Private label and importing into the United States

If you are reading an Amazon course written before 2026, this is the lesson where it is most dangerously out of date. The rules that let small shipments into the United States without duty or paperwork are gone, tariff policy has been through a Supreme Court decision, and the arithmetic of importing a pallet has changed. Everything below is dated and sourced for that reason.

The $800 exemption is gone

For years, shipments valued at $800 or less could enter duty-free with minimal paperwork under Section 321 — the de minimis exemption. That is over.

Following the executive order suspending duty-free de minimis treatment, which took effect on 29 August 2025, and an interim final rule effective 24 June 2026, CBP's own guidance states that the exemption is indefinitely suspended for merchandise valued at $800 or less arriving via all modes, including the international postal network, unless specifically excepted. The only remaining exceptions are bona fide gifts and personal or household articles accompanying travellers — and a gift explicitly does not include anything acquired by purchase.¹

What replaces it, for commercial goods:

• Informal entry for shipments valued at $2,500 or less.
• Formal entry above $2,500, and for restricted merchandise at any value.
• A separate mail informal entry process for postal shipments up to $2,500, effective 24 July 2026.
• Entry may only be filed by an owner or purchaser of the merchandise, or by a licensed customs broker properly designated by the owner, purchaser or consignee.
• A bond is required — a basic importation and entry bond, single transaction or continuous, with the conditions in 19 C.F.R. § 113.62, effective and on file in CBP's electronic system before any activity occurs.¹

Tariffs in 2026: check, do not assume

Duty rates depend on the product's classification in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule and on its country of origin. On top of ordinary rates sit programme tariffs, and in 2026 those moved twice.

On 20 February 2026, in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the Supreme Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorise the President to impose tariffs, noting that the statute contains no reference to tariffs or duties.² The tariffs imposed under that authority were revoked, and refund proceedings followed. Other tariff programmes, imposed under different statutes, were unaffected and remain in force.

We are deliberately not printing a rate table. A course page with 2026 tariff numbers will be wrong by the time you read it, and being wrong about duty is expensive. What to do instead: get the HTS classification for your exact product, confirm the current rate for that code and that country of origin, and have a customs broker confirm it in writing before you commit to a purchase order.

Landed cost, properly

The number that belongs in lesson 1's spreadsheet is not the factory quote. It is the landed cost per unit.

Incoterms, in one paragraph you will actually use

Incoterms are the standard shorthand for who pays for what and where risk passes. The three you will meet: EXW, where you collect from the factory door and everything after that is yours; FOB, where the supplier gets the goods onto the vessel and you handle the sea freight and import; and DDP, where the supplier delivers duty paid to your address.

DDP looks attractive and hides the two things you most need to see: what duty was actually paid, and whether the entry was filed correctly in your name. A supplier who quotes DDP and is vague about the entry is asking you to trust a customs declaration you have never read, made on your behalf. For a first import, FOB with your own broker teaches you the real cost structure, and the education is worth the extra emails.

Vetting a factory

1. Ask for samples and pay for them. A supplier who will not sell you one unit will not solve a defect in a thousand.
2. Ask what they already make. Factories specialise. One that makes your product category every week is a different proposition from one that will “arrange” it.
3. Ask about certification for your category before designing anything. Electronics, anything with a battery, children's products, anything touching food or skin — each has a compliance regime, and finding out afterwards means the goods are already made.
4. Book an inspection before the balance payment. The standard arrangement is a deposit, then inspection, then the balance. Inspecting after paying in full is not an inspection; it is a complaint.
5. Get the packaging specification in writing, including the country of origin marking and the barcode placement your marketplace requires.
6. Keep the chain documented. Lesson 7's point applies here too: if you cannot show where your goods came from, you cannot defend a complaint.

Who is the importer of record

Somebody must be legally responsible for the entry, the accuracy of the declaration and the duties. If that is your company, you carry the obligation and the liability, and you will need the bond described above. A customs broker files on your behalf but does not take on your responsibility for the correctness of the entry.

A non-resident owner with a U.S. company is in a workable position here, which is one more reason lesson 2 came early. The mechanics for your particular structure — bond type, broker arrangement, who signs what — are a conversation with a licensed broker, and the first one is usually free because they want the business.

Mistakes that are expensive at this scale

• Planning on the old de minimis rules. They are suspended for all modes, including post.
• Using a tariff rate you read somewhere. Confirm the current rate for your HTS code and origin, in writing, before ordering.
• Quoting margin from the factory price. Margin is calculated from landed cost.
• Accepting DDP without seeing the entry. You are still the one whose name is on a declaration.
• Skipping inspection to save a few hundred dollars. The saving is a rounding error against a container of unsellable goods.
• Designing the product before checking compliance requirements. Retooling after production is the most expensive lesson in this course.
• Ordering a full production run on the first order. The first order is a test of the supplier as much as the product.

Next

Lesson 10 takes the goods from the port to the customer: fulfilment by Amazon against shipping yourself, prep and labelling requirements, shipping plans, capacity limits, and the storage costs that quietly eat slow-moving inventory.