Now more expensive and longer: Nova Poshta and Ukrposhta update delivery rules in the US

Ukrainian postal operators have updated their delivery rules to the US due to changes in the country’s legislation introduced by President Donald Trump.

Thus, starting from August 29, 2025, the duty-free threshold of $800 (the so-called “de minimis”), which was previously applied to the import of personal goods into the United States, as well as any goods purchased abroad in foreign online stores and marketplaces, will be canceled.

The new rules provide that all international shipments to the United States will be subject to customs duties and taxes — regardless of value. This can lead to longer customs clearance times and additional costs.

The customs duty for goods originating in Ukraine is set at 10%.

New mail

Starting from August 26, when sending parcels to the US via Nova Poshta, the sender can choose whether the recipient or the sender will be the payer.

If the sender pays: 10% of the shipping cost is added to the shipping cost, and customs clearance services are included in the tariff.
If the recipient pays: the recipient must pay 10% of the shipment value upon receipt, as well as customs brokerage services — $25 per shipment.

The recipient will receive an email with a link to pay for customs duties and customs brokerage services, and only after payment will delivery be made.

The final amount of duty and customs brokerage will be determined at the time of customs clearance upon delivery to the United States.

Important: The US customs authorities are tightening control over deliveries, so they will pay special attention to the correctness of the description of the goods, the authenticity of the country of origin, compliance with the declared purpose of export, and the accuracy of the declared market value. If violations are found, the goods may be detained and additional charges may be imposed.

For customers of the Nova Poshta mobile application:

Customers of the mobile application will be informed about changes in US law. They will be able to create an MEN according to the standard procedure, and in the branch they will be asked whether
they want to pay the fee for the Recipient.

For users of the Nova Poshta personal account:

At the stage of filling out the invoice, you will have the opportunity to select the “Payer of customs payments”:
recipient or sender. The corresponding calculations will be displayed in the interface, as shown in the screenshot:

For customers who use the Nova Post API:

A technological solution has been developed to select a customs payer for the United States. To do this, you need to change the request:

Ukrposhta

Ukrposhta has engaged qualified agents to process customs payments. To compensate for the cost of their services, shipping rates to the US will increase by an average of $1.5-3 depending on the category and weight of the shipment.

According to Ukrposhta CEO Ihor Smelyansky, Ukraine “will have a competitive advantage” because European suppliers are temporarily unable to send goods by mail, and we — the lowest duty in Europe (for the EU countries the rate is 15%, Moldova – 25%, Switzerland – 39%). Ukrposhta does not impose additional brokerage fees.

“Please do not play the “lottery” and do not indicate in your commercial shipments that these are “gifts” because now the control in the United States will be tightened. Ukrposhta will tighten control at border offices to avoid accusations of re-exporting goods from countries with higher customs rates.” — Smelyansky wrote.

Source: Liga.net, press service of Nova Poshta