Edinburgh's sellers tend toward the small, light and lovely: cashmere and lambswool, silver jewellery, illustrated prints, stationery, books from a city that takes its literary reputation seriously. It's a near-perfect profile for selling to America — high value relative to weight, hard to find domestically, gift-shaped. It's also exactly the profile that gets hurt most by a clumsy customs experience, because nobody's $90 anniversary present should arrive with an invoice taped to it.
That's the gap we exist to close. TradeWind is a UK to USA shipping platform that sells UPS Worldwide Economy DDP and Royal Mail PDDP labels with the US import duty pre-paid at checkout. One booking produces one PDF — label, commercial invoice, customs declaration — and your buyer in Boston or Santa Fe gets a tracked delivery with nothing to pay and nothing to sign beyond the usual.
What it costs from Edinburgh
| Weight | UPS Worldwide Economy DDP (TradeWind) | Royal Mail PDDP |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1kg | £12.80 | £19 |
| 1–2kg | £15.50 | £24 |
| 2–5kg | £27 | — (over 2kg cap) |
| 5–10kg | £41 | — (over 2kg cap) |
| 10–20kg | £71 | — (over 2kg cap) |
| 20–30kg | £101 | — (over 2kg cap) |
Label prices. US import duty is calculated from your HS code and declared value and added — pre-paid — at checkout, so your buyer pays nothing on delivery. Live quotes show the full landed figure before you pay.
Origin city doesn't change the card — EH pays what SW1 pays. Most Edinburgh parcels we'd expect to sit in the first two bands, where the Royal Mail PDDP comparison is live too; past 2kg it's UPS only, up to 30kg. The live quote includes the duty for your product and shows the landed total up front.
Duty, in one tight paragraph
The US ended its $800 de minimis threshold, so every UK parcel now owes import duty calculated from its HS code and declared value. Un-prepaid, that duty lands on your buyer along with a carrier handling fee, and a meaningful slice of buyers refuse the parcel. DDP — Delivered Duty Paid — moves the whole transaction to your checkout: you see the duty before you buy the label, you pay it, US customs clears the parcel, your buyer never knows it happened. Transit is 4–7 working days.
The coverage line, stated plainly: 48 contiguous states plus Washington DC. Alaska and Hawaii aren't covered by either DDP service and need a non-DDP alternative where the buyer pays on arrival. PO Boxes work on Royal Mail PDDP only.
A note on bottles
Edinburgh being Edinburgh: no, you can't ship gin or whisky through us. UPS Worldwide Economy DDP doesn't accept consumer alcohol, and the US side needs import licensing regardless of carrier — that's specialist-forwarder territory. The rest of the food and gift trade ships without fuss.
Drop-off around the city
UPS Access Points hide in plain sight — corner shops, convenience stores and dry cleaners from Stockbridge to Newington — as part of a 5,000+ location UK network. The booking screen lists the points nearest your postcode so you can pick the one on your walk rather than across town. Royal Mail PDDP goes over any Post Office counter, handy in a city where the nearest counter is rarely far.
What Edinburgh ships
- Cashmere & knitwear
- Books & literary gifts
- Art prints & illustration
- Tartan & heritage goods
- Jewellery & silversmithing
- Stationery & paper goods
Books and printed matter sit at the kind end of the US tariff schedule; textiles less so. The HS code lookup tells you which world your product lives in before you set your US prices.
What switching looks like
A useful comparison from our case studies: Quill & Tavern, a literary-goods maker selling to a largely American BookTok audience, switched from a non-DDP Royal Mail service after the de minimis change and has had zero customs-related complaints in the twelve months since — starting rate £12.80, duty pre-paid. Their product mix (small wooden signs, embossers, book gifts) is close cousin to a lot of what Edinburgh ships.
TradeWind itself is built by working Etsy sellers — three Star Seller shops, 80,000+ verified reviews — and we're a UPS-authorised reseller, so the rate on this page is the rate at checkout.
Ship your next Edinburgh → USA parcel
Quote in 30 seconds with duty included. No contract, no monthly fee.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I drop off a parcel in Edinburgh?
Any UPS Access Point — they live inside corner shops, convenience stores and dry cleaners across the city, from the Old Town out through Leith and the southside, part of a UK-wide network of more than 5,000 locations. The TradeWind booking screen shows the points nearest your postcode before you pay. Royal Mail PDDP labels (up to 2kg) go over the counter at any Post Office branch.
How much duty will my US buyer pay on cashmere or knitwear?
Nothing — that is the point of DDP. You pre-pay the duty at checkout; it is calculated from the HS code and the declared value of the parcel. Knitwear does carry a real US duty rate, so build it into your US pricing rather than discovering it per-order. Our free HS code lookup shows the rate for your specific product.
Can I send gin or whisky from Edinburgh to America?
No — UPS Worldwide Economy DDP does not accept consumer alcohol, and US alcohol imports need specific licensing on the import side whatever the carrier. Use a specialist alcohol freight forwarder for bottles. Everything else in the Edinburgh gift basket — shortbread, books, prints, textiles, jewellery — ships normally.
How long does Edinburgh to USA delivery take?
UPS Worldwide Economy DDP runs 4–7 working days from drop-off to delivery, the same window we quote across Great Britain. Coverage is the 48 contiguous states plus Washington DC; Alaska and Hawaii need a non-DDP service where the buyer pays duty on arrival.