How are you going to handle things if there are tariffs March 4?

[sin-n-dex]

I know it's not for two weeks, but I'm getting ready. Wondered how other people would handle it and maybe it will give me some new ideas of things I haven't thought of before.

Currently my location is USA on my listings (which means I provide domestic USA shipping, but I use Stallion, so they take my items across the border). I'm thinking of things I can do to deal with this, but I'm not sure what's best and won't know what to do until there's a process in place for dealing with tariffs so I can respond appropriately.

On March 1 I'm going to put my store on time away, and on March 2 I will drive to Stallion in Mississauga with my last parcels to get them over the border on March 3 (in case tariffs start March 4). Then I'm going to stay on time away until I know what's going on (like will Stallion allow me to pay tariffs, how much is it going to cost, will it work on all items I sell, is this a temporary measure until I figure something else out, etc, etc).

Things I'm thinking I might do, depending on the outcome:

- Change item location to Canada (so if there's tariffs buyers will be aware the item is coming from Canada and they might have to pay)

- List items on the dot CA site to attract more Canadian buyers

- Open a store on dot CA (probably with my other eBay account that's registered in Canada)

- Ship with Canada Post (that seemed to have the fewest problems the last time)

- Continue to be showing a USA location and pay the tariffs myself (might not be feasable for all items I sell, might have to take stuff out of the store)

- Try to attract more international sales (other than USA)

I don't know which I'll do yet, these are just things I'm thinking about to deal with the changes. I do think my USA location is hurting me with Canadian buyers (however when I send offers out, I do state I'm in Canada and Canadian buyers are purchasing, but they aren't bidding on my auctions right now).

Wondered what others were thinking of doing to deal with this (other than perhaps a time out to do other things). I'm currently working on listing my jewellery on a crafting type of platform (with the location in Canada), I never had time for that before, but since I'm not listing on eBay right now until I know what's going on with tariffs, I thought I'd work on something else. Once that's done I have a project to do for my family that I never had time for. Just think of the free time I'll have for a week or so until they sort out how to collect tariffs and put measures into place so items can get across the border.

I do know some people never stopped selling or shipping to US the last time, but since there are things going on in my store, stopping seems to be the best idea until I figure out what to do. (The main thing is the USA location, if there are tariffs perhaps minimally I'll have to change my location to Canada and ship with Canada Post, the postage on eBay is pretty close to what I pay at Stallion, but Stallion allows me to do a domestic USA sale with a USA item location).

C.

[recped]

IF and it's a big if the Trump Tariffs are resurected (25% on everything) AND the de minimis exemption remains in place for Canada I will do nothing.

If the tariffs return and the de minimis goes away I may switch to a DDP service and add the tariff amount to my shipping/handling charge to US buyers.

I'm curious to see what DDU service Stallion comes up with. If it's not a good option i might have to go back to Canada Post Tracked Packet.

[romancranch]

Just wondering what will happen to us Canadian buyers March 4th if we buy from USA sellers.

I just received 2 packages from the USA.  One was some German made coffee from usa seller I buy from. I had customs fees, our 11% tax, the 9.95 handling fee and 8% duty (said special category) The other package was 2 clothing items from USA seller. The customs fees 11% tax, 9.95 handling fee, and one clothing item 8% duty and the other clothing item 9% duty.  So if Canada puts counter-tariffs on, would that replace the 8%-9% duties? or would the 25% be on top of the other duties? 

[fergua3]

Yes if the items you purchased are subject to the counter tariffs.  But Canadian tariffs are expected to be 'targeted' not just blanket tariffs like Trump is threatening, so only some things could have tariffs on them.

However, it depends on the wording of the Canadian counter tariffs.  They could increase the existing duty amount to 25% or they could add it on top of existing duty amounts.   Nothing has been stated on paper yet.

I must point out that despite all of Trump's tariff threats, not one tariff has come into being yet.  He keeps pushing dates:  January 20, then Feb 4 became March 4, March 12, April 2.  He keeps saying how great tariffs are.....if they are so 'great' why is he delaying?  He's just costing the US all this wonderful money he says tariffs will bring in.

