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UK art galleries have never had more interest from international collectors. Especially in the United States, but the rules of the game are changing fast. Due to new U.S. customs policies and the removal of low-value import thresholds. Tighter UK compliance rules mean that galleries who ship art from London to USA now face more complexity. More paperwork and higher risk of delays or customs returns. At the same time, platforms like Pigee are giving galleries a way to simplify art gallery delivery. To automate quotes, and deliver art internationally with less stress and more transparency. You can explore Pigee’s specialist solution for galleries here: Art Gallery Delivery.
This news-style guide explains what recent customs changes mean for UK galleries. How to protect your margins, your reputation, and how to build a modern workflow using an integrated art delivery service. Smart quoting tools, and platforms like the Pigee merchant hub at account.pigeepost.com. If you want hands-on help, Pigee also runs an E-commerce Shipping Setup Workshop tailored for galleries that sell and ship internationally.
For years, many UK businesses sending lower-value goods to the U.S. benefitted from the de minimis threshold. This allowed shipments under $800 to enter the country with simplified customs processing. That era is rapidly ending. In 2025, U.S. policymakers began dismantling de minimis relief for a wide range of commercial imports, increasing paperwork and costs for UK exporters shipping directly to American consumers.
UK trade advisers now warn that the removal of de minimis for commercial shipments is “maximising complexity and cost” for retailers who sell cross-border to U.S. buyers. Even goods that were previously duty-free may now face full customs processing, extra brokerage fees, and longer clearance times.
For art, there is both good news and hard reality. The good news: original artworks — such as paintings, drawings, sculptures and certain prints — remain duty-free under Chapter 97 of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Multiple legal and art-market analyses confirm that qualifying original works are still exempt from Trump-era reciprocal tariffs.
The hard reality: even when customs duties are zero, your shipment can still be delayed, mis-classified, or rejected if the paperwork is wrong or the courier isn’t familiar with art-specific rules.
At the same time, the UK side of the art trade is under heavier scrutiny. HMRC has stepped up enforcement of anti-money-laundering (AML) rules for Art Market Participants, with more than a hundred fines issued since 2024 and a clear signal that operational compliance — not just registration — is now in focus.
Add to that a recent sanctions-related prosecution of a major gallery, and it’s clear that regulators are treating the art trade more like a financial industry than a cottage business.
Put simply: UK galleries that deliver art internationally now operate in a world where both customs officials and domestic regulators are paying attention. That makes the choice of art courier, documentation, and shipping platform more strategic than ever.
U.S. collectors remain one of the most important buyer groups for UK galleries, across modern, contemporary and blue-chip segments. Recent art-market reports estimate that logistics costs already account for around 15% of galleries’ external expenditure. Tariffs and customs delays are now pushing those figures higher. When you combine higher shipping costs with complex compliance, every mistake in your export process directly eats into margin.
The riskiest points in the journey are:
In other words, UK galleries that want to continue to ship art from London to USA smoothly need to treat logistics as a core part of their collector experience — not just an afterthought.
Before anything leaves your storage, make sure you can clearly demonstrate that the piece qualifies as an original work of art under Chapter 97 — for example, an original painting, drawing, sculpture, limited edition print, or artist’s photograph.
Your documentation should include:
This is the foundation of smooth art customs to the USA. If customs can clearly see “original work of art” and, where relevant, an appropriate HS code (for instance, in the 9701–9703 range), officers are more likely to process entries quickly and duty-free.
While it’s tempting to use the same courier you use for posters or merchandise, fine art deserves different treatment. A specialist art courier or art delivery service can:
Platforms like Pigee Art Gallery Delivery are built to connect galleries with specialist shipping options that understand the sector, rather than treating a £50,000 painting like an ordinary parcel. Using an integrated platform helps you manage multiple quotes, track shipments, and handle issues like customs returns in a structured way.
3. Pack, Insure, and Declare with Precision
From a compliance and risk perspective, packing and declaring the shipment correctly is essential:
This level of detail is what helps you genuinely deliver art internationally “door to wall” — from your gallery in London to a collector in New York, Los Angeles or Miami — without nasty surprises mid-journey.
Even with careful preparation, there will be times when U.S. customs delays or refuses an entry — typically because an officer needs clarification on value, classification, or supporting documents. If you haven’t planned for this, the result can be expensive customs returns, storage fees, and frustrated collectors.
A modern gallery should:
By framing customs risk as part of your professional service — not a “hidden extra” — you turn a potential pain point into a trust-building feature of your art gallery delivery offer.
Galleries that thrive in this environment are not relying on spreadsheets and ad hoc emails. Instead, they’re adopting technology that automates quotes, logs shipments, and gives collectors clear expectations. Platforms like Pigee are designed with this in mind.
Using the Pigee merchant hub at account.pigeepost.com, a gallery can generate shipping options for each artwork — factoring in size, weight, destination, packaging, and customs considerations. Rather than arguing about shipping at the end of the sale, you can provide an all-inclusive price that covers transport, clearance and final delivery.
This approach:
Many galleries are creative powerhouses but don’t have in-house logistics teams. That’s why Pigee runs an E-commerce Shipping Setup Workshop aimed at non-technical gallery owners and managers. The workshop covers:
The aim is to help UK galleries feel as confident about their logistics as they do about their curatorial eye.
Built for offline & online merchants
Global pickups & delivery • Multi-carrier reliability
Whether you’re shipping one piece or hundreds, we’ve built the perfect platform to help your business grow.
Even if your main worry is how to ship art from London to USA, you can’t ignore the growing compliance burden in the UK. Recent reporting shows that HMRC has issued more than a hundred fines to Art Market Participants since 2022 for AML-related breaches, with average penalties rising and high-profile galleries coming under scrutiny.
Specialist compliance advisers note that fines are shifting from simple registration failures to deeper investigations into how galleries actually conduct business: source-of-funds checks, sanctions screening, and record-keeping.
For galleries sending works abroad, this overlap with customs documentation is significant. The same information you gather for AML — client identity, transaction value, provenance — can support stronger export and import paperwork.
By integrating compliance checks with your shipping workflow in a digital platform, you reduce duplication and demonstrate to both regulators and collectors that you take your responsibilities seriously.
To turn all of this into practical action, here’s a simple checklist for UK galleries that regularly ship to the USA:
The latest U.S. customs changes, combined with stricter UK oversight, signal a new era in cross-border art logistics. The days when a gallery could simply hand a painting to a generic courier and hope for the best are over. Collectors now expect a seamless, professional experience. From the moment they reserve a piece to the moment it’s hanging on their wall in another country.
UK galleries that embrace specialist partners, smart platforms and robust processes will not only avoid unnecessary customs returns and delays. They’ll turn shipping into a selling point. Being able to say – “we deliver art internationally, safely and transparently, and we handle all art customs to the USA for you”. Can be the difference between closing a sale and losing a collector.
If you’re ready to modernise how you ship art from London to USA. Explore Pigee’s Art Gallery Delivery solution, learn more about the platform at pigeepost.com, and set up your merchant account at account.pigeepost.com. With the right mix of technology, expertise and compliance, your gallery can navigate the new U.S. customs wave with confidence. Keeping your focus where it belongs: on great art and long-term collector relationships.
* [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/oct/22/rachel-reeves-budget-low-value-imports-tax-loophole-shein-temu?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
* [Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/97cfdeb8-929a-4b53-9281-9f01798b3b17?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
* [voguebusiness.com](https://www.voguebusiness.com/story/consumers/is-this-the-end-of-fashions-international-shipping?utm_source=chatgpt.com)