Customs, Duties & International Orders Policy
What happens to your order once it leaves Australia and crosses a border.
If you're ordering Cutting Drops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, or New Zealand, your parcel travels internationally and passes through your own country's customs process before it reaches you. This page explains, in plain language, what that means for the cost of your order, how long it can take, and what happens in the rare event a parcel is delayed, inspected, or refused entry.
Who actually pays customs duties on your order
Every order we ship from Australia to the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, or New Zealand is an international shipment in the eyes of your country's customs authority — even though the parcel is small and the contents are simple. That means your order can be subject to import duties, sales or consumption taxes (such as VAT, GST, or sales tax), and customs clearance or processing fees charged by your destination country, on top of the price and shipping cost you paid us.
These charges are set and collected by your own government or its appointed customs agent — never by The Minerals Lab — and the amount depends on your country's current rules, your order value, and how your parcel is classified on arrival. We do not add a markup to these charges, and we never see or benefit from any amount you pay at the border.
We do not currently operate on a Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) basis. Unless a specific promotion or order confirmation clearly states otherwise, any import duties, taxes, or clearance fees applied by your country are your responsibility to pay, either in advance to the carrier or on delivery, before your parcel is released to you.
Duties & tariffs
A percentage of your order's declared value, charged by your country when goods cross its border. Rates and thresholds change from time to time and are set entirely by your government.
Consumption taxes
Sales tax, VAT, or GST applied by your country on imported goods, calculated on the order value, shipping cost, or both depending on local rules.
Clearance & handling fees
A separate administration fee some couriers or postal services charge for processing customs paperwork on your behalf, shown on your delivery notice or invoice.
Low-value import exemptions are shrinking almost everywhere.
Many countries used to let small, low-value parcels enter duty-free below a set threshold. That landscape has been tightening, so we'd rather set accurate expectations than let you be surprised at delivery.
| Destination | Low-value exemption status | What this means for your order |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Duty-free treatment for shipments under USD $800 was suspended for goods from all countries from 29 August 2025. | Effectively every parcel, regardless of value, can now be assessed for duty on arrival — there is no longer a reliable "too small to be charged" threshold. |
| United Kingdom | No blanket low-value relief; import VAT generally applies from the first pound of declared value, with duty added above a low threshold. | Most orders will attract UK import VAT at minimum; higher-value orders may also attract customs duty. |
| Canada | A low threshold (roughly CAD $20 for most non-US-origin goods) applies before duties and taxes are assessed. | Because Cutting Drops ships from Australia, most Canadian orders will sit above this threshold and can attract GST/HST and, in some cases, duty. |
| New Zealand | Goods valued under roughly NZD $1,000 typically have GST collected at the point of sale rather than at the border; higher-value orders are assessed on arrival. | Most individual Cutting Drops orders fall under this threshold, but border assessment can still apply depending on your order's total value and any bundled items. |
Cutting Drops is an ingestible botanical product — customs treats that category differently.
Border agencies apply extra scrutiny to anything you consume, not just anything you buy. Because Cutting Drops is a liquid, liposomal, ingestible botanical formula, your parcel is more likely to be flagged for closer review than a typical parcel of clothing, homeware, or electronics — even when nothing is wrong with it.
What triggers a closer look
Ingestible goods, liquid contents, botanical extracts, and products described using health or wellness language can all prompt a customs officer to open a parcel for physical inspection or request further documentation before releasing it.
A parcel selected for inspection is not evidence that anything is wrong with your order — it simply means your country's border agency wants to confirm what's inside before releasing it to the postal or courier network for final delivery.
Possible delay, not automatic
Most Cutting Drops shipments clear customs without any issue at all within our usual transit estimates. Inspection, when it happens, simply adds extra days beyond our standard delivery window.
You may be asked for information
Some customs authorities contact the recipient directly to confirm the parcel's contents, its declared value, or its intended personal use before releasing it.
Outside our control once dispatched
Once your parcel enters your country's customs system, the timeframe for release is set entirely by that agency — we have no ability to speed up or override that process.
The specifics for where you're ordering from.
Open the section for your country to see the customs treatment that typically applies to a Cutting Drops order, and the regulatory background behind it.
AUAustralia
Orders shipped within Australia are domestic, not international — this policy's duty and customs provisions do not apply to Australian orders, since nothing crosses a border.
- Australian Border Force: if you're an Australian customer and have questions about goods you personally bring into the country separately from an online order, general guidance is available at abf.gov.au.
- Domestic GST: GST on domestic Australian orders, where applicable, is calculated and shown at checkout — it is not a customs charge and is included in the price you pay us.
USUnited States
Following Executive Order 14324, duty-free treatment for low-value shipments under USD $800 was suspended for imports from all countries, effective 29 August 2025. This is a significant, ongoing change to how US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) treats small parcels.
- No reliable low-value exemption: your Cutting Drops order can be assessed for duty at the border regardless of its declared value, and this may be collected by the courier or postal carrier before your parcel is released.
- Formal or informal entry: depending on the carrier and value, your parcel may need to go through a formal or informal customs entry process rather than being waved through automatically, which can add processing time.