[38e_avenue]

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[mrdutch1001]

Not changing a thing, tariffs or no tariffs. I do not sell anything of a value over $50; have nothing made in China>99% of my items are made in Canada or Made in USA. I will continue to offer my items to USA as well as Canada(I do not sell outside of Canada and USA) same as I have been for the past 10 years. I have always used Canada Post and will continue to do so.

[regs43]

Not changing anything. I ship with Canada Post (Chit chats is like 1.5 hour round trip for me so not even worth the 75cent savings on a package, and right now CP is giving a discount on the discount lol)

If tarriffs happen the buyers can pay for it, not my problem, their country wants them to get "rich" for tarrifs and half don't even know that its a tax that hey as the importer pay , so let them learn!

[sparx_63]

I am refusing to do any business with the USA.  Absolutely amazing how much worry has been reduced once this decision is made.  As long as Canadian sales are enough to pay for my store, I will keep it open.  Not going to worry about tariffs at all. 🙂

[femmefan1946]

I noticed over the weekend that only of ten shipments, two went to the USA, one overseas. The rest went to Canada.
That is a (probably one-off) reversal of my usual Canada-USA reversal.

[brle_5065]

Interesting times. According to Dump, he's serious and has been saying the tariffs will start on March 1st, but that could be an error—although if you ask him, he doesn't make them.

 I can't speak to everyone, but I cannot eat the 25%, nor should I!

I've stopped selling on my .COM site. I've been transferring everything to my .CA site- and adding a disclaimer on every listing that buyers are responsible for any/all taxes and duties ,also known as tariffs- because that's what a tariff is.  What is bothering me is #eBay has yet publically declare what is and isn't a duty- I hold two degrees in international trade- a tariff is a form of duty, and as we all know- and our government- hell- oops- I said a bad word- Heck- the WORLD has been telling Americans that they are going to be paying for any/all tariffs.  EBay has to clarify the reality of the situation to sellers and buyers so no one is surprised on the first day of tariffs.   Even if eBay feels they do not want to tick off the Dump- and inform us that we are responsible for the tariffs- this would mean one of three things- All our prices will have to be raised by 25% to US buyers- and we call it a US Administration fee- which buyers won't believe. 

The other possibility—and I'm not suggesting it—is a class action against eBay to force them to comply with international norms related to tax/duty laws and regulations, but that would be a headache. This could potentially lead to a resolution of the tariff issue, but it would also involve a significant amount of time, effort, and legal fees. 

The final option, which I don't like—but am doing—is to stop selling to the US until the situation is resolved. I've opened my.CA and.UK to plenty more countries—with some exceptions—Russia/China and a few others that don't have a form of tracking mail in place or are in areas of conflict—or to places I'm not comfortable selling to (i.e., Iraq, UAE, countries that violate international human rights, etc.).

The other measure I am doing if we don't have any direction from the government or eBay is making the changes (stop selling to the US) effective THIS weekend- I don't want stuff to get hung up with either a courier company- who doesn't know what's going on either- or Canada Post, and there is a delay before it reaches US Customs for clearance- after the duty goes into effect. Although- they may allow it to go through because it was in the system before the tariffs went into place- they may also decide to reject the item and return it to sender- or clear it subject to the buyer paying the tariffs when someone knocks on their door- I don't want to deal with either headache of losing the shipping cost- or the argument with the buyer on why they have to pay the tariff- and we all know what happens if the buyer complains to eBay- we will be paying the tariff to the buyer UNLESS they send out an email clearly explaining what a tariff is.

I've said it before- that we have to stick together- as Canadians and as eBay sellers and mean it. Like most of you who have stores- I have yet to be compensated for the inability to create sales during Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the 10 days following that. Nor have I received any compensation for the failure for most of January and 10 days of February been able to create a newsletter- We all know that if these problems happened in the US on the .com site- both situations would have been corrected in a matter of hours- not weeks- but on the .ca site? 'Just Canadians- they should be happy with what we give them'. Which is...?.

For the record, the exemptions for less expensive items will be removed, so everything you sell, including a 5-cent coin, will be subject to the tariff (unless it's a US coin). I sell a fair amount of coins, and I'm curious to see what happens when they realize that most coins these days are made of steel—an additional tariff? It might be an idea to inventory all your stock to see where it's made- We can't forget that if an item is made in China- the Chinese tariffs will apply, even if it's coming from Canada.

