Shipping to the Cayman Islands from the US

The short answer

• For most online shopping, use a US-mailbox freight forwarder. Companies like Sprint, Mail Boxes Etc., and YourEasyShop (formerly Aeropost) give you a Miami address, then air or ocean freight your parcels to the island. This is the practical route for the everyday things you buy.
• Forwarders here charge in different ways. Some bill by actual weight, some by dimensional (volumetric) weight, and some by the cubic foot for sea freight. There is no single island rule, so the cheapest forwarder depends on your parcel, and it pays to compare.
• Amazon ships some items direct via DHL, but the selection is very limited. It is worth checking for the odd eligible item, but almost nothing a regular shopper wants qualifies, so it is not a replacement for a forwarder. See our Amazon to Cayman page.
• Almost everything pays 22% import duty on the value plus shipping. The returning-resident duty-free allowance does not apply to freight or mail, so a shipped parcel is dutiable from the first dollar.
• Register once before your first parcel. New importers must set up a Customs online account, get a TIN, and name their courier or forwarder as clearing agent, or the package stalls at the border.

The routes at a glance

The rest of this guide explains each route, with the prices we could verify from the companies' own sites.

US-mailbox freight forwarders: the practical default

This is the workhorse for regular online shopping. You sign up for a US address, usually in Miami, ship your US purchases there for free using each retailer's normal domestic shipping, and the forwarder sends them on to Cayman. It opens up every US retailer, including the many that refuse to ship to the island. Some forwarders will also combine several orders into one shipment to save on freight, but many do not, so check whether yours offers consolidation if that matters to you.

Check how each one charges. This is the detail that catches people out: billing methods differ from forwarder to forwarder here. Some charge by the actual weight, some by dimensional weight (also called volumetric weight, worked out from the box's size), and some by the cubic foot on ocean shipments. A light but bulky box is cheap under actual-weight pricing but can be expensive under dimensional or cubic-foot pricing, where you pay for the space it takes up. Sprint, for instance, adds a dimensional-weight surcharge, so a large light box can cost more than the scales suggest. Before you settle on a forwarder, check which method it uses and price your typical order both ways.

Air freight forwarders (fast)

Air runs about 5 to 7 days from Miami and is usually priced per pound. Five local services handle it: Sprint Express Services, Mail Boxes Etc., YourEasyShop (the service formerly called Aeropost), Sta-Mar, and MyCart Express. Their headline per-pound rates are close, but each layers on different handling, insurance and fuel fees, so price your typical parcel with two or three of them before committing.

Sprint is the most transparent on price. Its ShopZipX service lists air at US$6.00 for the first pound and US$5.50 for each additional pound (about CI$5.00 and CI$4.60), plus a George Town delivery charge of US$15 up to 25 lb, customs clearance of US$12.20 a package, and insurance from US$5. Payment is due on collection.

Mail Boxes Etc. (Camana Bay and George Town) prices its E-box air service at CI$12.95 for the first pound, then CI$4.95 a pound (CI$3.95 over 15 lb), or CI$9.95 and CI$3.95 on its CI$49-a-year membership. YourEasyShop also publishes a tariff: air is CI$7.52 for the first pound and about CI$4.16 for each additional pound, plus a CI$10 per-package handling fee, with a 10% fuel surcharge added to the freight. You can collect from its office or, for an extra fee, from self-service lockers around the island. Sta-Mar's Priority air is CI$4.80 a pound on actual weight, plus a CI$5 warehouse fee, CI$5 handling and a flat CI$15 handling charge per parcel, with 3% insurance on the declared value. MyCart Express ships air from Doral, Florida at CI$10.50 for the first pound, roughly CI$5 a pound up to 10 lb and CI$4 a pound beyond, and unlike the others it quotes an all-in rate that already includes its processing fee and package tax, with lower rates on higher account tiers.

If none of the local options fits, US-based mailbox forwarders such as MyUS, MyMalls, and Shipito also forward to Cayman, usually billing by weight through DHL or FedEx. MyMalls, for example, quotes a flat US$27.50 economy option (about CI$23, roughly 10 to 15 days) or around US$50 to US$100 by FedEx or DHL, and it consolidates up to three packages into one shipment for free, or four for US$10 and five for US$15 on top of its handling fee.

Ocean and sea freight (cheaper for bulk)

Sea freight takes longer, commonly two to four weeks door to door, and longer still if the forwarder waits to fill a container, but it is far cheaper per volume. Verified flat rates from company sites:

• EZShip Cayman: CI$16 per package up to one cubic foot, then CI$5 per additional cubic foot; customs clearance from CI$75.
• Mail Boxes Etc. ocean: CI$159 up to 12 cubic feet, then CI$8 per additional cubic foot.
• National Logistics: flat online-shopper ocean rates of US$19.99 up to 2 cubic feet, US$39.99 up to 5, and US$69.99 up to 10 (about CI$17, CI$33, and CI$58), plus customs brokerage from US$75. It stands out for free consolidation (30 days) and charges no handling, warehouse or sign-up fees.
• YourEasyShop: CI$30.74 for up to 3 cubic feet, then about CI$12.60 per additional cubic foot; handling CI$10 up to 3 cubic feet or CI$15 above, plus the same 10% fuel surcharge.

