A customs change taking effect in the United States today lands at an awkward moment for Canadian e-commerce sellers already adapting to the end of the old US$800 duty-free de minimis shortcut. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has scheduled the production launch of Entry Type 13, a new electronic informal mail entry option inside the Automated Commercial Environment, for September 22, 2026. The change is important, but it is easy to misunderstand: Entry Type 13 is a voluntary test, not a new blanket requirement imposed on every Canadian parcel today. Its arrival instead gives eligible importers and customs brokers a digital route for qualifying international mail shipments valued at US$2,500 or less. For Canadian merchants, the bigger story is how much more classification, origin, value, duty and entry information now matters before a low-value order ever reaches the border.
Today’s launch is an electronic mail-entry test, not a new duty
CBP’s published deployment schedule puts Entry Type 13 into the live ACE production environment on September 22, 2026. The test creates a new electronic informal-entry pathway for international mail shipments valued at US$2,500 or less. Before this change, the newer postal informal process relied on a different workflow; Entry Type 13 is designed to let eligible filers transmit the entry electronically through ACE.
That distinction matters for Canadian sellers because the launch does not itself create a new tariff on September 22. The tougher cost environment began earlier, when the United States suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for shipments valued at US$800 or less. Entry Type 13 is better understood as infrastructure for handling low-value mail under the post-de-minimis regime. A small merchant sending a sweater, collectible or replacement part to an American customer may never touch ACE directly, but the broker or party making entry has a filing option.
The old US$800 de minimis shortcut is already gone
For years, many low-value e-commerce parcels entered the United States under the Section 321 de minimis framework, which generally allowed qualifying shipments valued at US$800 or less to enter without duties. That landscape changed on August 29, 2025, when U.S. authorities suspended duty-free de minimis treatment globally for covered shipments, including goods arriving from Canada.
The practical consequence is that a parcel’s low price no longer means the customs step can be treated as a formality. Duties, taxes, fees and entry requirements can depend on the product, its origin and the method of transportation. CBP later formalized a new postal informal-entry process for eligible mail shipments valued at US$2,500 or less. For Canadian online sellers built around inexpensive cross-border orders, that means customs data is no longer something that can be patched in after checkout. It can influence pricing, shipping method, delivery promises and whether an order is commercially worthwhile.
Entry Type 13 is voluntary — and only certain parties can file it
Entry Type 13 is a voluntary CBP test. No separate application is required, but filing eligibility is limited. CBP says an owner or purchaser of the merchandise can file, as can a licensed customs broker properly appointed by the owner, purchaser or consignee. A foreign postal operator, carrier or freight forwarder acting only as consignee must use a licensed broker as importer of record.
That means most small Canadian sellers should not read today’s launch as an invitation to open ACE and start filing every order themselves. In many transactions, the operational work will sit with a broker, postal partner or other qualified party. The seller’s role is still crucial because the filer needs accurate commercial information upstream. If the product description, origin, classification or value supplied by the merchant is weak, electronic filing does not correct it; it moves that data into a structured customs process for U.S. imports.
The new filing demands far more precise product data
CBP’s Entry Type 13 test requires a detailed electronic record. The listed data elements include the filer code, importer-of-record number, merchandise description, country of origin, applicable 10-digit U.S. tariff classifications, duty rate, value, total duty owed, carrier name, foreign postal tracking number and arrival port. Quantity and weight are also required when specific duty rates make them relevant.
For a Canadian seller, those fields expose the difference between a casual product listing and customs-ready product data. “Women’s top,” “auto part” or “gift item” may be understandable to a customer but can be inadequate for classification and duty calculation. Country of origin is also not the same thing as the country from which the parcel is mailed. A product shipped from Toronto could have been manufactured or substantially transformed elsewhere. As U.S. customs treatment becomes more data-driven, merchants with clean SKU-level records will be better positioned to avoid mismatches and rework.
Bonds and importer-of-record responsibility raise the compliance stakes
Using Entry Type 13 requires a basic importation and entry bond, either a single-transaction bond or a continuous bond, for the importer of record. CBP says the bond protects revenue, secures payment of duties, taxes and fees, and obligates the importer of record to correct non-compliance involving admissibility or customs requirements. When a broker files as importer of record, the broker’s bond is obligated.
