Online Sellers Face Global Suspension of ‘De Minimis’ Exemption

Platforms like eBay and Etsy will reportedly be impacted by the global suspension of the “de minimis” exemption that allowed packages valued at less than $800 to enter the U.S. without paying tariffs.

The suspension was announced Wednesday (July 30), and the platforms have spoken out against the policy in the past, Reuters reported Thursday (July 31).

Jeffrey Zubricki, global head of advocacy and public policy at Etsy, responded in March to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) request for feedback on a proposal to remove the de minimis exemption, according to the report.

“Many American Etsy sellers rely on de minimis to import and export products with key trading partners, sustaining their businesses and generating income to support their families,” Zubricki wrote, per the report.

EBay also provided feedback to the CBP, saying, per the report, that de minimis gave Americans access to “a global market to find value at lower prices, particularly for used goods and a unique, collectible inventory that is not available domestically.”

The company also said in a Wednesday earnings report that elimination of the de minimis exemption could impact its revenue, according to the Reuters report.

The de minimis exemption on imported goods from China was ended on May 2, and it was reported in June that Temu lost 58% of its eCommerce platform’s daily U.S. visitors in May after that change was made.

Chinese eCommerce retailers like Temu used the de minimis exemption to sell goods at lower prices by shipping them directly to consumers in the U.S.

The White House announced in a Wednesday fact sheet that President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the de minimis exemption for all countries, saying that this “catastrophic loophole” was used to evade tariffs and import illegal, unsafe and below-market products into the U.S.

The fact sheet said that between 2015 and 2024, the number of de minimis shipments entering the country increased from 134 million to over 1.36 billion.

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