eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎05-05-2025

Chit Chats posted on their blog:

https://chitchats.com/blog/president-trumps-tariffs-on-canada-and-e-commerce

Trucks going over on May 2 and May 3 were denied. They are going to fine their customers $1000 for trying to sneak China made goods in with the shipments (and cancel their account, and report them to CBP to make it difficult for that shipper to violate again), plus make the shipper liable for any fines from US Customs.

I was at Stallion today, they had 10 bags of rejected items. Two or three contained letters, mine were nicely wrapped in coloured paper with rubber bands so I found my stuff very easily. I've spent my afternoon printing tracked labels for all these packages to try to send again.

Several bags were third party labels (in November we were told that wasn't allowed, but people kept doing it and Stallion didn't intervene until Customs refused a bunch of packages). From what I was told the packages that came back were refused while others were accepted (this was from last Tuesday).

While I was at Stallion, a guy came in to complain his shipment hadn't been moving. He went to get his phone and came back and it was discovered the shipments he sent (he said there was 10 with the same stuck status) were rejected at the border. After he left, I was told by the agent that people are trying to sneak their China goods on the truck and misdeclaring the country of origin.

From what I was told, the search on packages isn't quite as random as getting on the truck and opening random stuff to see what it is. They are looking at what's declared and selectively opening anything that could suspiciously be from China. (This is not an official communication, I had some concerns about my shipments even though they're not from China and was told customs knows what it's supposed to be when they open it). So basically various toys and games and things that are likely to be made in China are being selected. I will find out later if my packages are opened when my customers respond to me (someone will tell me).

I didn't check DYK's FB page yet to see what they have to say, but they were having problems at the Montana Border on Friday.

C.

byto253 · ‎05-05-2025

Chitchats sent this email.

-------------

Our May 2–3 crossings were denied after some clients misdeclared Chinese-origin goods to evade tariffs. To prevent future issues, we’re enforcing strict penalties for misdeclarations. Please visit our May 5 blog update to review penalties and learn how to declare correctly.

If you declared properly but experienced delays, we’re working to remove noncompliant shipments so your packages can resume their journey as soon as possible.

In addition, U.S. Select will temporarily not qualify for DDP postage. In the meantime, please use U.S. Edge for prepaid tariffs.

Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you for choosing Chit Chats.
The Chit Chats Team

-----------

From the blog linked in the email:

Why Accurate Declarations Matter & Repercussions

Any discovered misdeclared shipments during a CBP (U.S. customs) inspection will result in the entire truck being turned around. In other words, the action of misdeclaring your shipment not only affects you, but all other Chit Chats clients on the same border-crossing.

To protect compliant shippers and keep operations running smoothly, we will be implementing the following penalties if you are found to misdeclare the Country of Origin, value, or any other shipment detail intended to evade tariffs by your local branch or during CBP inspection. All of the following penalties can occur even on your first offense:
- $1000 CAD Chit Chats Administrative Fee
- Disposal of misdeclared shipments
- Termination of your Chit Chats account (CBP will retain your information, making any future attempts to circumvent tariffs highly likely to fail.)
Beyond our internal measures, CBP can impose civil penalties up to $50,000 USD and bar you from shipping to the U.S. in the future—regardless of carrier or method.

sin-n-dex · ‎05-06-2025

Thanks for posting.

I was on DYK's FB page and their trucks are making it across (even Montana where there have been problems).

The cross border shippers are already in trouble... some are downsizing. My contact at Stallion has been let go a few days ago.

C.

cottagewoman · ‎05-06-2025

A local service that I'll be working with in the near future was turned around today for 1 pair of underwear that were declared with CoO of Columbia that were made in China. This is the 1st time in 20 years that it happened to them.

sin-n-dex · ‎05-06-2025

This just in from Chit Chats:

Update May 6, 2025

Update on Held & Refused Shipments

As noted in yesterday’s update, U.S. CBP is thoroughly checking parcels for verification of Country of Origin, and immediately refusing our entire truck upon discovery of a single misdeclared or ambiguous Country of Origin. Shipments crossing at the New York border were refused again, and we are awaiting the status of the shipments crossing in Washington.

Given the amount of shipments that need to be verified, any shipments that have been handed off to Chit Chats, but have yet to be inducted, are in the process of being returned to their branch of origin to be physically checked before being allowed to cross the border. Furthermore, all U.S. shipments will be subject to physical verification before leaving the branch for a U.S. bound trip.

Note: Chit Chats exercises the right to perform internal checks on your package as per the declaration that you sign upon creating your account.

