We’ve answered versions of this question in September and November. With a full year of this new cost environment now behind us, and Valentine’s Day bringing its own smaller wave of international orders, worth a version reflecting what’s actually settled into place versus what’s still evolving.
“It’s been almost a year since the de minimis exemption ended. Has anything gotten easier, or am I still handling this the same way I was last fall?”
What’s genuinely settled at this point
Based on what we’ve tracked all year, most sellers who source internationally have landed on a stable approach by now, whether that’s absorbing costs, passing them on selectively, or shifting to domestic alternatives. If you’re still handling this reactively, month to month, a full year in, this is a reasonable moment to actually finalize a consistent policy rather than continuing to decide case by case.
What hasn’t changed: the core distinction still matters
The same distinction we’ve repeated since September still holds: your own sourcing costs from importing materials are a separate issue from a buyer’s own country charging import duties on an outgoing shipment. If you’re still mixing these up in how you communicate with international buyers, this is worth clarifying once and for all in your standard shop policies.
What’s worth revisiting given a full year of data
If you set a pricing or messaging approach reactively last fall, under real uncertainty, this is a good moment to check whether it’s still the right one now that you have a full year of actual experience with international order outcomes, delivery timing, customer satisfaction, actual cost impact, to base a more confident decision on.
Valentine’s Day specifically: a smaller-scale test of your current approach
With a modest wave of international Valentine’s orders likely arriving over the next two weeks, this is a good, lower-stakes opportunity to confirm whatever policy you’ve settled on is working smoothly, before the much larger international order volume of next Q4 arrives.
What we’d suggest at this point in the year
If you haven’t already, write down your actual, settled policy on international tariffs, customs communication, and pricing, clearly enough that you could hand it to someone helping you run the shop without further explanation. A year of real experience should have produced more clarity than the uncertainty we were all navigating together back in September of last year.
The bottom line
A year into this new cost environment, the goal now is consistency and confidence in an approach you’ve tested, rather than continuing to treat this as an open, unresolved question the way it genuinely was throughout last year.
