What is the de minimis threshold for importing into the EU?

EUR 150 per consignment. Below it, no customs duty is charged. VAT is separate and still applies — the EU removed its low-value VAT exemption in 2021, so a small parcel pays VAT but no duty. The UK threshold is GBP 135 and the US is USD 800 under Section 321, though the US figure has been under active change and is worth checking before relying on it.

Is de minimis calculated per item or per order?

Per consignment — the whole shipment, goods plus freight. This is the detail that catches people out. Forty items at EUR 4 each is a EUR 165 consignment and pays duty; thirty-five of the same item is EUR 145 and pays none. The unit price is irrelevant to the test.

Can ordering more units make each unit more expensive?

Yes. Every other cost falls as quantity rises because freight spreads across more units. Duty does the opposite at exactly one point: crossing the threshold applies it to every unit at once. In the worked example on this page, going from 35 units to 40 raised the landed cost from EUR 5.01 to EUR 5.49 each — 9.6% more per unit for ordering five more.

Should I always order below the de minimis threshold?

No, and assuming so is the opposite mistake. A smaller order spreads the same freight over fewer units, and that increase can exceed the duty avoided. In the second example on this page, dropping from 45 units to 30 saved the duty and still landed dearer — EUR 5.89 against EUR 5.73. Both sides have to be calculated before the smaller order is worth taking.

Ordering more can cost more per unit

Almost every cost in importing falls as you order more, because freight spreads. Customs duty does the opposite at exactly one point — and it moves the per-unit cost by more than most people's margin. Here is the arithmetic, with the figures.

24 August 2026 · worked from the model inside MurmMargin

The threshold is per consignment, not per item. Under €150 into the EU, £135 into the UK, $800 into the US, a shipment clears without customs duty. Above it, duty applies to the whole shipment — every unit at once.

The cliff

A clothing item at €4.00 a unit, €5 freight, imported into the EU. Clothing carries an 8–12% duty band, so the midpoint is applied. Watch what happens between 35 and 40 units:

Units	Consignment	Duty	Landed per unit
30	€125	none	€5.04
34	€141	none	€5.02
35	€145	none	€5.01
40	€165	charged	€5.49
45	€185	charged	€5.47

Five more units raised the cost of every unit by 48 cents — 9.6% per unit. Nothing about the product changed. The order simply crossed €150, and duty applies to the whole consignment rather than to the part above the line.

Notice also that 45 units is cheaper per unit than 40. Once you are over the threshold, freight resumes spreading normally and the curve falls again. The cliff is a step, not a slope — which is why it is invisible to anyone reasoning about cost per unit as a smooth function of quantity.

The trap on the other side

The obvious conclusion — always order under the threshold — is wrong, and expensively so. A smaller order spreads the same freight over fewer units, and that increase can exceed the duty it avoids.

Same import, electronics at €4.20 a unit, but €20 freight:

Units	Duty	Landed per unit
30	none	€5.89
45	charged	€5.73

Here the duty-free order is the dearer one. Electronics carry a 0–4% band where clothing carries 8–12%, so there is little duty to save, and dropping fifteen units adds 22 cents of freight to each remaining one. Advising the smaller order would be telling someone to spend more in order to save money.

What this means in practice

Check the consignment value, not the unit price. The test is goods plus freight for the whole shipment.
The cliff is worst on high-duty categories. Clothing and footwear carry bands three to four times electronics. The same order size matters far more in apparel.
Both sides must be calculated. Duty saved against freight added. One without the other produces confident bad advice.
VAT is not relieved. The EU ended its low-value VAT exemption in 2021 and the UK collects VAT at the point of sale below its threshold. Below de minimis you avoid duty, not tax.

Why no calculator tells you this

Because it needs the whole cost model, computed twice, and compared. A calculator that multiplies a unit price by a duty rate cannot see a threshold effect at all — it produces a smooth curve where reality has a step. Most sourcing calculators are that: a form and a multiplication.

MurmMargin does this on the listing you are looking at. It applies the destination threshold to the consignment, and flags the largest duty-free quantity — but only when that smaller order genuinely lands cheaper, checked both ways.

How MurmMargin works →→

Questions

What is the EU de minimis threshold?

€150 per consignment for customs duty. VAT applies from the first cent.

Is it per item or per order?

Per consignment — the whole shipment, goods plus freight.

Can ordering more units make each unit dearer?

Yes. In the example above, 35 units landed at €5.01 each and 40 at €5.49.

Should I always stay under the threshold?

No. Where duty is low and freight is high, the smaller order costs more.