Uggghhh looks like CP is putting stuff in place for us to prepay the tariffs.....
Summary: ricarmic shares a message about the U.S. suspending its duty-free threshold for shipments from Canada, requiring prepayment of duties starting August 29, 2025. Canada Post is partnering with Zonos to facilitate compliance with the new requirements. This has sparked mixed reactions among participants. john_koenig99 and apmtrade express refusal to prepay tariffs for buyers, while flipistics thanks for the update. easoss criticizes the U.S. tariff policy as a masked tax strategy. Discussions also address the impact on eBay sellers, with concerns about how tariffs will affect shipping costs and sales, prompting some to cease U.S. shipments until solutions are implemented. ae_purveyors mentions Canada Post's efforts to adapt e-commerce platforms, highlighting the broad challenges and seeking strategies to manage tariff costs efficiently.
This message came to SSB folks:
As you may be aware, the United States has suspended its duty-free "de minimis" threshold of US$800 for all countries, including Canada. Starting August 29, 2025, all shipments entering the U.S. must have duties prepaid before crossing the border - regardless of their value.
This change, mandated under U.S. Executive Order 14324, applies to all business shipments from Canada, whether sent through the postal system, a Canadian courier, freight provider, or any commercial channel.
At Canada Post, we've been working to understand the order, assess options, and secure solutions that will ensure we can maintain continuity for your business. We are moving swiftly to make the necessary updates to ensure your shipments remain compliant and continue moving smoothly across the border.
What's changing
Goods valued at US$800 or less that are shipped to the United States through the postal network will be subject to an ad valorem duty. This duty will be equal to the effective tariff rate applicable to the product's country of origin under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). For Canada, the current IEEPA rate is 35% for most goods.
What this means for your business
Starting August 29, 2025, every package shipped from Canada to the U.S. must show proof that duties have been prepaid before the shipment can be accepted for delivery.
What this means:
| • | After this date, Canada Post will only accept U.S.-bound label requests that include a valid Declaration ID - a 13-character code that confirms duties are secured before the shipment is accepted. |
| • | The new U.S. customs regulations will impact your costs, delivery process and customer experience. |
Keeping your shipments moving
To meet the new U.S. requirements, we're partnering with Zonos® to collect duties before they enter our network and remit them directly to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
What this means:
| • | You will be able to access this solution through Canada Post's software systems - Snap Ship and Shipping Manager; through our web services and APIs; and at post offices across the country. |
| • | A Zonos Verified Account will be required - information on how to create an account through Canada Post will be coming soon. |
Next steps
| • | Check your inbox and stay tuned for more details on our website in the coming days on how to prepare for August 29. |
| • | We're working hard to expand capability for business customers leveraging EST Desktop 2.0 as well as our partners - ecommerce platforms, shipping systems, marketplaces and 3PLs. We will continue to share updates as our solution evolves. |
We're here to help
We recognize that this change presents challenges for Canadian businesses. We're committed to navigating this dynamic situation with you, providing you with up-to-date information and ensuring our southbound services remain accessible with a seamless Delivery Duties Paid (DDP) solution.
tryubik-useonlyasdirected
·1 year agoWait, I don't understand. Isn't it only legal to have the duty/tariff amount on a separate line like tax?
From eBay's intermediary perspective, this isn't even legal, whether or not its a private carrier or a public carrier it's still the same. The duty/tariff rate has to be collected as a separate declared line.
ae_purveyors
·1 year agoSo it looks like Canada Post is looking to bring this first to its website and then expand the DDP to the ecommerce platforms like eBay, Etsy, Shopify etc. Hopefully they figure out a way to bring this to eBay ASAP.
Couldn't you price out a shipping quote on the Canada Post website that shows what your shipping will be including the tariffs and quoTe that to the US Buyer? Add another 15% to the cost to cover the eBay fees? Obviously it will be inflated but explain to the buyer that it includes the tariffs?
regs43
·1 year agoI shut off US sales today, i don't mind pre paying the duties, but the buyers need to give me the money up front to do so for them (since its not my cost lol)
Right now there is no way to collect the tarrif % from the buyer so until that happens, goodbye sales to the USA
musicyouneed
·1 year agoWhat happens with all the items that were made in the US, wouldn't they go duty and tariff free?
byto253
·1 year agoThey are excluded. The question is can you just fill in the label like we do now or will there be more hoops.
And if something is only partially done in the US, if the US content is over 20% that portion is excluded.... good luck with vintage!
easoss
·1 year agoNot to get to technical but any CD in a jewel case could be deemed made in China (that's where they're made). Canadians selling to Americans is just unworkable at this moment.
byto253
·1 year agoSure but the case does not have a COO on it, and there is still no way CBP is going to do more than maybe random sample 1 in several thousand. Not sweating that.
zee-chan-jpn-books
·1 year agobyto253
·1 year agoNow that would be handy....
rdemaree
·1 year agoI moved everything from .com to .ca and moved over to CAD and charging shipping instead of baking it into item cost/ free shipping back in March when all of this crazy stuff happened.
