eBay

tuckhouse2021 · ‎09-12-2025

HI-I am trying to move forward and to put my store back online from time away over this tarriff business.

I know that I can block the US but would like to offer my items for sale on the .com for the exposure and to get sales from interested collectors.

I would need to charge US customers for the tarriffs as I can only ship via Canada Post with the duties prepaid and I do not wish to pay the tariffs for them.

I don't see any other way of charging US customers other than adding it to the shipping and I believe then that eBay will also take a portion in the Final Value fees.

I do have the Zonos stuff set up on my desktop-not the app-and don't need help with HS codes but do need to find out how much tarrif will be charged at the border.

Is there a tool to use and how are other sellers determining how much to charge.? Zonos doesn't give an amount- just HS code info that I already have.

I am very familiar with HS codes and the Country or Orgin but can not find out how to get a value to add to the postage. I will have to manually edit all my listings and add the amount.

Any suggestions please. Thanks

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎09-12-2025

This is the major bottleneck that you will find. eBay does not have calculators available, and does not have integration at checkout to collect these amounts.

They also do not have anything like a percentage based handling or "administration" fee. So if you have an multiple items of different prices that requires 35 percent in tariffs, you would have to have a different shipping rate for each item based on the price. For example, for something that is $100 you'd need a $35 handling fee, something that is $200 you'd need a $70 fee, etc.

The amounts will vary per item. If you sell all the same items made in all the same country, it will simplify it.

Your best starting point is to begin investigating what the tariff rates are for your items. See if anything you sell is tariff free, or if the average rate is low enough that you can come up with a catch all handling fee to add to all your items. An example in my shoes, I sell media (DVDs, CDs, Books), Media is tariff free. This has allowed me to enable shipping to the USA. I also sell hockey jerseys, they are not tariff free. So I've yet to re-enable USA shipping due to the added costs and the administrative burden with manually calculating rates and adding them to my shipping policy on an item-by-item basis.

If you are a garage sale/thrift store type seller who has 100 items that are all different HTS codes and COIs, this will be nearly impossible to do on eBay. Wait until October, eBay is supposed to bring in the International Shipping Program. This will make it easier to sell internationally in some ways (you are only responsible to ship it to eBay's hub in Canada, eBay then deals with international buyers and you're completely out of the transaction once it is delivered to eBay, including with returns). But it also might be harder to make sales since the cost of shipping will increase (they have to pay two shipping costs, you have no control over the international rate, etc).

One thing to note, I don't think you can legally solicit duties or tariffs. Meaning, if you expect an item to have $5 in tariffs, you can incorporate that $5 into your shipping, handling, or Buy It Now price, but you can't say to the buyer "Send me $5 for the tariffs". Only authorized brokers (or services that are authorized) are allowed to do this. Similar to how you can't ask a buyer for HST if you're not registered to collect it.

Another consideration is that if you get a lot of returns, and you pay the duties upfront with Canada Post, those duties are not refundable. If you don't get many returns, this won't matter as much.

Keep in mind, I'm not a customs broker or a lawyer, so this is not professional advice. It is based of off my experience and could be entirely incorrect. If you're unsure, you should contact a professional.

byto253 · ‎09-12-2025

I believe that you can sign up for ZONOS, which you will need to do anyway, then put in shipping information along including (Country of Origin) COO and HS Code to get a determination of the fees and duty, if applicable.

From your sold listings it appears your main area is vintage/antique books, cards & ephemera so it appears a handful of HS Codes would cover it. I saw a number of items with COO UK, which I believe has a 10% tariff. But I think the best was is to try some test shipment information in Zonos.

Others who are currently using Zonos can chip in with their better advice!

tuckhouse2021 · ‎09-12-2025

Thanks, Yes, I do have a test shipment that passed through US customs last night. There is nothing in my Zonos pages to show that it even exists and no billing or emails as yet. I signed up verified and automatic so don't use the key thing at the post office. I will not spend an hour driving every day to line up at the post office counter when he can take it from my mailbox like he already does.

Most of my items are over 100 years old with a country of Origin of Germany. Printed in the fine art factory for the UK and US markets many years ago.

I have the HS codes already sorted out and will not rely on Zonos for that as they failed many of my test examples. The most glaring was that a used calendar from 1908 was catagorized and given an HS code for medical equipment.

As a collector for over 50 years I struggled with the GSP and the EIS. IT makes collecting almost impossible with the added postage fees and money grabs. I am not worried about international shipping I have that sorte out nicely.

It is US shipping that is the problem. Much of my paper is not worth sending tracked and I see all sort of issues with an EIS program and will not use it.

When I put the info into Zonas I only get HS codes and no estimate of duties or tarrifs.

