On 29th August President Trump’s order came into effect to remove the De Minimis rule that allowed imports with a value of less than $800 to enter the country free of import duty. All imports from the UK are now subject to import duty and additional handling fees in the UK and the US. Due to the rapidly changing situation, The UK Royal Mail joined many international parcel shippers and temporarily suspended US parcel shipments earlier this week but have now restarted them under a new shipping regime.
What are the impacts on our US customer orders?
Unexpectedly, the burden for collecting most of the fees has been placed on the UK shipper. We value our US customers so we are currently looking at how we can update our shipping fees to collect these costs from our customers as part of the standard shipping charges. There remains considerable uncertainty as to the exact level of the charges and the shipping process, and we are actively working to resolve this as quickly as our part-time volunteers can.
Temporary suspension on new US orders
While we determine the solution we have, regrettably, decided that we must suspend order taking for the US. We will lift this as soon as we are able. Existing orders will be fulfilled and we will bear any extra costs but please expect there to be delays in customs clearance at the port of entry, as US Customs is having to upscale to handle millions more customs entries.
Data Downloads
The tariffs only apply to physical goods so data downloads are still accessible although you will need to order in a slightly different way – see below for details.
Membership
Membership is a service so is unaffected by the tariffs. It remains at £20. If you’re not a current member we would love you to join us,
Berkshire Family Historian
The September edition of our magazine is on its way to you. As printed matter with no cover price we believe it to be tariff free but the uncertainty in US arrival ports is outside our control. There may be delays. The magazine is, or course, available to our current members on-line here.
Ordering data downloads
Normally, customers would be able to search and select data download products on our main online shop and seamlessly switch to our digistore. For now, US customers should search, select and pay directly on our digistore. Please use the search tool indicated below rather than using the blue button to search on our main store.
The search experience will not be as expansive as on our main store but this is only temporary and normal service will re restored as soon as possible.
Thanks for your time while we explained the situation. It’s not ideal but we will restore full service as quickly as we can. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please email: webmaster@berksfhs.org.uk
