Hazardous Materials Shipping
Hazardous materials (hazmat) shipping is the regulated shipping of goods classified as dangerous, such as aerosols, flammable liquids, and lithium batteries, which requires correct classification, packaging, marking, and carrier approval.
Why it matters for ecommerce brands
Hazmat rules decide which carriers and services can move many everyday DTC products, and wrong classification risks fines, rejected shipments, and fires. Perfume, nail polish, aerosols, and lithium batteries are all regulated, but many small consumer items ship by ground under the limited quantity marking, which replaced ORM-D at the end of 2020. For example, a beauty brand shipping 3,000 perfume orders a month can send them by ground as limited quantity, while sending the same orders by air requires trained staff, dangerous goods paperwork, and extra fees. Get a safety data sheet for each product.
Origin
US hazmat shipping rules rest on the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act of 1975, which gave the Department of Transportation unified authority over dangerous goods in all modes.
Common questions
- Is perfume considered hazmat for shipping?
- Yes. Most perfumes contain alcohol and are classified as flammable liquids. Small retail containers can often ship by ground as limited quantity, but air shipping has stricter rules.
- What is the difference between limited quantity and ORM-D?
- ORM-D was an older US marking for consumer commodities that was phased out at the end of 2020. Limited quantity is the current marking for small inner containers of many hazardous materials, shown as a black and white diamond, with a Y version for air.
- Who is responsible for classifying a hazmat shipment?
- The shipper is. You must classify, package, mark, and document the product correctly, and staff who prepare hazmat shipments need DOT hazmat training, repeated at least every three years.