Anyway, good luck, everyone. Stay strong. I honestly believe this could open up new markets for Canadian sellers, offering us new opportunities and growth potential. We have to find a way of working together to make it easier for all of us. Not that I'm an expert in everything—I'm not Donald—but if there is anything I can do, please reach out. 

[sin-n-dex]

Thanks to everyone for input on this. It probably wouldn't be so difficult for me to figure out if it isn't for the fact that I'm offering shipping to the US as domestic shipping (so that's one thing that will have to change if there's tariffs, unless I want to do Duties Paid Postage to the US).

In any event, when it hits the fan I'm going to be on time away and see what happens. I don't like the idea of not having sales for a few days/weeks while this is sorted out, but the China tariffs caused lots of chaos which made me wish I hadn't been selling that week until things were sorted out.

C.

[recped]

Whatever moves the Mango Man makes are hard to predict. It appears that the blanket 25% is off the table and replaced by more targeted tariffs such as the recently announced tariff on Steel and Aluminum and the just announced tariff on Automobiles in April.

Or maybe nothing will happen because Trump will be too busy selling out the Ukraine to Putin and initiating tariffs against the EU.

[flipistics]

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@recped wrote:

Whatever moves the Mango Man makes are hard to predict. It appears that the blanket 25% is off the table and replaced by more targeted tariffs such as the recently announced tariff on Steel and Aluminum and the just announced tariff on Automobiles in April.

Or maybe nothing will happen because Trump will be too busy selling out the Ukraine to Putin and initiating tariffs against the EU.

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A few places have said the 25% would be in addition to the targeted ones. The most important question for us will be whether the de minimis will be removed or not. I have doubts it will be right away since it'll likely take a few months for their new sales tax ... er tariff collecting department to be up and running, but Trump seems intent on creating general chaos so it's possible he'll let them come into effect at least for a week or so first.

I've been trying to reorganize my stores so I can quickly filter out and change the shipping policy on items that may be affected by tariffs. That way it'll only take me a few minutes to adapt to changes without needing to shut down.

[38e_avenue]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

I noticed over the weekend that only of ten shipments, two went to the USA, one overseas. The rest went to Canada.
That is a (probably one-off) reversal of my usual Canada-USA reversal.

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No change here: 5 shipments yesterday - 4 US and 1 UK.  

[sin-n-dex]

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@flipistics wrote:

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@recped wrote:

Whatever moves the Mango Man makes are hard to predict. It appears that the blanket 25% is off the table and replaced by more targeted tariffs such as the recently announced tariff on Steel and Aluminum and the just announced tariff on Automobiles in April.

Or maybe nothing will happen because Trump will be too busy selling out the Ukraine to Putin and initiating tariffs against the EU.

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A few places have said the 25% would be in addition to the targeted ones. The most important question for us will be whether the de minimis will be removed or not. I have doubts it will be right away since it'll likely take a few months for their new sales tax ... er tariff collecting department to be up and running, but Trump seems intent on creating general chaos so it's possible he'll let them come into effect at least for a week or so first.

I've been trying to reorganize my stores so I can quickly filter out and change the shipping policy on items that may be affected by tariffs. That way it'll only take me a few minutes to adapt to changes without needing to shut down.

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I have software (SixBit) where I can batch change items (to update item location for one, or revise TOS in the description, etc). It will take a few days to implement changes to the entire inventory, but it can be done. I'm just waiting to see what happens to see if anything needs to be done at all. Someone mentioned that Trump's chaos is to get a reaction from people (like get his CBP people to be freaking out about tariffing imports, for instance), and that the best thing to do is wait a few days to see if anything's going to stick before reacting. Just because Trump has all his government departments freaking out over changes doesn't mean we have to react to everything he does.

But there may be a need to react if any change lasts longer than a few days, so I'm waiting to see how that plays out. If de minimis doesn't go away (even with tariffs) then most of us are OK to continue shipping until that changes. But we find out what's happening kind of at the last minute, so this time I'm going to shut down and be ready for changes. I have one last trip to Stallion planned on March 2 (and hoping for no bad driving weather), and I'll get my packages there. I will make a trip out Friday before Stallion closes to get out anything that sells during the day. The fewer customers I have to explain customs problems to, the better.

