How do you declare country of origin for customs - USA to Canada - Belgium product | Buying

How do you declare country of origin for customs - USA to Canada - Belgium product

Summary: ch_297335 is new to buying products on eBay, particularly Magic the Gathering cards from 1993 to 1995, and is concerned about customs tariffs and sales tax when importing them to Ontario, Canada. They want these cards from USA sellers and are trying to understand the process of declaring the correct country of origin to minimize additional fees. flipistics and marnotom! explain that the seller usually handles shipping and customs paperwork, with eBay's international shipping program often managing customs processes based on seller-provided info. ch_297335 seeks clarification on how shipping services like USPS and eBay International Shipping work with customs forms. ch_297335 is grateful for the insights and acknowledges learning about the importance of correct item specifics for correctly navigating customs.

Hi, I am new to ebay and I am interested in purchasing Magic the Gathering cards from 1993 to 1995 era from various USA sellers.

All the cards printed from this era were made in Belgium by the card company Carta Mundi and were later imported into various countries for sale as booster packs and boxes.

Although the physical 15 card packs and 36 pack booster boxes state "Product Made in Belgium", the individual cards themselves do not. The only identification on the cards are the Artist, Set Expansion Symbol and Year.

I want to purchase these individual cards from USA sellers but the fear I have is that they will be tariffed 25% by the CBSA and then taxed 13% sales tax as I reside in the province of Ontario.

I have never sent a package to anyone before.

How does one send a package from the USA to Canada but lets the CBSA (Canada Border Service Agency) know the item is a Belgium product so I am only just taxed the 13%.

I just like to understand the process from a sellers perspective once they recieve an order on ebay and item is payed for how do you get it now into the sellers hand.

for example I got an order and its fully paid. Do you go to the post office, print a label, etc.

ch_297335

16 View listings

Posted 11 months ago·Last reply 11 months ago

5 comments

marnotom!

·11 months ago

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Sorry, I thought I had answered some of these questions that you posted the other day, but I guess I didn't do that great a job.

On eBay, you pay for the item and you pay a separate charge to have it shipped to you. For an item that's purchased from outside of Canada, you may or may not have to pay customs charges, and if you do, you may be paying them at the time you pay for the item and shipping, or you may have to pay them later.

An item being handled by "eBay International Shipping" (eIS) such as the one you seem to be referring to, will be mailed or couriered by the seller by whatever trackable mailing or shipping method they prefer to a processing hub just outside of Chicago, Illinois where it will go through pre-customs processing and prepared for shipment to its final destination.

The information that eIS requires for customs should be already supplied by the seller from the information the seller provided in the listing. The item's country of origin or manufacture should be part of this and would be in the section of the listing "Item Specifics". eIS will use that information on the customs documentation that will go with the item. However, with tariffs now in the picture, it is not clear if that will be enough to satisfy Canada Border Services if the item itself does not have this information.

ch_297335

OP11 months ago

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There seems to be a few different ways seller ship items. I have experienced the following: 1) USPS First Class Package International with tracking. 2) USPS First Class Package International Untracked. 3) Regular post mail. No tracking. Just paper envelope with a stamp. The first example I recieved a package from the USA was a package that shipped with USPS First Class International in a box (Length = 8, Width = 8, Height = 3) The box came with a sticker attached that says the following: CN22 Customs Declartion Origin Post = US Postal Service Date of Mailing = 7/2/2025 Category of Item = Merchandise AES Exemption NOEEI SS 30.37(a) Detailed Description of Item = Playing Cards Description of Item = Playing Cards Quantity = 1 Weight = 0.71 lbs Value = $187.33 HS CODE = 950300 C of O = US (Country of Origin) PS Form 2976 (March 2015) Sender's Signature and Date: The seller I can only assume filled out this sticker somehow and affixed it to the box. How they did it I don't know. The only thing that was wrong with the sticker was the Country of Origin and the HS Code. The HS Code should of been HS Code 95044000 | Harmonized System Code Playing cards. The Country of Origin should of Been = Belgium (BE) instead of US. I was tariffed 25% and taxed 13% and charged a handling fee by the CBSA. The total was $115.09 The seller themselves had no idea the product was Belgium item otherwise I am certain they would of made the attempt to change C of O to Belgium (BE). I have no problems paying tariffs and taxes on items. If I buy a Harley Davidson motor cycle from a USA seller and the item is made the USA i can expect to pay 25% tariff + 13% Ontario Sales tax. If I buy a tour de france bicycle and its made France from a USA seller then I can expect to pay only 13% Ontario Sales Tax. Basically what I am trying to ask is regardless of what item you ship EIS or USPS there must be a way for the seller to declare the country of origin somehow.

marnotom!

·11 months ago

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For items sent directly through the postal system (e.g. First Class Package International), the seller enters the information for the customs form (including the country of origin) at the time they create the address label.

For items sent by eIS, addresses the item to the forwarding hub outside Chicago and leaves it to the workers at the eIS hub to enter the customs information, which I suspect is likely mostly automatic and based on the information the seller provided in the listing, particularly the "Item Specifics" section.

The better the seller knows their merchandise, the more accurate the information they're going to enter under the listing's "Item Specifics" and on the customs form (if it applies).

Does that answer your questions?

By the way, it's not considered "postal legal" to send merchandise internationally as a letter as letters don't have customs forms. so don't give a hard time to sellers who won't send your purchases as letter-post, even if it's a lot less expensive to send merchandise this way.

ch_297335

OP11 months ago

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Ok so from what I understand is that 1) Items sent via First Class Package International the seller will input all the information on the shipping label. 2) EIS is simply a hub where the seller sends the package to. Upon arrival at the hub a person at the hub who works for ebay will fill in all the shipping information. 3) The third item which I bought which was from a seller from Canada came with free shipping. I had no idea they were sending the item through regular postal mail. I mean a magic card is basically 2.5 x 3.5 inches and I only ordered one card. Item arrived safely in the plain white envelope with a stamp in a hard plastic baseball card toploader. I did chuckle when it came as thought came to me as to what would happen if this item were lost or stolen in the regular post. If I had known this how the seller was planning to ship the card I would probably asked them to upgrade the shipping to tracked. Again being new to ebay I just put my trust in the seller. Appreciate the help I think you have answered all my questions.

flipistics

·11 months ago

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Well, you don't do it, the seller normally does. Since the seller is (probably) using the international shipping program, they don't control it either. Whatever company eBay contracts with would determine it and no one else would have any say over it (except the border agents who may or may not look into it further).

You could leave a note for the seller to please add to the box a picture of an unopened package showing the country of origin. That would at least help if the package is inspected.