Türkiye just removed the safety net that made small cross-border e-commerce shipments cheap.

As of February 6, 2026, the country's long-standing €30 duty-free threshold for overseas online purchases is gone entirely. Every parcel entering by post or express cargo now goes through standard customs declarations, with a 30% duty applied to EU-origin goods and 60% to goods from elsewhere, according to Turkish Minute and Bloomberg Tax reporting on Presidential Decree No. 10813. The threshold had already been cut from €150 to €30 back in 2024 — this is the final step.

Separately, Türkiye's Distance Contracts Regulation now gives consumers 14 days to return goods instead of 10, with return shipping costs shifting toward the consumer under certain conditions.

What this means for North American sellers: direct-to-consumer shipping from the US or Canada into Türkiye just lost much of its price advantage. The decision is no longer "ship or don't" — it's localize, partner with a Turkish distributor, or absorb the new cost structure into pricing.

Questions worth testing before Q1 planning: Does your landed cost still beat local competitors after a 30-60% duty? Would a Turkish entity or 3PL change your margin math? How does the new return policy affect your customer service model?

We're tracking how these changes reshape channel economics for brands entering Türkiye.