Shipments found to have been misdeclared or without the previously mentioned requirement of a discernable Country of Origin marking must be re-worked with our DDU options, or returned to you. Our staff will reach out to you to make necessary arrangements if required.

All U.S. bound shipments are required to have all products to be physically labeled with the Country of Origin. Learn more here.

In the meantime, it is recommended that you let your recipients know of these delays. We are working to make sure everyone’s shipments are compliant, and we appreciate your patience as we continue to ensure compliance.

Introducing Expedited Parcel – USA

In an effort to provide more options to send shipments to the U.S., we have launched our CP Expedited Parcel USA postage. The workflow is the same as CP Tracked Packet USA as it is a DDU postage option, with more generous allowances for weight and dimensions, and shipment items. Learn more about this service here.

Thank you for your understanding. To understand the repercussions of misdeclaring your shipments, please visit the May 5 update.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-06-2025

@byto253 wrote:
Chitchats sent this email.
-------------
Our May 2–3 crossings were denied after some clients misdeclared Chinese-origin goods to evade tariffs. To prevent future issues, we’re enforcing strict penalties for misdeclarations. Please visit our May 5 blog update to review penalties and learn how to declare correctly.

If you declared properly but experienced delays, we’re working to remove noncompliant shipments so your packages can resume their journey as soon as possible.

In addition, U.S. Select will temporarily not qualify for DDP postage. In the meantime, please use U.S. Edge for prepaid tariffs.

Thank you for your understanding.
Thank you for choosing Chit Chats.
The Chit Chats Team
-----------

From the blog linked in the email:
Why Accurate Declarations Matter & Repercussions
Any discovered misdeclared shipments during a CBP (U.S. customs) inspection will result in the entire truck being turned around. In other words, the action of misdeclaring your shipment not only affects you, but all other Chit Chats clients on the same border-crossing.

To protect compliant shippers and keep operations running smoothly, we will be implementing the following penalties if you are found to misdeclare the Country of Origin, value, or any other shipment detail intended to evade tariffs by your local branch or during CBP inspection. All of the following penalties can occur even on your first offense:
$1000 CAD Chit Chats Administrative Fee
Disposal of misdeclared shipments
Termination of your Chit Chats account (CBP will retain your information, making any future attempts to circumvent tariffs highly likely to fail.)
Beyond our internal measures, CBP can impose civil penalties up to $50,000 USD and bar you from shipping to the U.S. in the future—regardless of carrier or method.

@byto253

Was there any word the guilty parties would be forwarded 1 way post haste to an El Salvador holding mass cell without due process? Upgraded to Alcatraz as soon as renos get completed.

sin-n-dex · ‎05-06-2025

Furthermore, no updates from Stallion. When I'm hearing from everyone except Stallion I would needle my contact to ask whoever does the updates to send something out to everyone, but now that this person has been let go I have no direct contact with Stallion anymore. My contact is only with their customer service (and whatever I can find out in the branch I use).

I sent a note to customer service to ask for an update on processing. The stuff I dropped off yesterday shows as "ready" and isn't being processed in Mississauga. I imagine there are delays, but would like some kind of confirmation on what's going on. Customers are asking. People feel they're taking a chance buying from a seller in Canada and I don't want this to be an experience that turns them off from coming back to my store.

I was feeling a little bit like a pariah this past weekend as there weren't too many people interested in items (not even new items showing up on eligible for offer list), but that's picked up a bit by now and I'm seeing some sales.

I'm wondering if I should just change the location for the rest of my items to Canada and live with the fact that people won't see my items in search if they filter for US only items. I specialize a lot in Canadian, British and Australian stuff (or British commonwealth generally speaking), which might not be as available in the US, that might make people expand their search a bit to find what they collect.

I'm in time away again from May 13 until May 26, then in that time find out about the Canada Post strike (my time away isn't related to the strike, it's just a happy coincidence that both reasons coincide that week), I guess I can figure out what I'm going to do by the time the strike is over and I can return to selling again.

C.

wilsonharborsales · ‎05-06-2025

I was at the Chit Chats distribution center again today. No trucks have cleared the border since April 30th. Today an entire pallet was found to contain Made in China goods. They will likely begin to issue $1000 fines for anyone misrepresenting or lying about CoO to avoid tariffs.

They are re-scanning every package and cross checking all information in the scan against seller history.

The CBP also has advanced scanning software that has a seller’s history as well as brand identifiers.

I don’t know if the CBP has started handing out fines to those who are misrepresenting, but it is a $50,000 fine to the person not the company.