Payment of customs fees: seller in Canada, buyer in the US
Summary: The discussion topic is about the payment of customs fees, with a seller located in Canada and a buyer in the US. The conversation appears to involve several participants engaged in discussing the aspects of cross-border transactions. However, the details of individual responses are not specified.
Hi!
I just started selling on eBay again (first time since a couple years), I've always been a "beginner" seller: I sell an item, put it in an envelope, write the addresses by hand on the envelope, and take it to the post office—really old-fashioned...but it worked quite well in 2019/2020 when I spent a few months selling on eBay
I'm in Canada and I'm now facing the issue of the end of the de minimis exemption, which I unfortunately hadn't heard about... I just sold my first item (a 1997 Acura car advertisement flyer worth $19 CAD) to a buyer in the US.
When I arrived at the Canada Post office to ship my item, they explained that I have to prepay the customs fees via a third-party application (Zonos Prepay)...okay? I downloaded the application, filled out the form, and apparently the customs fees are $0. The application generated the 13-character customs code allowing Canada Post to ship the item and US Customs to process it (?), so the item was shipped to my buyer.
My questions are:
[Sorry if some of these seem really stupid or the answer obvious for people used to selling online]
1) Is it normal for the customs fees to be $0? I thought all items crossing the border were now subject to customs fees? If so, what are the exact conditions? What types of items are exempt from customs fees?
2) Why would I having to pay customs clearance fees when they are usually the buyer's responsibility? I understand that eBay itself charges customs clearance fees when the order is placed? Did my buyer pay any fees at the time of ordering?
3) Is there a risk that my buyer will end up having to pay additional fees upon receiving their item, that he will refuse to pay these unexpected fees, and that the item will not be delivered?
4) On that note, I just saw online that sellers are advised to clearly state in their listings that customs fees may be charged to American buyers. Isn't that obvious? I'm looking at listings from several Canadian sellers on eBay for similar items, and none of them mention this.
5) I saw that eBay recently started offering an eBay International Shipping service, but I can't seem to access it when creating a listing. How can I offer this shipping service to my potential customers? Is it worthwhile?
If I enroll in this eBay service, will I be able to continue offering the "lettermail" postal service (without tracking but much more advantageous in terms of price on lightweight standard size documents)?
Could I choose to ship my items by myself if the buyer is in Canada, but via "eIS" if the buyer is international?
I know that when you start selling on eBay it's quite difficult; there's this "ridiculous" (in my opinion) SEO and algorithm issue that prevents my listings from being shown to potential buyers, so obviously I want my current buyer's buying experience to be 100% positive even more to get a perfect feedback.
Many of my items can be found on eBay from other sellers, but I have many rare items sought after by collectors who would also benefit from the algorithm showing them these items. Therefore, I spend a lot of time making the clearest and most well-structured listings possible, but so far it's barely worked. The increasingly exorbitant shipping costs certainly don't help either (and I know that on this point it's not eBay's fault), and now they've added this issue of customs fees which supposedly must be paid by the sender, I'm starting to get discouraged...
There are probably many things I've misunderstood, and my internet searches haven't yielded much, so I thought I might get some answers here. A great thank you in advance to those who have the courage to read this and take the time to reply!
flipistics
·6 months ago1. Some media (books, music, etc) are exempt, at least for now, along with made in USA items. The majority of things aren't.
2. You have to pay the fees because Trump mandated it work that way in order for the item to enter the USA. If you know them ahead of time, you can tack them on as a handling fee, or you can just not sell to the USA.
3. If you send the item DDP, the buyer (shouldn't) have anything to pay when they receive the item. If you send the item DDU, they absolutely WILL have to pay additional fees and there's a good chance they'll refuse the item. The shipping company will then likely come after you for the fees.
4. It's not really obvious. Many people expect that when they buy an item, all costs are included. People who have experience with buying things from other countries will likely understand that, but the average person may not.