I am actively looking for ways to shore up more Canadian and International buyers and to get my products into Canadian brick and mortar stores even if CUSMA is untouched. I don't want to over rely on an unstable and hostile market.
I'd advise all sellers to do the same if possible.
cottagewoman
·1 year agoeasoss
·1 year agoThe Trump policy is to lower income tax rates for the wealthy and spending crazy on the military, ICE etc. This drives up US debt to astronomical levels. Frankly they need money badly so they've come up with this tariff scheme which is simply a disguised consumption tax. I don't see it being backed off of because the alternative is to raise tax rates which Trump will never do. And top it off with gerrymandering in an attempt to win mid term elections. I hope something positive happens but it looks bleak.
katlover1952
·1 year agoSo they are expecting the sellers to pay the tariff? Wow. eBay.com has it set up so that they collect taxes from buyers when US sellers ship to Canada. Why would they not do the same for Canadian sellers?
Guess I will be ending all my .com listings too. I wish eBay would make it easier to switch over because it is time consuming to do it. I remember when they changed it so we only got so many free listings on .com per month. What a lot of work.
Problem is for us Canadian sellers is I suspect the majority of us sold the larger percentage of our good to US customers. Bye bye US sales.
chicweb
·1 year agoIn fact, ebay even collects duties for some countries isn' it? Often, when I ship international, they provide me with the tax ID (IOSS or others) to use on the label. That tells the customs that the duties have been paid to ebay already, if I'm not mistaken.
They could easily do this for the United States too.
electronicsextraordinaire
·1 year agoNot sure about duty, but it's common for Aus, Euro/UK VAT and US state's sales taxes for years now. Even HST for Canadian domestic sales (nice of CRA to force-collect it for small suppliers that aren't required to charge HST). Oh, and eBay is happy to charge its commission on top of those VAT/sales tax assessments.
So even if you charge exact costs for shipping, your net-of-commissions for a sale will be lower if someone in a high-tax area buys it vs someone in a low-tax area. And there's no way for you to pass on that cost, just have to eat it.
Determining duty is more of a dog's breakfast than sales tax. eBay Canada gets HST exempted stuff wrong and that's a lot simpler.
rdemaree
·1 year agoThe issue here is other countries use more uniform fees for all things and base it on item value rather than country of origin.
Canada and Mexico are in unique positions because they have CUSMA products which are exempt. How will ebay know youre not lying about country of origin?
The ideal situation that is the most fair would be a DDU system that makes USPS/ CBP collect the tariffs (this would be time and money consuming and not feasible hence having a di minimis in the first place) also to not punish sellers when their buyers don't do their due diligence and abandon packages over import fees. Another reason they don't want to do this is because it would blow their idea of other countries paying the tariffs out of the water.
I will be shipping flat rate to the USA with Chit Chats for now and see what happens. Anything that isnt covered under CUSMA i'll just bake the tariff into the shipping fee. I'll keep using Canada Post calculated for Canada and Flat rate/ Canada Post ebay labels for international. I wish I could offer calculated shipping for every country except the USA until they make it feasible for me to use calculated shipping Canada Post for everything again.
Hopefully by October the dust will be settled on this so Q4 won't be too damaged.
ae_purveyors
·1 year agoI don’t know if I’d agree that this will settle and not affect Q4. I think Q4 is when the proverbial caca will hit the fan.
By then, all the inventory merchants have stockpiled tariff-free will be sold out. Toys, electronics and other gift items will cost an arm and a leg due to tariffs. Add in crazy food prices…
Sadly, I have a feeling there’s going to be chaos and a full on revolt if Americans can’t afford to buy toys or Christmas presents for their kids.
mrdutch1001
·1 year ago"I have a feeling there’s going to be chaos and a full on revolt if Americans can’t afford to buy toys or Christmas presents for their kids."
now ain't that justification for the effn problem DT has created! Can't wait!!
ae_purveyors
·1 year agoypdc_dennis
·1 year agoZonos has been working with the UPU (Universal Postal Union) to put systems in place for postal operators to deal with prepaid duty/taxes. The Aug 29 deadline is just rushing things far faster than planned.
Current costs of using Zonos (from their website) is $2US per shipment + 10% of duty/tax/fees that are prepaid.
mrdutch1001
·1 year agoThe Zonos thingy>Yes, my other selling site(Etsy) has done likewise ...
makes no difference to me I'm not good with any angle of that pre-paying tariff sh*t...
flipistics
·1 year agoThanks. For some reason I never got the email.
john_koenig99
·1 year agoYeah, good luck with that.
I won't prepay ANY sort of tax/duty/tariff for no buyer. Period.
apmtrade
·1 year agoEven if it hurts... sometimes in life you have to say enough, enough.
" I won't prepay ANY sort of tax/duty/tariff for no buyer. Period. "
Agree...