Yes, I was looking at having to edit each listing individually to do my best.

reallynicestamps · ‎09-12-2025

Can I sign up with zonos and put the charge on the US buyer without prepaying it.?

regs43 · ‎09-12-2025

No, the app will tell you if its duty free or if you have to pay. Wehn I have done hockey cards its come throough as 0.00 owing, for the tariff code they have assigned. the 4 packages I have mailed to the USA have all cleared customs. waiting for 3 to be delivered, 1 already was and never herd from the buyer.

I will say I did sign up for email updates from USPS for these 4 transactions and used US Tracked Packet and all 4 said this in the email

"USPS expects to deliver your package by Monday, September 15, 2025.

Reminder: This item requires a signature for delivery. If you can't sign in person, you can authorize someone else to sign."

Not sure if this is just a generic message about needing people to sign, or soemthing new, but the one that was delievered was left in a mailbox. Ill keep tabs on these 3 outstanding and see what happens.

msau4301 · ‎09-12-2025

"USPS expects to deliver your package by Monday, September 15, 2025.

Reminder: This item requires a signature for delivery. If you can't sign in person, you can authorize someone else to sign."

This is a blurb I have seen every time I've had USPS send me updates (we're talking way before any of the tarrif business) so I believe it's just something they show to everyone requesting info/updates. I've never requested signature, always got this message, and always had package delivered fine (as mentioned above, before the recent changes).

cottagewoman · ‎09-12-2025

I don't think the Zonos smartphone app will allow entering an HTS code to check, but someone correct me if I'm wrong. On the web browser app, you can use the Validate function on the bottom bar to enter a 10 digit HTS code and have it show you the tariff.

However, there is a bug. If the HTS code returns a tariff value of zero for both the postal AND commercial tariff quote and the description field is left blank, the displayed results will be hidden. This is really easy to see happening if you enter the country of origin (CoO) as USA for any item, using the validate or classify function button - you'll never see what tariff rates Zonos is calculating.

So, if you want to validate a zero tariff for a non-USA item, you need to enter a CoO that will have SOME kind of tariff applied to the COMMERCIAL tariff value - China is a good one to choose, and you need to enter some text in the description box.

Example - CoO (made in) field set to Canada, Item price 100.00, using the Validate button for HTS code for hardcover books (4901.99.00.70), description field is blank, this will return zero when the Get result button is clicked:

step 1.jpg

Here entering CoO as China, and entering text in the description box, we get to see what the actual tariff rates are:

If you are searching for an item that does NOT have zero tariff, and are using the verify function for an HTS code, you MUST enter something into the description field, even if the code does have a tariff associated, no matter the CoO.

tuckhouse2021 · ‎09-12-2025

Yes, I understand the need for a description as well as COO and an HS code if I want to verify. I have to enter valid info but I still get very little useful information back. I still don't know what the customs people will assess it at.

It looks to me after some test experimenting with the Zonos that most of my items are not going to be charged a tarrif or duty.

I have gone through my store categories and think that only the old wooden puzzles and paper toys will be so I have manualy added a percentage to the shipping to cover that.

I do not know how else to proceed so will just put my store back in action and go from there.

Until I know how packages will be assessed going through customs I cannot even work on making new listings. I will have to do some actual trials.

I feel that my store is just sitting stagnant. I can't go forward but just sitting waiting for info isn't really working for me either.

regs43 · ‎09-12-2025

Good to know thanks. I usually never watch packages, but right now things are a bit unknown so was first time I signed up for email alerts lol.

tryubik-useonlyasdirected · ‎09-13-2025

@cottagewoman wrote:
I don't think the Zonos smartphone app will allow entering an HTS code to check, but someone correct me if I'm wrong. On the web browser app, you can use the Validate function on the bottom bar to enter a 10 digit HTS code and have it show you the tariff.

This is very helpful, thank you. The calculator kept showing nothing up top instead of $0 so I did not know if it was providing an answer or not. I am having issues very similar to that of the OP and would like to start dipping my toes back into selling to the US.

Is there any Zonos charge if an item is duty free?
What are the Zonos charges if an item has duty?

cottagewoman-ca · ‎09-13-2025

The Zonos Android app is now letting you enter your own HTS codes when using the enter manually fields. This wasn't working before. I did some A/B testing with the Canada Post tariff estimator and they matched up for about 5-6 different HTS codes. Once you ask it to calculate, there's a button that lets you see what the tariff rates are. Actually easier to use than the web app.

dinomitesales · ‎09-13-2025

@cottagewoman-ca wrote:
The Zonos Android app is now letting you enter your own HTS codes when using the enter manually fields. This wasn't working before. I did some A/B testing with the Canada Post tariff estimator and they matched up for about 5-6 different HTS codes. Once you ask it to calculate, there's a button that lets you see what the tariff rates are. Actually easier to use than the web app.

This option is not yet available on the iOS version of the app, but glad to see they're actively updating.

Generating the incorrect HTS code for the item in question is my biggest gripe with Zonos at the moment.