How to Import Goods for Personal Use

Importing goods for personal use means bringing items into the U.S. for yourself rather than for resale — and how much duty you owe, and whether the shipment clears at all, depends on how the goods arrive, what they are, and import rules that changed significantly in 2025. The headline change is that the long-standing duty-free treatment for low-value parcels was suspended, so the “it’s under $800, it’s free” assumption many travelers and online shoppers relied on no longer holds the way it did.

Personal use vs. commercial use

CBP treats goods differently depending on purpose. Personal-use imports are items for your own use or your household’s — not for sale. Commercial imports are goods you intend to resell, which trigger the full importer-of-record process. The line matters because personal-use goods can qualify for traveler exemptions and lighter entry handling, while commercial goods generally cannot. Quantity is a signal: bringing in one watch reads as personal; bringing in fifty reads as commercial, whatever you call it.

If you carry it in: the traveler’s personal exemption

When you return to the U.S. from a trip with goods you acquired abroad, you can usually bring a set value of articles in free of duty under your personal exemption. For most returning residents, that exemption is $800 in fair retail value, set out in 19 C.F.R. Part 148 and Chapter 98 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Some specifics to know:

The standard exemption is $800; higher and lower figures apply for certain destinations and circumstances.
You generally cannot use the full exemption more than once in any 30-day period.
The goods normally must accompany you, and you must declare everything you acquired abroad.
Above the exemption, the next band of value is dutiable at a flat rate, and amounts beyond that at regular duty rates.

This carried-baggage framework is long-standing and is the most stable part of personal-use importing.

If you ship or mail it: entry and duty

Goods you buy abroad and have shipped or mailed to you are handled differently from goods in your luggage. They go through a customs entry — typically an info