Guides, 6 min read
Buying a rug from India: shipping, duties and delivery abroad
How international orders are priced, packed and shipped, what the courier charges on delivery, and which rugs can't go to the United States.
By The Persian Knots team,
Most of the hand-knotted rugs sold in Europe and America are woven in India, and buying one directly is simpler than it looks. This guide explains how international orders are priced and paid, how a rug is packed and shipped, what the courier may charge you on delivery, and which rugs cannot travel to the United States.
Prices and currency
International orders are priced and charged in US dollars. Every rug has its own dollar price, set by us, rather than a rupee price converted at the day's exchange rate, so the price you see today is the price you see next week.
The dollar price does not include Indian GST. Rugs sent abroad are exports, which are free of Indian tax, so you never pay it on an international order.
The currency follows the delivery address. If you browse in dollars and then enter an address in India, checkout switches to rupees and tells you the new total; if you browse in rupees and enter an address abroad, it switches to dollars. That keeps every order on the right tax invoice.
The minimum order for delivery outside India is $200.
How a rug travels
Rugs travel rolled, never folded. Folding a hand-knotted rug puts a crease across the foundation that can take weeks to relax. Each rug is rolled, wrapped and sent as its own parcel by express courier: DHL, FedEx or UPS, depending on the destination.
After you order, an in-stock rug is dispatched in 2 to 4 business days. Express transit takes 5 to 10 days to most regions, so most international orders arrive 8 to 14 days after you pay. You get the courier's tracking number by email on the day it ships.
What shipping costs
Couriers charge by weight, but not always the weight on the scale. They compare the actual weight with a volumetric weight, the parcel's length × width × height in centimetres divided by 5,000, and charge whichever is higher. A rolled rug is long and light, so the volumetric weight often wins.
Take a 5 × 8 ft hand-knotted wool rug:
- Rolled and packed, it makes a parcel about 162 × 24 × 24 cm.
- Its volumetric weight is 162 × 24 × 24 ÷ 5,000 = 18.7 kg.
- Its actual weight, packed, is about 14 kg.
- So it is charged as 19 kg, rounded up to the next half kilo.
To the United States that parcel costs $169. Checkout works this out for your exact rugs and address before you pay, and express delivery is free on orders over $2,500 to the Gulf, the UK and Europe, and the US and Canada.
Duties and taxes on arrival
This is the part that surprises people. Our international prices do not include the import duty or tax charged by your own country. The courier pays them to customs when the rug arrives and collects them from you on delivery, usually with a small handling fee of their own. Checkout asks you to confirm you understand this before you pay.
How much you pay depends on where you live, the value of the rug and the rules on the day it lands. As a rough guide at the time of writing:
| Destination | What to expect |
|---|---|
| United States | Duty on every parcel: the $800 duty-free allowance for small parcels was suspended in August 2025, and the rate on goods from India has changed several times since. Check the current rate before you order. |
| United Kingdom | Import VAT at 20%, plus any customs duty. |
| European Union | Import VAT at your country's rate, from 17% to 27%, plus any customs duty. |
| United Arab Emirates | 5% customs duty and 5% VAT. |
Rules change, so treat this as a starting point and check with your customs authority or the courier if the amount matters to you. Keep the invoice we send: it lists the rug's value, material and origin, which is what customs uses.
Rugs that cannot go to the United States
Rugs woven in Iran cannot be imported into the United States. The US withdrew the licence that had allowed Iranian carpets in 2018, and the ban still applies. Two rugs on this site were woven in Iran; their pages say so, and checkout will not send them to a US address. Our Persian-design rugs woven in India are not affected and ship to the US normally.
Before you order
- Measure twice. Returning a rug from abroad costs real money, so use the size guide and the scale drawing on each rug page.
- Check your duties. Look up the rate for handmade wool carpets in your country, or ask the courier.
- Be there to sign. Express couriers usually need a signature and payment of any duties at the door.
- Open it on a clean floor. Unroll the rug, check it against the photographs and let it relax flat for a day or two. Any curl at the ends settles on its own.
Returns from abroad are accepted within 14 days of delivery, unused and in the original packing, with return shipping paid by you. Duties you paid on arrival are a matter between you and your customs authority; some countries refund them when goods are sent back, many do not. The full details are in our shipping policy and returns policy, and we are happy to answer questions on WhatsApp before you buy.
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