U.S. Import Duties: A Transparent Look Behind the Scenes
When you order handmade ceramics from our studio in Latvia and ship them to the United States, you may wonder why duties aren’t included in your product price — and why our shipping rates for parcels up to 2 kg are higher than standard postal fees.
This article explains exactly how import duties work, why no international platform (Etsy, Squarespace, Shopify, etc.) allows sellers to pre-charge them inside listings, and why — for small parcels up to 2 kg — we do prepay duties on your behalf, resulting in a higher shipping fee.
We always want you to understand what you’re paying for and why.
1. What Are Import Duties?
When ceramic tableware enters the United States, U.S. Customs assigns it an HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) classification.
Handmade ceramic household items fall under HTS 6912.*, which carries an approximate 14.5% import duty.
This fee is:
charged by U.S. Customs,
based on the value of the parcel,
and required for all non-U.S. goods entering the country.
It is not a fee set by the seller.
It is not something Etsy or Squarespace can collect for us.
And it is not part of the shipping price by default.
2. Why We Cannot Include Duties in Product Prices
Across all e-commerce platforms — Etsy, Squarespace, Shopify, Woocommerce — sellers can only set:
item price
shipping price
optional shipping upgrades
coupons
There is no system to add international duties at checkout.
If we tried to include duties inside the price manually:
A. Those amounts would become taxable income on our side
We would be required to add 21% Latvian VAT on top of the duty amount — even though the money isn’t ours.
B. Platforms would apply their fees to the duty portion
Whether on Etsy or Squarespace:
Etsy takes roughly 10% commission on the entire item price.
Squarespace Payments / Stripe / PayPal take processing fees on the full amount.
So a 14.5% customs duty suddenly becomes:
21% VAT
10% selling fees or processing fees
currency conversion charges
C. It would be unfair to customers in countries with no duties
Some countries charge 0%.
Others charge different rates.
Adding duties into item prices would overcharge many customers.
D. Duties depend on the final order value
Every cart total is different — so the duty must be calculated by customs, not by us.
For all these reasons, including duties inside the product price is impossible and would make your order unnecessarily expensive.
3. When We Do Prepay Duties: Small Parcels Under 2 kg
Here is where things become platform-independent and logistics-driven.
Small parcels (up to 1 kg or 2 kg)
ship via the Latvian National Post.
This system requires electronic pre-declaration of customs data — and for U.S. shipments, this process includes the duty payment upfront, directly from the sender.
This means:
For parcels up to 2 kg, we must pay the U.S. import duties before the parcel leaves Latvia.
If we didn’t prepay duties:
We would have to switch to FedEx for even the smallest items.
FedEx for small parcels costs 40–45 EUR (≈ $43–48 USD) per parcel + duties paid by customer.
This would make a single mug or cup shipping extremely expensive.
After evaluating all options, we made a decision that protects customers from unreasonable courier costs:
4. Our Updated Shipping Fees for Small U.S. Parcels (Duties Included)
Because we prepay duties for you, our small-parcel shipping rates look like this:
✔ Up to 1 kg → 37 EUR (≈ $40 USD)
Includes U.S. import duties
(typically single mugs, cups, bowls, small gifts)
✔ Up to 2 kg → 42 EUR (≈ $45 USD)
Includes U.S. import duties
(2–3 mugs, or slightly larger combinations)
These fees are higher than basic postal rates because they include the U.S. duty payment, which we are required to make upfront on your behalf.
This allows us to:
keep small-item shipping affordable,
avoid pushing every small order into expensive FedEx service,
prevent you from receiving a separate customs bill,
ensure fast and smooth customs clearance.
For small orders, this is the most cost-effective and customer-friendly method currently available.
5. Larger U.S. Orders (Over 2 kg): Duties Are Paid by the Customer
For heavier parcels, we switch to FedEx, which offers “duties billed to recipient” services.
This system does not force us to prepay duties on our side.
With FedEx:
you pay duties directly to U.S. Customs upon arrival,
and because we are not collecting duties ourselves,
you avoid extra VAT and platform fees.
This keeps larger-parcel shipping as economical and transparent as possible.
6. What About U.S. Sales Tax?
This is separate from import duties.
On Etsy: sales tax is automatically collected from U.S. buyers based on their state.
On Squarespace: sales tax is collected if the seller is required to register in that state (very rare for international sellers).
Sales tax is not import duty.
Sales tax is a domestic state tax.
Import duty is a federal border tariff.
They are not related.
7. Our Commitment to Transparency
We know international shipping can feel complicated.
This is why we structure everything with honesty and simplicity:
For parcels up to 2 kg (<4.4 lbs)
We prepay duties → shipping is 37–42 EUR → no customs bill for you.
For parcels over 2 kg (>4.4 lbs)
You pay duties upon arrival → shipping via FedEx → no VAT or platform fees added.
This system prevents unnecessary mark-ups and keeps our pricing fair for customers worldwide.
Thank you for valuing handmade work and for supporting a small women-led studio across the ocean. 🤍
