Buying an engagement ring from Europe, shipped to the US: duty, timing and what to check

• The $800 duty-free allowance no longer applies to these parcels. For years, a parcel worth $800 or less could enter the US without duty (the "de minimis" rule). Executive Order 14324 suspended that for goods from all countries from 29 August 2025, and on 24 June 2026 US Customs and Border Protection made the suspension indefinite for shipments that arrive by courier rather than by post (Federal Register, 24 June 2026). An engagement ring is usually above $800 anyway, but the change matters for the paperwork: every parcel now goes through a customs entry.
• The tariff on EU goods has moved more than once. On 20 February 2026 the US Supreme Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize tariffs (Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, No. 24-1287), which ended the tariffs imposed under that law. Other measures on goods from the EU followed during 2026. We are not printing a percentage here on purpose: a rate on a web page goes stale, and a stale rate is how buyers get surprised at the door.
• What this means in practice. Do not rely on a percentage from a blog post, including this one. Ask the seller for one number: the full price delivered to your address, for your exact ring, in writing, on the day you order. If a seller cannot give you that, you are the one carrying the risk.

"From" is the lowest configuration shown on each product page on 10 November 2026; it changes with carat, color, clarity, lab-grown or natural, and 14K or 18K gold. The dollar column is only an orientation: it uses the European Central Bank reference rate of 10 November 2026 (1 EUR = 1.1214 USD, ECB). Your card is charged in euro and your bank sets the rate. Shipping to the US and US import duty are not in these figures; they are in the written delivered price we send before you pay. For the stone market itself, see our lab-grown diamond price index.

The most common mistake is ordering a made-to-order ring three weeks before the trip or the dinner. Count backwards instead:

1. Your proposal date. Start here and keep a buffer of at least a week or two before it, for anything unexpected at the border or the door.
2. Transit and US customs clearance. We do not yet have our own measured figure for door-to-door transit to the US including customs, so we do not print one. Ask us before ordering and we confirm the estimate for your address in writing, together with the delivered price.
3. Production: up to 21 business days, often sooner. Every ring is made to order after payment, to our drawings, in our partner atelier; inspection and finishing are done by us. Twenty-one business days is a little over four calendar weeks, and it applies to every design, solitaire, pavé and halo alike.
4. Choosing and confirming. Picking the stone, confirming her size, getting the written quote. Give this a few days; a rushed size guess costs more time later than it saves now.

Proposing in Europe instead? You can also order ahead and collect the ring in person: order ahead and collect your ring in Prague.

US jewelers size rings with numbers (6, 6½, 7). European jewelers use the EU (ISO) scale, where the size is the inner circumference in millimeters: EU 54 measures 54 mm around the inside. The two scales do not line up exactly, so the table gives the nearest match. The millimeter figure is what your ring is actually made to; if you can measure in millimeters or inches, send that.

The quietest method for a surprise: borrow a ring she wears on the same finger, measure its inner diameter, and read the row above. More methods: how to find her ring size without her knowing, and the full ring size chart. Getting the size right matters more for a US order than for a European one, because a resize means shipping the ring across the Atlantic and back.

A made-to-order ring cannot be returned for a change of mind once it has been made and shipped: it is excluded from the EU 14-day withdrawal right because it is made to the buyer’s specification (Directive 2011/83/EU, Article 16(c)). That is the main thing to be sure of before you order from any European jeweler. What we do instead:

• You approve it before it is made. Every detail is confirmed with you. Spot a mistake? While the order has not gone into production, we change it free of charge.
• Cancellation before shipping: once paid, the ring goes into production. If you cancel before it ships, we keep 20% of the price and refund the rest, or you take the full amount paid as Kove store credit, your choice.
• First resize free within 60 days of delivery, but not the shipping to and from the US. The resize work itself is free on most designs, up to 2 EU sizes up or down. From the US, shipping both ways and any import charges on the way back are yours; we tell you the amount before you send. Free return shipping on a resize applies within the EU only. If the ring we delivered is not the size you ordered, that is our fault and we fix it at our cost, shipping included.
• Defects, wrong item, transit damage: a defect is repaired, replaced or refunded under the 24-month warranty; a wrong item is exchanged or refunded in full; transit damage is reported within 48 hours of delivery.

Full text: Return policy. If the ring is going to an address inside the EU instead, the rules are different and simpler: buying an engagement ring online in Europe.

WhatsApp +420 797 867 801 or e-mail info@kove.jewelry, answered in English. Prague is 6 hours ahead of New York and 9 hours ahead of Los Angeles for most of the year; we reply within one business day. Send the model, your ZIP code, your budget and your proposal date.