C.

[femmefan1946]

@brle_5065 

I can't speak to everyone, but I cannot eat the 25%, nor should I!

You are making the same mistake as 47.

The Seller does not pay the tariff, the BUYER pays the tariff.

That means that, even if the seller reduces their price by 25% the Buyer would still be hit with a 25% tariff on the reduced price-- and that would be in addition to the price the Buyer thought he was paying.

So.

Sell at $100 +25% tariff- Buyer pays $125 = Angry Buyer

Sell at $75+ 255 tariff- Buyer pays $93.75 = Angry Buyer

The only hope is that the eBay invoice shows the price breakdown as "25% tariff on imported goods" rather than burying it it. as seems to happen sometimes with eIS/GSP where the "shipping cost" included duty and sales taxes making the program seem to charge unusually expensive shipping.

[flipistics]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

@brle_5065 

I can't speak to everyone, but I cannot eat the 25%, nor should I!

You are making the same mistake as 47.

The Seller does not pay the tariff, the BUYER pays the tariff.

That means that, even if the seller reduces their price by 25% the Buyer would still be hit with a 25% tariff on the reduced price-- and that would be in addition to the price the Buyer thought he was paying.

So.

Sell at $100 +25% tariff- Buyer pays $125 = Angry Buyer

Sell at $75+ 255 tariff- Buyer pays $93.75 = Angry Buyer

The only hope is that the eBay invoice shows the price breakdown as "25% tariff on imported goods" rather than burying it it. as seems to happen sometimes with eIS/GSP where the "shipping cost" included duty and sales taxes making the program seem to charge unusually expensive shipping.

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We don't know how they're going to be eventually implemented, but I wouldn't make any assumptions at this point. Trump may very well bring in a law that the tariff has to be prepaid by the shipper before the item is accepted into the country. I could actually see him doing that. Marketplaces would have to start charging the tariffs on checkout, assuming it's actually legal for them to even do so.

[ricarmic]

My current plan is to do nothing different until it happens.

If it happens, and I have to pay more (ie the tariff), or things to the US take too long to get there, because partway like you I can't just exclude US folks because half of my stuff is on .COM, I'll shut down here, and maybe put all my effort into the non-postal/non-ebay other venues I started building during the last postal strike.

Assuming it persists, I'll probably formulate some sort of plan to zap all the .COM stuff and keep .CA blocking the US folks. That plan will depend on how things progress tariffs wise and how much I care about selling on eBay vs the other venues.

I'm fortunate in that I'm sort of "semi-retired"now, although my spouse would probably chuckle about that comment,  but this might help me move further along that way too!

[brle_5065]

I agree with you- tariffs, like duties, are the buyer's responsibility.   The example I gave was if you had a $100 item- and raised it to $130 on your .com site- that would cover MOST of the increased cost of the 25% tariff (keeping in mind you have to pay the tariff on the additional $30.)   #eBay has to send out a statement clarifying the eBay position- and simple say IF tariffs come into play, that it would be treated like other forms of duties and the buyer is responsible for it- that would solve the problem- then the buyers and sellers know what's going in- this isn't rocket science.    I know eBay doesn't want to get into the middle of some international tariff debate, I get it- but it doesn't have a chance.  Canada and Mexico are the first- but the orange one has already informed the EU that they are next. 

[brle_5065]

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.  Who knows- this may all be just his normal double-speak.  We don't have a choice but to accept that the threat is real.  If we aren't prepared, we all could be scr*wed.  As such, I'm forced to delete selling to the US effective today- because I don't want anything that goes into the mail to get caught up in this game he's playing.  What he's doing is legal- not very smart, but legal- he has the authority.   Marketplaces will have to collect it- one way or another- or it could be paid via Canada Post or a courier. Chances are, you're right- he won't let US Customs release the items to be delivered unless it's paid.  If he allowed US Customs to do so- and charge the receiver (buyer) when it's delivered- there goes his fungus (I can't say the word on eBay- 4 letters- starts with an S and ends with a T) about the exporting country pays the tariffs.