- Dietary supplement entry: the FDA and CBP jointly review certain categories of imported ingestible products; Cutting Drops is marketed as a dietary supplement, not a drug, and carries no disease claims, which is intended to keep entry as straightforward as possible.
- State sales tax: separate to any customs duty, applicable state and local sales tax is calculated at checkout based on your shipping address.
- Because this area of US trade policy has changed materially and may continue to change, we recommend checking cbp.gov for the current position if you'd like precise figures before ordering.
GBUnited Kingdom
The UK abolished its previous low-value consignment relief some years ago, meaning most imported goods attract import VAT regardless of value, with customs duty added above a further threshold.
- Import VAT: generally applied to the value of the goods plus shipping and any duty, collected by the courier or Royal Mail before delivery, or occasionally on your behalf and itemised on your delivery card.
- Customs duty: may also apply above a low value threshold, calculated as a percentage of the goods' value based on their tariff classification.
- HMRC: His Majesty's Revenue and Customs oversees import VAT and duty collection; general guidance for individuals receiving parcels from abroad is published at gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad.
- Food supplement classification: Cutting Drops is treated as a food supplement in the UK rather than a licensed medicine, consistent with the wellness, non-disease-treating claims made on our site.
CACanada
Canada carries the highest customs and regulatory risk of our four international destinations for a product like Cutting Drops, for two separate reasons: a low general duty-free threshold, and strict federal rules around ingestible natural health products.
- Low de minimis threshold: for goods shipped from Australia (a non-US origin), Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) applies duties and taxes above a low threshold of roughly CAD $20, so most Cutting Drops orders can be assessed for GST/HST and, in some cases, duty on arrival.
- Natural Health Products Regulations (NHPR): Health Canada regulates ingestible botanical and supplement products as Natural Health Products (NHPs). Products intended for retail sale in Canada generally require a Natural Product Number (NPN) or Homeopathic Medicine Number (DIN-HM) issued by Health Canada before they can be lawfully sold or, in some cases, imported for personal use at scale.
- What this means in practice: a parcel containing an ingestible botanical product without a recognised Canadian licence number can face a materially higher chance of being held, queried, or refused entry by CBSA compared to a licensed product or a non-ingestible item.
- If you have questions about the current licensing position for Cutting Drops in Canada before you order, contact us at help.themineralslab@gmail.com and we'll confirm what we know for your specific situation.
NZNew Zealand
New Zealand applies GST to most low-value imported goods at the point of sale rather than at the border, alongside separate biosecurity and food safety oversight for anything ingested.
- GST at the point of sale: for goods valued under roughly NZD $1,000, GST is generally collected as part of your order total rather than charged again on arrival; higher-value orders can be assessed by the New Zealand Customs Service on arrival instead.
- New Zealand Customs Service: oversees import processing; general guidance for individuals is published at customs.govt.nz.
- Food Standards Code: botanical ingestible products entering New Zealand can be subject to the joint Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, administered locally alongside Ministry for Primary Industries biosecurity requirements for imported food-type goods.
A parcel can, in rare cases, be held, inspected, or destroyed at the border.
We'd rather tell you this plainly than have it come as a surprise. Customs authorities have full legal power to hold a parcel for inspection, require further paperwork, refuse entry, or in some cases destroy goods that don't meet the destination country's import rules for that category of product — entirely independent of anything we do on our end.
This risk is genuinely higher for Canada
Because Canada regulates ingestible botanical products under the Natural Health Products Regulations, a parcel containing Cutting Drops has a real, elevated chance of closer scrutiny, a request for a Natural Product Number, or refusal of entry compared with our other international destinations. This is a genuine feature of Canadian import law for this product category, not a hypothetical worst case.
The same general risk — inspection, delay, or refusal — exists at a lower likelihood for the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, and can apply to any international shipment of an ingestible product at any border, at any time, as customs rules are updated.
We cannot guarantee a refund or replacement if your parcel is seized, refused entry, or destroyed by customs due to a destination country's regulatory requirements for natural health or ingestible products. Once a parcel has left Australia and is in your country's customs system, its clearance and release are governed entirely by that country's border agency, not by us — this sits outside what a merchant returns or refund policy can control.
No guaranteed refund — but we won't just leave you with nothing.
While a customs seizure or destruction due to regulatory non-compliance isn't something our Refund Policy is designed to cover, and isn't something we can promise to make right in every case, we take a genuine goodwill approach whenever it happens.
Tell us what happened
Email us with any notice, reference number, or documentation your customs authority gave you, and we'll look into your specific case rather than applying a blanket rule.
We assess case by case
Depending on the circumstances — including whether the seizure relates to a rule we could reasonably have known about — we may offer a partial refund, store credit, or a discretionary gesture of goodwill, even though we're not obligated to.
We won't disappear
You'll always get a clear, honest answer from a real person on our team about what we can and can't do for your specific situation, and why.
Not sure what to expect for your country?
Ask us before you order, or about a parcel that's already on its way — a real person on our small team will give you a straight answer based on your destination and order details.
URBAN CLOTHING PTY LTD (ABN 78 671 782 111), trading as The Minerals Lab · 66 Windemere Road, Alexandra Hills, Queensland 4161, Australia · Page last updated: 6 September 2026