US Shipping Info

 

From 29 August 2025, the US government is cancelling something called ‘de minimis exemption’ which previously allowed low-value goods (defined as below $800) to enter the US without any customs, duties or taxes being due. The US government will now be adding a 10% tariff on most UK goods shipped into the USA.

 

 

The advice we have received is that what are called ‘Informational Materials’ are exempt from the 10% tariff. The legal definition of "informational materials" explicitly lists “phonograph records” (which covers vinyl LPs and singles) and “compact discs” as examples of informational materials. The list is illustrative, not exhaustive - meaning similar media that communicate information (including music) are also covered. So blu-ray audios would be included, for example. We do not expect any of our US customers to be required to pay tariffs when these kinds of goods enter the USA and either way, goods are being sent 'duties paid' anyway (see below).

 

 

Goods to the USA will be sent via a new ‘duties paid’ shipping rate. That means you will not have to pay any duties on any product regardless of whether it’s exempt or not. This will still be a fully tracked service. As mentioned above, duties for vinyl, CDs and blu-ray should be zero. For other things (T-shirts, for example) the duties will be 10%.

 

 

There has been a small increase in US shipping charges because of new admin fees being levied. We think our tracked, 'duties paid' shipping fee remains great value.

 

 

Hard to say at this moment in time. The idea behind ‘duties paid’ shipping is that, in theory, it should go through US customs without any delays, but with new systems in place, and newly trained officers at the borders, dealing with new processes, we would recommend adjusting your expectations a little bit until things settle down. We are also proceeding with an abundance of caution and may choose to ship US bound orders in stages to mitigate the risk of a large batch being impacted with some issue or other.

 

 

In a word, no. Orders placed before 29 August that are due to ship after that date, will ship ‘duties paid’ even if that was not the service you paid for when you pre-ordered the item.

We hope this information is useful. As you know things can change quickly with the US administration, so we will be sure to update this page with further information on US shipping when necessary.