Do I pay customs on packages under $800?

The $800 figure people remember is the de minimis threshold — the value below which a shipment could enter the United States duty-free with minimal processing. It was genuinely generous, and for years it meant most personal orders from abroad arrived with no customs charge at all. That is over. The suspension applies regardless of value, regardless of whether the item is for personal use, and regardless of which country it came from.

What trips people up is assuming the suspension set a rate. It did not. Removing the exemption only means your shipment gets assessed; the amount comes from your product's classification in the tariff schedule and its country of origin. A pair of shoes and a phone case from the same seller on the same day can carry very different charges. And on top of the duty there are federal processing fees, plus whatever your courier charges for advancing the money and filing the paperwork — which on a cheap item is often larger than the duty itself.

One practical consequence worth knowing: because low-value shipments now require an actual entry, the entry type matters for your fee. Informal entries — generally under $2,500 — carry a fixed processing fee of $2.69, $8.06, or $12.09 depending on how the entry was handled. The formal-entry minimum of $33.58 does not apply to them. If a bill on a small parcel shows the formal minimum, that is worth questioning.