{"id":4053,"date":"2026-10-28T12:35:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T12:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hereweship.com\/us-postal-data-requirements-2026-seller-guide\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T12:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T12:36:17","slug":"us-postal-data-requirements-2026-seller-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hereweship.com\/en\/us-postal-data-requirements-2026-seller-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"US Postal Data Requirements 2026: What Sellers Must File"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since October 22, 2026, US-bound postal parcels are filed into ACE \u2014 the same customs system commercial imports already in use.<\/strong> A mail parcel valued at $2,500 or less now enters through the postal informal entry process, where partner government agencies can see it and require their own data before it clears. Practically, that means the declaration you put on a postal shipment is no longer a customs form read by a human at the border: it is an electronic entry that either files or does not.<\/p>\n

The same date started a second requirement. The Consumer Product Safety Commission now requires Children's Product Certificates to be filed electronically for mail shipments. If you sell anything designed primarily for children aged 12 or under, that certificate is no longer paperwork in a folder \u2014 it is a data element without which the entry cannot be filed.<\/p>\n

What actually changed on October 22, 2026?<\/h2>\n

Nothing about duty rates changed on that date. What changed is the plumbing.<\/p>\n

Before, postal shipments moved on postal declarations through a channel separate from commercial cargo. Now they are filed into the Automated Commercial Environment, CBP's entry system. That matters for three reasons that have nothing to do with tax.<\/p>\n

First, partner government agencies get visibility<\/strong>. The CPSC, FDA and others attach their own requirements to entries in ACE, and those requirements now reach parcels that previously never touched the system. Second, entries are validated before release<\/strong>, so an incomplete entry is a parcel that does not move rather than a parcel that arrives and gets a letter later. Third, somebody is now the importer of record<\/strong> for a $40 parcel, with the liability that role carries.<\/p>\n

This sits at the end of a chain of changes, not at the start of one. The useful context:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Date<\/th>\nWhat happened<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
August 29, 2025<\/td>\nExecutive Order 14324 suspends duty-free de minimis treatment for postal shipments<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
April 6, 2026<\/td>\nSection 232 duty applies to the full customs value of the article<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
June 24, 2026<\/td>\nCBP publishes its interim final rule indefinitely suspending the de minimis exemption for mail shipments and creating postal informal entry<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
July 24, 2026<\/td>\nPostal informal entry process begins; free trade agreement claims and normal duty rates apply to postal shipments<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
September 22, 2026<\/td>\nEntry Type 13 test opens for informal mail entries<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
October 22, 2026<\/td>\nPostal parcels filed into ACE; CPSC electronic filing begins for mail shipments<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Which data elements does a postal parcel now need?<\/h2>\n

More than a description and a value. The entry needs enough to satisfy CBP and any agency with a claim on the product.<\/p>\n