Short answer: A courier's price is a base rate plus surcharges: fuel, remote areas, oversized or heavy boxes, residential delivery and a few others. They're all included in the price you see at checkout, so nothing new appears afterwards. The ones our customers run into most are the fuel surcharge, remote-area fees, oversize and overweight charges, and the fee the courier charges at delivery for handling your duties.
What a surcharge is
Couriers publish a base rate per weight and zone, then add separate charges for things that cost them more: flying fuel, driving to a remote village, handling a box that doesn't fit the sorting belt, ringing a doorbell at a house instead of an office.
You don't pay these separately. When you choose a courier at checkout, the price already has them in it.
Prices below were checked in September 2026. Couriers change them, usually every January, so treat them as a guide and use the carrier links at the end for today's list.
The ones that come up most often
Fuel surcharge
A percentage added to the shipping charge, changed every week by all three couriers. It's the single biggest surcharge on most shipments. See "Fuel surcharges: why your price changes from week to week".
Remote-area delivery
Charged when your address is a place the courier reaches rarely: islands, mountain villages, and postal codes far from a hub.
| Courier | What they publish (Sept 2026) |
|---|---|
| DHL | $50 per shipment, or $0.50 per lb if that's higher |
| FedEx | Tier A $4.45 · Tier B $49 or $0.52 per lb · Tier C $68 or $0.68 per lb |
| UPS | $61 per shipment, or $0.61 per lb if that's higher |
What you can do: check your address before you ship. The "Check remote area" button in our shipping calculator tells you, and a different courier may not class the same address as remote.
Oversize, overweight and awkward boxes
Every courier charges extra when a box is long, bulky, very heavy, or not a plain rectangular cardboard carton.
| Courier | What they publish (Sept 2026) |
|---|---|
| DHL | Oversize piece $30 · Overweight piece $100 (over 150 lb) · Non-conveyable piece $30 |
| FedEx | Additional handling $29.50 (size) · $40 (over 55 lb) · $29.50 (packaging) · Oversize $208 |
| UPS | Additional handling $36.35 · Large package $235 · Over maximum limits $1,875 |
What you can do: ask us to repack a big box with a lot of air in it, and split a very heavy one. See "Why your shipping quote is higher than expected, and how to lower it" and "When a package is split into several shipments".
Residential delivery
Some couriers charge a few dollars more to deliver to a home rather than a business. DHL and UPS both publish $6.95 per shipment for their air services.
Address correction
If the address is incomplete or wrong and the courier has to find the right one, they charge for it: $25.50 at DHL and FedEx, $25.25 at UPS. Keep your Address Book accurate, including a phone number. See "Your Address Book: adding and checking delivery addresses".
Elevated-risk and restricted destinations
DHL charges $30 per shipment for destinations it classes as elevated risk, and another $30 for destinations under trade restrictions. DHL's published elevated-risk list includes Israel, Lebanon and Ukraine, and on our own invoices we've also seen it applied to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman. It's in the price you see at checkout.
Peak or demand surcharges
Couriers add a per-pound surcharge on busy lanes, usually announced for a season and then extended. In September 2026, FedEx charges $0.30 per lb on US exports to Europe (Turkey included), $0.50 per lb to Israel and $0.75 per lb to the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. DHL has a demand surcharge running 1 October 2026 to 5 February 2027, which is $0.00 per lb for Europe and higher for other regions. These change often — the carrier pages have the current ones.
Duty and tax handling at delivery
When the courier pays your duties and taxes to customs so your package can clear, it charges a fee for doing it. The fee is usually a minimum amount or a percentage of the duty, whichever is higher, and each country's courier office sets its own. Expect a minimum in the $15–$18 range.
This fee is charged by the courier at delivery, not by us, and it's separate from the duty itself. If you'd rather settle everything in advance, choose DDP where it's available — see "DDP vs DDU: who pays duties, where DDP is available, and what to do if you're asked to pay again".
More than five kinds of item in one box
DHL charges a multiline entry fee when a customs declaration has more than five lines: $5 per extra line, minimum $10. Consolidated boxes with many different products can reach that.
Two things worth knowing
- Fuel is charged on top of other surcharges. At DHL and UPS, the fuel percentage applies to charges like remote area, residential and oversize as well as to the shipping charge. A $50 remote-area fee at a 34% fuel surcharge is about $67.
- We don't add anything to these. They're the courier's charges, passed through in your price. Our own fees — storage, consolidation, add-ons — are listed separately in your account.
Where the couriers publish their lists
- DHL Express: dhl.com surcharges
- FedEx: fedex.com surcharges and fees
- UPS: ups.com shipping costs and rates
Common questions
Will a surcharge be added after I've paid? No. The price at checkout includes the surcharges that apply to your shipment. The one charge that can come later is duties and taxes on a DDU shipment, plus the courier's fee for handling them.
Why is the same package cheaper with another courier? Because each courier has its own surcharges and its own view of your address. One may class it as remote while another doesn't, and their fuel percentages differ. Compare the options at checkout.
My address isn't remote. Why was a remote-area fee charged? Couriers decide this by postal code, not by how the area looks. Check the address with the "Check remote area" button, and contact our support team if the result looks wrong.
Can you waive a carrier surcharge? No. These are charged to us by the courier, so we can't remove them. What we can often do is help you avoid one, by repacking a bulky box or suggesting a courier that prices your address differently.
Still need help?
Our support team is available on weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00 ET at [email protected].