5. You have to be invited to the eIS program, which is still ongoing. It pretty much eliminates all of the issues above, but it does come at a higher cost for the buyer which hurts sales. IMO it is absolutely worth it, at least right now. As far as lettermail goes, remember that it is illegal to send goods across an international border without customs information. You can't send goods outside of Canada via lettermail. You can continue to send them within Canada that way. Yes, shipping the items yourself in Canada and by eIS for international is the normal way it works.
fh991586
·6 months agoShort answers:
1) Yes, it's normal, as per printed material isn't subjected to tariffs most the most part (duty free).
2) USA as decided that nothing enters their border without already being cleared, because they lacked the manpower and infrastructure to do the job themselves. So they passed the job to the sender... It's not normal, but they have the power to bend normality. And they did this incredible UNO reverse thing that nobody thought or dared to enforce before.
3) If you used Zonos, there should not be anything else charged to the receiving end.
4) You still should consider US buyers not to be smart enough by default, so yes state the possibility of further payment needed from their own government.
5) No experience with EIS, so I won't provide answer here...
Selling on eBay isn't a fun hobby anymore. You need to focus or you'll end up with less than when you started!
reallynicestamps
·6 months ago4) You still should consider US buyers not to be smart enough by default, so yes state the possibility of further payment needed from their own government.
It may be rude, but sadly I must agree.
EBay is putting a banner on non-US listings telling US buyers that they maybe "tariffed".
I add "US residents may be subject to Trump Tariff" in all my descriptions and Eligible Offers.
I have for decades had this boilerplate, originally supplied by eBay, in all my descriptions.
Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying
And still got a grumpy Message from a buyer last month.
By the way, the US importers duty free allowance which had been $200 for decades and rose to $800 under Biden, was completely removed by Trump, and there is now no duty free allowance /de minimus.
Which means that US customs officers who could formerly ignore any low value, and most Business to Customer packages are now trying to assess every single bloody envelope, box, bag, and pallet coming into the country.
grann-4629
·6 months agoYour boilerplate is perfect, and something similar should be automatically added by eBay to all applicable listings.
And, for awhile anyway, something should be said about tariiffs in these listings.
About the bloody envelope, I don't think any Customs Agent would even touch it!
😎😎
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·6 months agoI process incoming mail and got one for real (that had been bled all over, it was in a plastic Canada Post bag, it was a returned to sender, so it was someone handling the mail, the person we mailed it to was no longer at that address... I suppose it could have been the new occupant).
I photocopied the returned envelope so we wouldn't have the biohazard in our file for people to be handling later on. We only need a copy of a returned envelope, the copy gets scanned and the original (or photocopy of the documents) goes in our shred box to be destroyed in 60 days.
Anyway it was gross... but Customs people get gloves to wear, we didn't and lots of handwashing happens in my office.
C.
grann-4629
·6 months agoScary story! Maybe you should talk to your Union or Safety Officer and add gloves to the list of mandatory safety equipment that their employees must use. I doubt if there is a WHMIS data sheet for dried blood.
Stay safe eh ...😎
ricarmic
·6 months agoI had a "bloody" one as well, approval (stamp folks will know what this means) customer in Scotland in their 90s went to mail parcel back to me and got hit by a bus. Clearly he was hurt, as it was his blood on the envelope. Some bystander must have later found it and put it in the mailstream, and it came to us, about 20% covered in long dried blood (so it was brownish from oxidization). No special notification from any postal authority, probably because it was "brownish" and not recognized as blood. Fortunately he survived, when he was well enough he wrote to advise he lost the package, but voila, we already had it delivered here!
grann-4629
·6 months agoIf it was brownish, it could be a biological hazard not related to blood. I know what would come out of me if I was hit by a bus.
😎😎
recped
·6 months agoJoe Biden was NOT the President in 2016 when the di minimis was increased from $200 to $800
Regardless who was President at the time (Obama) the change was made as a result of the implementation of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 which was approved by Congress with an overwhelming bi-partisan vote in both the House and Senate.