From 29th August 2025, our preferred postal provider Royal Mail have systems in place to collect US import duties using ‘Postal Delivered Duties Paid’ (PDDP) services to the United States.

Important: In order to obtain the full cost you will need to proceed to Checkout and select ‘United States’ from the country dropdown list and fill in your State and Zip code. This will calculate the postal charge including duty which Royal Mail will collect and hand to US Customs and Border Protection on your behalf.

We discount the actual postage label cost by approximately 50%, but understandably we cannot absorb the import duties and sales taxes due. These are the responsibility of the buyer. To be clear, we collect the import duties (tariffs) but not state sales taxes, these are to be paid either upon delivery or can be declared separately on your end of year tax filing.

Example of the calculation: 9ct Gold Sapphire & Diamond Ring (Country of origin: United Kingdom) $300.00 (Tariff Code: 711319) = 10%. Therefore import duty = $30.00

Our RM postage label cost $9 + RM handling fee $0.70 – This is discounted by 50%.

Approximate total PDDP (Postage including pre-paid duty = $39.70)

Be aware it is not the UK sellers implementing these costs, it is the ending of the US de minimis rule by the US government which has added this extra cost to your deliveries and who are collecting the revenue.

State and Local Sales Tax

International sellers with no physical presence in the US only need to collect and file state sales tax if they have ‘Nexus’ in the state where the sale occurs. Castle Oak Jewellery does not have ‘Nexus’ in any US states and is not required to collect US state sales tax. No US state sales tax will be shown on your invoice. Instead you will need to self-assess and pay “Use Tax”.

Use Tax

The purchaser will owe “use tax,” which is simply a self-assessed tax on the use, storage, or consumption of personal property in the state where you live. The purchaser remits this tax directly to the taxing jurisdiction. Generally use tax rates are the same as sales tax rates.

Example, if you buy a ring for $250.00 and live in Aliso Viejo, Orange County, California the ‘use tax’ rate is currently 7.75% (May 2022) therefore you will pay:

$250 x 0.0775 = $19.38

Use tax is usually only on the value of the goods not on USPS charges. Personal purchasers usually choose to file their ‘use tax’ on their annual tax form.

Protected payment using Paypal and pay in US dollars

We have enabled our Paypal Merchant’s account to allow payments in US Dollars. Therefore if you have a US Paypal account or simply want to pay using your US credit card there is no currency conversion to worry about at the point of sale.

You will receive the exact same piece of jewellery as you would on Etsy, with the same excellent customer service and discounted or free delivery, just for a much better price.