USPS can now bill you for the duties your overseas buyer did not pay, even if the package was lost or sent back

What changed on October 19

Since October 19, 2026, USPS can send you an invoice for duties, taxes or import fees on a package you mailed abroad if a customs authority, postal operator, customs broker or customs representative in the destination country asks you or USPS for them and they were not paid in full. You must pay the whole invoice by its due date even if you dispute it, and you owe it whether the item is delivered, lost, damaged or returned. Late payment carries 6% a year interest, and USPS can recover its collection costs. The source is USPS's interim final rule, 91 FR 66000 (document 2026-21310), published and effective October 19, 2026. It adds section 424 to the International Mail Manual (IMM), and USPS is taking comments until November 18, 2026.

USPS's stated reason is the EU. Its notice says the European Commission eliminated the de minimis exemption for most low-value goods as of July 1, 2026, that some EU postal operators now require a delivered duty paid solution, and that when an item is sent duty unpaid and the charges cannot be recovered from the addressee, the destination postal operator may seek the unpaid amount from the mailer. Section 424 itself is not limited to the EU. It applies when any "relevant party in the destination country" seeks the money.

This is the outbound side. The US ending de minimis, and the January 20, 2027 deadline for some mail shipments, concern goods coming into the US, and we cover them in our de minimis analysis. The 12.5% Section 301 duty discussed there does not apply to what you mail abroad.

The rule in one table

Every row is the rule's own wording or a close paraphrase. Section numbers refer to the IMM text printed in the Federal Register notice.

Who is exposed: where you can prepay and where you cannot

Who pays duties on a USPS package abroad depends on the destination. Section 424.1 says it depends on factors "including, but not limited to, the customs requirements of the destination country." USPS's Prepaid Import Duties page says that if you do not prepay, "the recipient will have to pay the required amounts before they can get their package." The new rule adds the step after that: if the recipient does not pay and the destination goes after you or USPS, USPS invoices you.

The way to prepay is USPS Delivered Duty Paid. It works only with Priority Mail Express International, Priority Mail International and First-Class Package International Service. It is not available with First-Class Mail International, International Priority Airmail or M-bag service, and only through USPS systems: a Post Office counter, Click-N-Ship, certain USPS APIs or USPS Global Shipping Software. Shippers who create their own manifests or pay by permit cannot use it. USPS charges no fee for DDP, but its service provider does, and that fee is included in the quote along with the duties, taxes and fees.

What the charges can look like: the EU example

The EU is the case USPS had in mind, and its charges are public. The European Commission says that from July 1, 2026 a temporary €3 customs duty applies on low-value parcels, per item by tariff classification and not by quantity: five T-shirts cost €3, and three T-shirts and a watch cost €6. USPS describes the same duty as "flat, nonrefundable" and says it applies to business-to-consumer packages up to €150. From November 1, 2026 the EU adds a €2 Union handling fee. The Commission's customs-reform page says so, and Dutch Customs describes it as €2 per declaration line, regardless of value, and non-refundable when delivery fails or the recipient refuses or returns the shipment. VAT and country-specific fees come on top.

Hypothetical, using only those published amounts: a parcel with 3 T-shirts and a watch that a buyer in the Netherlands refuses. Under our reading that two tariff classifications make two declaration lines, the duty is €6 and, from November 1, the handling fee is €4, so €10 before VAT and any national fees. The numbers are small. The point is that none of it is refundable, and since October 19 USPS has a written process to invoice it to you if the destination looks to the sender.

Why it matters: the refused parcel is the exposure

Hypothesis, not a USPS statement: on a delivered order the buyer pays at the door and the question never reaches you. The new exposure is the parcel that is refused, abandoned or returned, where the destination may now look to the sender and USPS has a billing path. Before October 19 a refusal cost you the postage, the return and the sale. Now it can also cost the foreign charges, which USPS will not let you argue about and which are not refunded when you refund the buyer (the EU's €3 duty and €2 fee are non-refundable, per USPS and Dutch Customs). On a €15 item, €5 of EU duty and handling fee is a third of the sale before VAT (hypothetical).

Where the destination requires DDP, the exposure is yours from the start, because IMM 112 now says you must send those parcels on a DDP basis. USPS's notice says the invoice can follow when charges "have not been paid in full using USPS Delivered Duty Paid service," so our reading is that paying in full through DDP removes the usual trigger. It is not a blanket shield. USPS's page says the DDP provider covers a shortfall between its quote and what customs actually charges only subject to the terms and limitations in its terms of service, and when a limitation applies the customer pays the provider the balance.

Prepaying also changes your price. The quote includes the duties, taxes, fees and the provider's fee, and USPS adds it to the postage. That cost is real whether the buyer pays it at checkout or you absorb it, so decide before you list which destinations you will serve and what you charge them.

