Shipping, import duty and taxes on dropship hair orders

A dropship order involves three payments, made by two different people at two different times.

Your retail price is what your customer pays you. Whether you show shipping as a separate line or include it in the product price is your choice; what you must not do is let customers believe the price at checkout is the final cost when duty may be due.

Every international courier parcel needs customs paperwork. On a dropship order the courier documents travel with the shipment for customs; they are not a Suvita sales invoice packed with the hair, and your customer will not find our prices or marketing inside the box.

• HS 6703 covers human hair, worked, which includes bundles, wefts, closures, frontals, tape-ins, clip-ins, keratin tips and bulk hair.
• HS 6704.20 covers wigs and similar items made of human hair, which includes lace wigs, toppers and men's hair systems.
• Your invoices for each order sit in the reseller dashboard, alongside payment records and other documents. Keep them; they support your own bookkeeping and any import or VAT questions.

Suvita Hair Global Pvt Ltd is IEC and GSTIN registered in India, which is what allows us to export commercially. A recipient's customs authority may ask them for identification or a tax number before release; that request comes from the courier, not from us, and answering it quickly avoids delays.

Until 2025, many low-value parcels entering the United States were cleared without duty under the $800 de minimis exemption. Since 29 August 2025 that exemption no longer applies to these shipments, so US-bound dropship orders pay duty on arrival, whatever their value.

For a US reseller this changes two things. First, your customer may receive a request from DHL or FedEx to pay duty before delivery, sometimes with a courier processing fee. Second, any product listing or shipping policy written before August 2025 that promises "no duties" or "duty-free" is now wrong and needs updating. If you would rather your customer never sees a duty request, the practical route is to buy wholesale stock, import it once yourself, and ship domestically.

Hair entering the UK or an EU country from India is subject to import VAT, and customs duty can apply depending on the goods and value. On a DAP parcel the courier normally collects these from the recipient before or at delivery.

There is one complication worth knowing. Both the UK and the EU have special rules for low-value consignments sold to consumers: the UK rule for consignments up to £135 and the EU's Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) for consignments up to €150. Under these schemes VAT can become the seller's responsibility at the point of sale, rather than being collected at the door. If you sell from your own store to consumers in these markets, take advice from an accountant on whether you need to register; the answer depends on your business, not on ours.

We do not publish rates, because they change and vary by product and value. For current figures by country, see human hair import duty by country. What you can plan for:

• Nigeria. Parcels go through customs clearance and duty is collected before release. Couriers commonly contact the recipient by phone, so a working Nigerian phone number on every order matters.
• South Africa. Imports attract customs duty and VAT, collected by the courier from the recipient. Delivery is held until payment, so tell customers to expect the courier's message.
• Canada. Duties and sales taxes (GST or HST, depending on province) are collected on arrival, and couriers may add a brokerage or clearance fee.
• Australia. A low-value threshold means many small parcels do not pay customs duty, but GST rules for low-value imported goods can require overseas sellers to collect GST at checkout. Check how this applies to your store.
• United Arab Emirates. Customs duty and VAT apply to imports and are collected by the courier from the recipient.

Transit time depends on the destination; each country page on our site shows it. Dispatch itself is prepared within 2 to 3 working days after payment, because every piece is made to order.

Refused parcels are almost always caused by surprise. A customer who knew about duty in advance pays it; one who did not often refuses delivery, and the parcel goes back at someone's cost. Four habits prevent most of this:

1. Say it at checkout. A line under the shipping method, such as "Shipped from India by DHL or FedEx. Import duty and taxes, if charged by your country, are paid to the courier on delivery."
2. Say it on the product page for international buyers, near the delivery estimate.
3. Collect a phone number. Couriers contact recipients about duty by phone, SMS or email; without a number, parcels sit in customs.
4. Put it in your shipping policy with a link to the courier's duty payment page for your main markets.

Avoid wording such as "no hidden fees" or "duties included" unless you have actually arranged to pay them. For the full dropship programme, read human hair dropshipping with Suvita, and for setting up order sync, the Shopify setup guide.