the print location decides whether an order pays import duty. An item printed in a US facility and shipped inside the country pays none on the order itself. An item printed abroad and shipped to the US now pays duty on every order, because the duty-free allowance for small parcels is gone. That single routing decision is worth more to your margin in 2026 than any price test.
This guide is current as of September 28, 2026. US trade rules changed several times this year and are still being challenged in court, so check the date on anything you read, including this.
What changed: the end of de minimis
Until 2025, parcels worth under $800 entered the US without duty. That exemption, called de minimis, is what made shipping single orders from overseas cheap. It ended for China and Hong Kong in May 2025 and for every country on August 29, 2025, and a Federal Register notice in June 2026 made the suspension indefinite.
Many blog posts and course materials still describe the $800 rule as current. It is not, and a source that says otherwise is out of date on the most important fact in the business.
What an imported order pays now
An order printed outside the US can stack three layers of duty:
- The normal duty rate for the product's tariff code. It varies widely by product; apparel is among the higher categories.
- Section 301 duties tied to forced labor enforcement: 10% or 12.5% depending on the country of origin, applied to goods from 60 economies since July 24, 2026.
- The older Section 301 duties on China, where they apply. These stack on top and push some categories past 50% in total.
The forced labor duties are being challenged at the Court of International Trade, including by 25 state attorneys general, and the earlier emergency tariffs were already struck down this year. The rates could change again. For the exact rate on a specific product, a customs broker with the product's tariff code is the only reliable source.
What it means for POD sellers
US customers: print in the US
Printful says US orders fulfilled in its US facilities carry no tariffs for the customer, and that it routes every possible US order to those facilities. With Printify, the choice is yours: pick a print provider located in the US for products you sell to US buyers, and check the provider's location before you pick on price alone.
One caveat: many blank garments are imported before they are printed, so tariffs paid on blanks can still reach you through higher base prices. The order itself is duty free; the product underneath may not be.
Orders printed abroad
When a US order is printed in Europe or elsewhere, duty applies. Printful uses delivered duty paid (DDP) shipping, which means duties are paid up front and shown in the shipping price at checkout, so your customer is not asked for money at the door. That protects the customer experience, but the duty comes out of your margin. Printful paused EU to US shipments when de minimis ended and resumed them on September 11, 2025.
Recalculate your margin
If any of your US orders are printed abroad, rerun your numbers with duty included. A product that cleared a thin margin in 2024 can be at a loss once 10 to 25% of its value goes to customs. The full cost breakdown is in print on demand profit margin, and the platform choice is covered in Printful vs Printify.
Why this is worse for dropshipping than for POD
Classic dropshipping ships individual orders from overseas warehouses, which is exactly the model the de minimis change targeted. POD with US print facilities avoids the problem for US customers almost entirely. That gap is one of the biggest structural shifts between the two models this year; the wider comparison is in print on demand vs dropshipping for solo sellers.
A short checklist
- List where each of your products is printed for US orders.
- Move US orders to US facilities or providers wherever the product exists there.
- For anything still printed abroad, add duty to your cost and reprice or drop it.
- Watch base price changes on blanks from your provider.
- Recheck in a few months: the court cases can change the rates in either direction.
Frequently asked questions
Do my customers pay tariffs on POD orders?
Not on orders printed and shipped inside the US. On orders printed abroad, the duty is either paid up front by the provider (and passed to you in shipping costs) or collected from the customer on delivery, depending on the provider and carrier.
Is the $800 duty-free rule coming back?
Nothing announced suggests it. The June 2026 notice made the suspension indefinite.
Does this affect sales to customers outside the US?
These rules are about goods entering the US. Other countries have their own duty and tax rules; the EU, for example, charges VAT on imports of any value.
Where do I find which niches still work at current margins?
Our niche reports rank demand and competition, and the margin math above tells you whether a niche is worth it at your print location.