Larger moves go by the pallet: EZShip lists a flat CI$360 pallet, National Logistics a US$225 LCL pallet, both before duty. All of these are billed the 22% duty on arrival unless the forwarder advances it for you. Several of the air forwarders above, including MBE, YourEasyShop and MyCart Express, also offer a sea option for heavier loads.

Air or ocean: which to pick

The simple rule: air for small, urgent, or valuable items; ocean for anything big, heavy, or bulky. A phone, a laptop, or a birthday gift goes by air and arrives in a week. A car seat, a case of protein powder, a set of pots, or a piece of furniture goes by sea, where the lower base rates make the longer wait worth it. If you are moving house, ocean LCL or a full pallet is the only sensible choice.

Can you just use Amazon?

Partly. Amazon added the Cayman Islands to its direct shipping in 2025, delivered by DHL with the duty prepaid at checkout, so for an eligible item it is genuinely convenient. The catch is that the eligible selection is small: only goods sold or fulfilled by Amazon qualify, and most of what a regular shopper wants will not ship to a Cayman address at all. It is worth a look for the occasional item, but not a replacement for a forwarder. Our full breakdown, including how to find the items that do qualify and how the Import Fees Deposit works, is on the does Amazon ship to Cayman page.

Other retailers that ship direct

Amazon is not the only US store that will deliver to Cayman and handle duty for you. eBay can work the same way, but only when the seller uses eBay International Shipping, its managed programme: in that case the import charges are shown and collected at checkout and there is nothing extra to pay on arrival. If the seller instead ships with their own international service, you may still pay duty on delivery, so check the listing's shipping section before you buy. iHerb ships supplements and health products directly to the island, though it bills any duty on arrival rather than up front.

Plenty of big names still will not ship direct and need a forwarder: Apple points Cayman buyers to local authorised resellers, and Walmart, Target, and Best Buy ship only within the US (Target and Best Buy actively block mail-forwarding addresses, so use a forwarder that provides a genuine street address). When in doubt, add the item to a cart with a Cayman address and see whether checkout allows it.

What about barrels?

Barrel shipping is a Caribbean institution, but it matters far less in Cayman than in Jamaica or Trinidad, and it is worth knowing why. Those countries grant a reduced-duty allowance of a barrel or two per household a year, which makes the barrel a genuinely cheap channel. Cayman offers no such concession. A barrel here is simply bulk sea freight, charged the same 22% duty as any other shipment and priced by the cubic foot. Several carriers will ship one for you, but do not expect the barrel discount that exists elsewhere in the region.

The postal route

USPS still delivers to the Cayman Islands, handing parcels to the Cayman Islands Postal Service for the final leg. It is the cheapest way to move something small and light, using USPS flat-rate boxes, but it is also the slowest and least trackable, and the service has been disrupted more than once recently. Two things to know: there is no home mail delivery in Cayman, so you need a PO box to receive anything, and you pay the 22% duty in person when you collect the parcel. USPS Global Express Guaranteed to Cayman has been suspended since late 2024, so stick to Priority Mail International or First-Class Package International for light items.

Duty and customs: the part everyone underestimates

Cayman has no sales tax, but it makes up for it at the border. Nearly everything you import is charged import duty of 22% under the Customs Tariff Act, and crucially it is calculated on the value plus the shipping cost, not the item price alone. A few categories differ, but 22% is the number to budget for on ordinary online orders.

The duty-free allowance does not help here. The returning-resident allowance, recently raised to CI$800 (and CI$1,000 during the 2026 summer and Christmas windows), applies only to goods you carry in yourself as accompanied baggage. It does not apply to anything shipped as freight or mail. A parcel is dutiable from the first dollar. Our customs guide covers the traveller allowances in full.

Register before your first parcel. New importers must open an account on the Customs OnLine System, obtain a TIN (Trader ID Number), and appoint their courier or forwarder as clearing agent. This one-time step is what trips up most newcomers: without it, DHL or your forwarder cannot clear the parcel and it waits in customs. Keep a receipt or invoice for every item, since customs assesses duty on the declared value.

On top of duty, forwarders and couriers charge a clearance or brokerage fee, commonly in the region of CI$50 to CI$200 depending on the value and who handles it. Factor that in when you compare a forwarder against Amazon's all-in checkout price.

So which should you use?

• A rare eligible item on Amazon? Amazon direct handles the duty and needs no mailbox, but check first, since most items are not eligible.
• A retailer that blocks Cayman, or several small orders to combine? An air forwarder, ideally one that consolidates multiple orders into a single shipment.
• Bulky, heavy, or a house move? Ocean LCL or a pallet, where cubic-foot pricing wins.
• Need it in days? A direct courier, accepting the premium price.
• Something small, light, and cheap? USPS to your PO box.

For most residents the practical answer is a mix: Amazon direct for what qualifies, and a standing forwarder account for everything else.