diff --git a/importer/orders.py b/importer/orders.py
index 4ba7e63..ffbcd12 100644
--- a/importer/orders.py
+++ b/importer/orders.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import csv
 from pathlib import Path
 
+from dateutil.parser import isoparse
+
 
 def load_orders(path: Path) -> list[dict]:
     with path.open(newline="", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
@@ -8,7 +10,7 @@ def load_orders(path: Path) -> list[dict]:
             {
                 "id": row["id"],
                 "total_cents": int(row["total_cents"]),
-                "created_at": row["created_at"],
+                "created_at": isoparse(row["created_at"]),
             }
             for row in csv.DictReader(fh)
         ]
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index d80d9fc..393299e 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 requests==2.32.3
+python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
diff --git a/tests/test_orders.py b/tests/test_orders.py
index 42f627c..058f8ba 100644
--- a/tests/test_orders.py
+++ b/tests/test_orders.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+
 from importer.orders import load_orders
 
 
@@ -5,3 +7,11 @@ def test_loads_totals(tmp_path):
     f = tmp_path / "orders.csv"
     f.write_text("id,total_cents,created_at\nA1,1999,2026-05-01T14:03:00+00:00\n")
     assert load_orders(f)[0]["total_cents"] == 1999
+
+
+def test_parses_created_at_as_aware_datetime(tmp_path):
+    f = tmp_path / "orders.csv"
+    f.write_text("id,total_cents,created_at\nA1,1999,2026-05-01T14:03:00+00:00\n")
+    created = load_orders(f)[0]["created_at"]
+    assert created == datetime(2026, 5, 1, 14, 3, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+    assert created.tzinfo is not None