United States

The following items are prohibited from importation, meaning they won't be allowed to enter the destination country, territory or region.

To check which items are considered dangerous and prohibited for sending from Australia, download our Prohibited and Restricted item list and packaging guide (1.1MB).

• Alcoholic beverages
• Animals and animal products
• Animal or vegetable fats/oils
• Arms and ammunition
• Cereals
• Coffee and tea
• Chain letters
• Cork and articles of cork
• Dairy produce, birds’ eggs; natural honey
• Fruit, nuts and citrus peel
• Fertilizers
• Furs
• Inorganic and organic chemicals
• Lottery tickets or related advertising
• Lac, gums and resins
• Lithium batteries (including devices containing lithium batteries)
• Mineral fuels and oils
• Measuring, medical or surgical instruments
• Meat and fish products
• Optical, photographic, cinematographic products
• Printed books, newspapers, pictures- offensive by nature
• Pharmaceutical products
• Preparations of meat, fish or crustaceans
• Tobacco and tobacco products
• Vegetables and vegetable products
• Wool, animal hair
• Wood and articles of wood
• Wine
• Wheat products

Transporting food of any kind, cash and perfumes are prohibited under International Courier.

Mail Security

The United States Postal Service has advised that, owing to heightened security, longer delivery times are likely for articles addressed to US government agencies. This applies in particular to Washington DC five-digit zip codes ranging from 202xx - 205xx.

Mail may be subject to irradiation treatment prior to delivery. The irradiation process is safe, but the US Postal Service is advising mail users that particular commodities may be affected:

• Any biological sample e.g. blood samples, could be rendered useless
• Diagnostic kits e.g. to monitor blood sugar levels, may be adversely affected
• Photographic film will be fully exposed
• Food will be adversely affected
• Drugs and medicines could have their efficacy affected
• Eyeglasses and contact lenses could be adversely affected
• Electronic devices would probably be rendered inoperable

The US Postal Service advises that each irradiated mail article will bear an official notification to the addressee that the item was subjected to an irradiation process.

Batteries

All types of batteries and devices containing them (e.g. laptops, mobile phones, wireless headphones and equivalent, power banks, tablets, etc.) are prohibited from being sent via International Courier.

If an item is subject to import restrictions, it means that provisions must be met before it will be released from customs in the destination country, territory or region.

We recommend you confirm import restrictions with local authorities before posting:

• Alcoholic beverages
• Animals and animal products
• Firearms
• Foodstuffs
• Goods originating from Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria
• Hides
• Knives
• Pharmaceutical products
• Registered articles
• Skins
• Tobacco and tobacco products
• Vegetable and other plant products
• Weapons
• Wool

Import Tax Threshold

Any goods valued over $800 USD (de minimis value) are subject to import duty tax. However, items valued below $800 are exempt from duty, unless they fall under the De Minimis exception list. 

In addition to our customs forms, authorities in the destination country, territory or region require further documentation for some items.

Senders should provide a Certificate of Origin, whenever possible.

As a result of new regulations issued by the Food and Drug Administration under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, all shipments of articles of food to the United States must be preceded by a prior notice of shipment. This applies to articles shipped for commercial purposes or as gifts.

Articles of food include (but are not limited to): food for humans or animals, dietary supplements, nutritional supplements, vitamins, food and colour additives.

Articles of food which are non-commercially prepared by an individual in his own residence and sent to another individual as a (non-commercial) gift are exempt from submission of this prior notice. This prior notice may be submitted and a prior notice conformation number obtained via access.fda.gov/index.html#prior.

Mail shipments containing food articles for which a prior notice conformation number has not been entered on the customs declaration may be returned to the sender or (if no return address is included) destroyed.

Should you require information on what must be submitted with a prior notice, consult the Food and Drug Administration.

Before sending to this destination, it’s worth noting a few more details about our international delivery services.

• International Express (carried via the EMS network) - Parcels deliver to all destinations
  
  International Express - Parcels does deliver to a Post Office Box and Poste Restante.
  
  
• International Courier
  
  Check our International Courier page for more details.
  
  Shipments must be lodged at the counter at a participating Post Office (PDF 832kB) by the cut-off time, which may vary by outlet. Please fill out the online CN23 customs form prior to visiting the outlet.
  
  International Courier does not deliver to a Post Office Box or Poste Restante.
  
  Metropolitan delivery to (valid postcodes in brackets):
  • New York (10000 to10292)
  • Los Angeles (90001 to 90189)
  • Chicago (60290 to 60827)
  • Houston (77001 to 77299)
  • Philadelphia (19019 to 19255)
  • Phoenix (85001 to 85099)
  • San Antonio (78201 to 78299)
  • San Diego (92101 to 92199)
  • Dallas (75201 to 75398)
  • San Jose (95101 to 95196)

For more information from the overseas carrier, check the United States Postal Service website.