Just wondered how everyone is finding shipping to the US with the new tariffs and duties in place?
We are using Royal Mail click and drop to post everything DDP so the customer doesn’t have any additional costs at their end, and the tariffs haven’t been horrendous so far. It looks like paper goods are £0 or very minimal. Our clothing that comes from Bangladesh is getting a 16.5% tariff with RM which isn’t as bad as we initially thought (still sucks though!)
The issue we have is the Shopify duties and taxes collection. We have set all our HS codes and countries of origin on all our clothing, but when we do a test checkout, Shopify is asking the customer for 36.5% tariffs and duties.
I spoke with customer support and they couldn’t see why it was happening. Their initial suggestion was to add the tariff into the product cost for US orders - but that is a ridiculous suggestion as it will just make the tariff amount higher! The other suggestion was to use one of their shipping services, but we don’t seem to have any US shipping service options pop up - theres no ‘create a shopping label’ button, just ‘fulfil order’
They couldn’t seem to offer any fix for this so we’ve had to switch it off and now we individually message every US customer and send an additional invoice for the tariff amount. This sucks though as we’ve had a few cancelled orders as a result.
Any ideas what might be causing an extra 20% to be added? I don’t want to add yet another app to my store. At this point I’m paying a fortune every month for apps for features that should really be included with the store anyway.
Anyone having any luck getting it all set up?
Hey @Shopcorblimey,
You’re not the only one running into this. The Shopify “Duties & Taxes” tool is still kind of patchy, especially when it comes to UK → US shipments under the new tariff setup. A few things could explain why Shopify is showing 36.5% instead of the 16.5% you’re actually paying with Royal Mail.
- Double duty calculation
- “Default rates” vs. “preferential rates”
- VAT vs. Duty confusion
- No carrier integration
My hunch is Shopify is applying the MFN (full) tariff rate of 36.5% for Bangladesh clothing instead of the reduced 16.5% preferential rate you’re actually paying with Royal Mail.
Thank you for responding! I did wonder if there was maybe an extra 20% duty being added but they couldn’t find anything when I suggested that, and it does appear that they are applying the full tariff rate. It also sounded like it was sorta tough luck and they aren’t going to fix it 
The 36.5% vs 16.5% gap has a specific explanation. Shopify’s duty calculator uses commercial carrier (MFN) tariff rates, while Royal Mail uses postal duty rates. For Bangladesh-origin clothing, the MFN rate to the US is higher than the postal rate Royal Mail applies.
Shopify added a setting specifically for this. Go to Settings → Taxes & Duties → Manage → scroll to Related settings → toggle on “Use postal duty rates into the United States.” When enabled, Shopify calculates duties using postal rates instead of commercial carrier rates at checkout. This should bring your checkout estimate much closer to what Royal Mail actually charges.
If that toggle isn’t available on your plan, the other option is to add the full 10-digit HTS code for the US market on each product. Go to each product → Shipping → Customs information → Add HS codes by country/region → select United States → enter the specific US HTS code. A more specific code often produces a more accurate rate than the generic 6-digit one.
On the missing “Create shipping label” button — that only appears if you have a Shopify-supported carrier set up (like DHL Express or USPS). Since you’re using Royal Mail Click & Drop externally, you won’t see it in Shopify. That’s normal for UK sellers using Royal Mail — you fulfil through Click & Drop, not through Shopify’s built-in label system.
The workaround of individually invoicing US customers for tariffs isn’t sustainable. The postal duty rates toggle is the quickest fix to try.