What to do this week

None of this needs new software. It needs a list of destinations and a decision for each.

• List every country you shipped to in the last 90 days and mark each as required, available or not listed using the table above. Check your own label provider's list as well, because USPS's list covers only USPS systems.
• For required countries, ship only if your label tool prepays duties, whether that is USPS DDP or another solution your marketplace or label provider offers. IMM 362 says USPS-approved PC Postage providers and third-party marketplaces may use alternative solutions for collecting and remitting duties, and USPS employees accept those parcels as they would DDP ones. Ask your provider in writing which solution it uses.
• For available countries, use DDP on orders where a buyer who refuses would cost you most: low-value items and anything bound for the EU. Add the quoted duties, taxes and fees to the shipping charge or the price.
• For countries you cannot prepay, choose: stop shipping there, add a clear buyer-pays-duties notice to the listing and order message, or accept the risk with the numbers in front of you. Keep the notice, the customs form and the tracking number for each order so a later invoice can be matched to it.
• Make customs forms exact. The EU duty counts per tariff classification, and USPS's system assigns codes from your item descriptions. IMM 112 now says a mailer that provides false or incomplete information may have the parcel returned or confiscated and "may be subject to additional charges."
• Open invoices the day they arrive. You can contest USPS accounting errors only. The foreign amount must be challenged with the foreign customs authority, postal operator or broker, and USPS does not wait for that to finish.
• If you want to weigh in on the rule, USPS takes comments until November 18, 2026 at PCFederalRegister@usps.gov with the subject line "Customs Requirements and Payment Procedures."

Questions sellers ask about USPS duty billing

Answers are from the Federal Register notice, USPS's own pages and the EU authorities named, read October 27, 2026. Where the sources are silent, we say so.

Does USPS bill me if the recipient refuses the package?

The rule does not mention refusals by name. It says you remain liable "regardless of whether the item is delivered, lost, damaged, or returned," and a refused parcel usually ends as a returned one. The trigger is a destination party seeking unpaid amounts from you or USPS, so a refusal that leads to such a demand can end in an invoice. USPS's DDP page adds that duties, taxes and fees on a refused or undeliverable DDP package are not refunded unless the provider's terms say so.

What is USPS DDP and which services include it?

It is a service that lets you prepay a destination's duties, taxes and fees at the time of mailing. It covers Priority Mail Express International, Priority Mail International and First-Class Package International Service, to the countries in the table above. USPS charges no fee itself, but its service provider's fee is built into the quote.

Do returned or lost items still generate a bill?

Yes, if the destination seeks unpaid charges from you or USPS. Section 424.2 says the obligation does not depend on delivery, loss, damage or return.

Is there interest on late payment?

Yes. Section 424.4 sets interest at 6 percent per annum if payment is not received by the invoice due date, plus collection costs where the law allows. It does not say how many days you get, because that is in the invoice terms.

Does this affect Etsy or eBay international orders?

It affects any order where you buy a USPS international label and are the sender on the customs form. Etsy's help center says US sellers can buy USPS labels, domestic and international, on Etsy, and it recommends carriers that offer DDP. We could not verify whether Etsy's USPS international labels prepay duties automatically, or how Etsy's or eBay's US programs treat a refused parcel. IMM 362 says marketplaces and label providers may use their own duty-collection solutions, so read your provider's terms before assuming either way.

Can I dispute the duty amount with USPS?

Only USPS accounting errors. The amount the foreign side charged must be challenged with the foreign party, and you must pay the invoice meanwhile.

Does this apply only to the EU?

No. USPS wrote it because of the EU, but section 424 applies to any destination country where a relevant party seeks unpaid duties, taxes or import fees from you or USPS.

Is this the same as the US ending de minimis?

No. That concerns goods mailed into the US. This rule concerns what other countries charge on parcels you mail out.

What we are watching next

November 1, 2026: the EU's €2 handling fee, which the Commission says starts then. USPS's DDP page did not mention it when we read it on October 27, so watch whether USPS quotes it in DDP prices and whether it updates its country listings.

November 18, 2026: the end of the comment period. Because this is an interim final rule, USPS can revise it. Watch for invoice terms, such as due dates and payment methods, which the rule leaves to the invoice.

Additions to the DDP country list. USPS says more destinations are expected. Each one moves a country from "not listed" to a place you can prepay. The rest of our shipping coverage is in the parcel surcharge calendar, and our wider analysis is on the intelligence dashboard. Our dated calls are on the forecast scorecard; none covers this rule today. Our broader marketplace analysis is in the October Intelligence Dossier. If your marketplace fees stack with shipping, see our Etsy and eBay fee pages.