Zonos scam duty on non-dutiable items
Summary: shallow_karl raises concerns about Zonos charging duties on non-dutiable packages shipped to the U.S., questioning if they are pocketing the money. marnotom! suggests the process might be automated, making intentional errors unlikely. femmefan1946 implies possible political influence in Zonos securing a U.S. contract. flipistics compares the situation to sales tax collection, where overcharges aren't kept by sellers. regs43 and others discuss their experiences and challenges with Zonos misclassifying items for tariffs, highlighting issues with automatic billing and errors in classification. Participants discuss alternatives like prepay options and problems with receiving tariff refunds.
What is the point of zonos? They are charging duties or tariffs on packages shipped to the U.S. that are NOT dutiable. Are they simpky pocketing the money?
shallow_karl
OP2 weeks agoIl'll use in Toronto, chitChats, which although afflicted with same profblem (charging tariffs on things that carry no tariffs) they work using Netherlands post which is cheap. Also, Google A.I. was no help, blithering on about the suspension if de minimis which had NOTHING to do with tariffs and only dealt with taxes.
ricarmic
·2 weeks agoI have had Zonos bill me for non tariffed items in the past. There wasn't any way around it, and the next day it was fixed, meaning it was likely a glitch, which was frustrating because it was an unneccesary 35% tariff plus a $4 ZONOS fee that I chose to eat. (I use Zonos prepay). Next time I'll wait till the next day before I go ahead.
I'm sure the "stats" which would be in the millions of transactions just go in bulk to the US govt along with the related total $$$ collected. Nobody is checking for or fixing anything that went wrong, or at least that was the case in my case, never got the $$$ back later on.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·2 weeks agoI shipped some goods from South Africa a few days before the tariffs dropped, and my item got to the border at the time the new 10% tariffs were in play, I'd paid 35%. I never got any money back from that (I shipped with Stallion).
regs43
·2 weeks agoHow are you using zonos? it matters. Pre Pay app or letting Canada Post send Zonos the info and bill you later via a linked account? what are you selling thats suppose to be tariff free?
Zonos keeps classifying my hockey cards in a wrong HS category which I manually change it on the pre pay app to get the 0 tariff. 4911.99.6000 is acceptable for hockey cards as they are created with a printing plate process and zonos keeps classifying them in the 50% tariff category the last few weeks of 4911.91.4040 (I believe it is) If I was to have my account linked with Canada post and Zonos I am at the mercy of whatever zonos decides a week later
I moved all my photographs to EIS only since the 50% tariffs because they are printed in Canada and are subject to 50% tariffs witht he 4911.91 HS category (no thanks lol)
byto253
·2 weeks agoIf you let Canada Post send Zonos the info and bill you later are you unable to manually put in the correct HS code? I have only used the prepay option and am not familiar with the other option.
regs43
·2 weeks agoI forgot onetime to switch from auto billing to manual as I use prepay to get 0 fees for tariff free items. I got charged a fee to process the transaction for a 0 tariff item, it was like 3.00. So it auto figured out whatever it wanted based on the description of my item and the COO I did put (as I never put a HS code on the label). So I wouldn't chance it imo for a tariff free item as there is a fee to process it vs the app which there is 0 fee for a tariff free item. I also cant figure out how to unlink my Canada Post to Zonos since day 1 (which I would like to)
ricarmic
·2 weeks ago · EditedI have both (accidentally), so far I only use Prepay, as long as I go into prepay directly I've had no problems.... the CP linked one does allow one to do the preview aspect when new tariffs etc are coming, where prepay doesn't, that's why I've kept it....
jtg204
·2 weeks ago · EditedI think to unlink you go to this page, and then clear the Zonos key and save:
https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/shippingtools-outilsexpedition/en/preferences
What does the Zonos shipment details say where it shows an HTS number?
With netparcel, you enter HS code but there's possibility that it is changed. For example when you don't put the 10 digit format it will complete it and show something like this on the Zonos details:
I haven't had one changed to something completely different yet, but assume that's possible.
regs43
·2 weeks agoYeah trying to clear the key and save just creates an error on the Canada Post site, so that doesn't work sadly
flipistics
·2 weeks agoI would imagine it works the same way sales taxes do. In Ontario, if I sell a book locally I have to charge 5% HST since books are exempt from the provincial portion. If I accidentally charge the buyer 13%, I don't get to pocket the extra. I have to remit it to the government.
femmefan1946
·2 weeks agoZonos got the US contract by contributing to Trump.
I rest my case.
marnotom!
·2 weeks agoSince the process is completely automated, how would anyone at Zonos recognize that these charges could be pocketed instead of remitted to the US administration?
shallow_karl
OP2 weeks agoWhen they realize the funds don't have to be remunerated to the state.
marnotom!
·2 weeks agoYou've answered my question with my question. How do they "realize" this? I'm pretty sure that nobody's going to double-check individual transactions for accuracy. Have you contacted Zonos support?