That may sound distant from a Canadian storefront, but it changes the economics of who is willing to take responsibility for the shipment. Brokers and logistics partners are not merely moving a parcel; they can be assuming obligations tied to entry. That helps explain why data quality, authorization and fee structures matter more than under a lighter de minimis model. A seller with only a handful of U.S. orders may rely on an integrated postal solution, while higher-volume merchants may need clearer broker and importer-of-record arrangements.
Canada Post sellers already face a prepayment workflow
Canadian merchants using Canada Post have been operating under a more demanding U.S.-bound process. Canada Post says U.S.-bound parcels require a 13-character Declaration ID tied to the customs declaration and duty-payment process. Its current workflow uses Zonos to calculate or collect duties and connect the payment record to the parcel’s tracking information before the shipment moves south.
That means the change for many small sellers is not a new screen on September 22. It is the continuing shift toward customs compliance before the parcel enters the network. Canada Post asks for item descriptions, quantity, value and country of origin, and its tools can associate an HS code with the shipment. For a merchant shipping several dozen low-cost orders each week, missing origin data or vague descriptions can now become a label-generation or clearance problem rather than a minor back-office detail. Shipping has become tied to product-data management, not just postage.
Postal mail and courier shipments are not using the same customs path
One of the easiest mistakes is to treat every U.S.-bound low-value parcel as though it follows the same entry process. Entry Type 13 is specifically an international-mail option. CBP separately requires non-postal shipments to be filed through an appropriate entry type in ACE by a party qualified to make entry, with duties, taxes and fees assessed under the rules for that shipment.
For Canadian businesses, the distinction can affect carrier selection and customs administration. A parcel sent through Canada Post and handed into international postal network may follow one compliance path, while an express or courier shipment can move through a different electronic-entry structure. The cheapest quote does not tell the story. Merchants need to compare brokerage, duty handling, data requirements, delivery speed and who is acting as importer of record. Identical products sold at the same price can create different operational work depending on how they cross the border.
CUSMA claims and regulated goods face another key date in October
September 22 is not the last important date on the calendar. CBP’s June rule set an October 22, 2026 compliance date for certain categories of international mail. After that date, merchandise claiming duty-free treatment under a free trade agreement, goods subject to Partner Government Agency requirements, and certain merchandise involving Chapters 98 or 99 of the U.S. tariff schedule will no longer qualify for the ordinary postal informal-entry process.
CBP says those shipments will instead need another appropriate process, such as Entry Type 13 or formal entry. That detail is relevant to Canadian exporters because CUSMA is a free trade agreement. A product may qualify for preferential tariff treatment based on origin, but claiming that treatment is not the same thing as having no customs paperwork. Sellers shipping qualifying Canadian-origin goods by mail should distinguish between tariff eligibility and entry procedure. October’s compliance step makes that distinction more operationally important.
CBP’s push reflects the enormous scale of low-value trade
The tighter framework did not emerge in a vacuum. CBP reported that it processed almost 1.37 billion de minimis packages in fiscal 2024, close to four million per day, compared with 511 million in fiscal 2019. The agency has also said low-value shipments accounted for a large share of cargo enforcement activity, including intellectual-property and health-and-safety seizures.
Those figures help explain why U.S. customs policy has moved toward richer data and more formal entry controls. From the government’s perspective, billions of small parcels create enforcement and revenue challenges that older procedures were not designed to handle. For Canadian merchants, the frustration is that compliance costs do not scale neatly with order value. A US$30 accessory can require many of the same core facts — origin, tariff classification, value and admissibility information — as a more expensive shipment. The administrative burden can weigh heavily on sellers built around inexpensive, high-volume orders.
What Canadian sellers should tighten up now
The most useful response to today’s launch is operational. Canadian sellers should make sure their product catalog contains a defensible description, country of origin, accurate selling value and tariff information required by their shipping or brokerage channel. They should also know who handles duty payment, who is acting as importer of record and whether their Canada Post, courier or broker workflow can handle the entry type their goods require.
The review should extend to checkout and communication. If duties are prepaid, landed cost should be reflected consistently; if the customer may owe charges later, that should not be a surprise at delivery. Returns, samples, gifts and regulated products deserve treatment rather than being forced through a generic template. Entry Type 13 does not eliminate complexity created by the end of de minimis. It makes clear that low-value cross-border selling depends on getting customs data right before the package leaves Canada.
