What do you think is going to happen to our shipping on May 2?

[sin-n-dex]

So de minimis on China/Hong Kong made goods goes away May 2. If history is any lesson, there's going to be bedlam at the border.

I'm wondering what the shippers like Stallion and Chit Chats are going to do, while we are allowed to continue to ship non-China goods across the border, I'm expecting chaos while they're sorting all the packages to determine what can go, and what is subject to 145% tariffs (which no longer apply to electronics from what I read in the US forum).

With 145% tariffs, no one will be using services like Stallion and Chit Chats to send their items across duties paid, it would cost the seller money to sell the item with those types of tariffs. But it won't likely stop some people from trying to sneak their China items across under the guise of them being from a different COO.

There was talk a few weeks ago about needing manufacture name and address info for the shipments. That's going to cause chaos for those of us who ship vintage goods. Declaring it as "vintage" instead of providing a manufacturer was correct according to CBP, but whether or not that's accepted under the new rules is anyone's guess.

I think I'm going to have to go offline a few days before May 2 (yet again, for the fourth time) to wait and see what happens. There's no sense in continuing to sell if they just decide to treat all shipments as if they're Chinese (like I was told they were doing when the de minimis on China items first went away, February was it?) Stallion told me all my packages were going formal entry and tariffs were going to be charged back to my account even though I didn't ship anything made in China, they were treating all the packages as if they were made in China, then they repealed the rules and put de minimis back, and at that point my packages made it across the border (without tariffs).

It's just complete chaos, and this "wait 30 days" for things to happen and having to stop selling every 30 days to make sure we can comply with the new rules is exhausting.

For those of us who've decided to just ship Canada Post, I still think there's going to be bedlam at the border, significant delays in Canada Post packages, customers getting mad and filing INRs. I don't think shipping the items from Canada and letting the tariff be the buyer's problem is necessarily going to help escape the chaos that's pending. Plus the fact I think numerous packages will not be claimed due to tariffs. If the tracking is anything like the EU packages that are refused due to tariffs then a lot of customers will be entitled to refunds. Although I knew my EU package was refused, the integrated tracking didn't show what the carrier tracking showed me, and eBay forced me to refund the customer $50 because he didn't want to pay VAT on his import. I'm expecting with US tariffs to see a lot more of that noise.

C.

[itolduandso]

Is that minimum flat minimum $100 tariff (soon $200) per item applicable to China made items coming from Canada as well? Or is it for the packages coming from China directly?

[cottagewoman]

How we're they shipped? Canada Post? Or cross border service?

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@itolduandso wrote:

I got rejected many packages at the border because they didn't have the Country of Origin labels on them, essentially a sticker that needs to be attached to the item or to some packaging the item is in (can be a closed transparent bag etc if it's not the original box of the product). Those are non-chinese items and I mailed them already last week they got to border Saturday, all returning.

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Are your items over 20 years old? From what I read on the link posted yesterday if it's over 20 years old (prior to import) then it doesn't need an affixed sticker.

Also it doesn't need a sticker if putting a sticker on will damage the item (like picture an old aluminum token, you wouldn't put a sticker on that).

I guess I'll see if my packages are rejected, they're supposed to get to the border today (if they haven't already).

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@itolduandso wrote:

Is that minimum flat minimum $100 tariff (soon $200) per item applicable to China made items coming from Canada as well? Or is it for the packages coming from China directly?

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My understanding is it's "China made items" no matter where they are shipped from.

Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

C.

[marnotom!]

How will CBP know that the item is over twenty years old?

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@marnotom! wrote:
How will CBP know that the item is over twenty years old?

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It depends on the item. I sell coins, most of them are dated.

C.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@sapphyres-designer-jewellery wrote:

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@marnotom! wrote:
How will CBP know that the item is over twenty years old?

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It depends on the item. I sell coins, most of them are dated.

C.

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@sapphyres-designer-jewellery 

In some categories you can get away with Year - Unknown. Many categories require a specific year. In those cases I just leave blank. Even older books can be very challenging to pin down precisely. 

[itolduandso]

Now with tariffs lowered to 30% for the next 90 days on Chinese origin items, is USPS still going to charge the minimum $100 flat per package tariff on packages from Canada Post.

[fergua3]

US buyers who just got nailed with 145% tariffs are going to be pretty upset that it's now down to 30%.  Trump seems to be aiming to infuriate every person in the world.

Trump is putting a specific tariff on the toy company Mattel because they moved production from China to Vietnam and not from China to the USA.  He is oblvious to the reality that toys made in the USA would cost about 5 times as much as those made in China or Vietnam, plus the US does not have the technology or know-how to make modern day toy quality.    What a stable genius.

[cottagewoman]

See section 4 in the link below. 54% or 100$.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/modifying-reciprocal-tariff-rates-to-reflect...

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@fergua3 wrote:

US buyers who just got nailed with 145% tariffs are going to be pretty upset that it's now down to 30%.  Trump seems to be aiming to infuriate every person in the world.

Trump is putting a specific tariff on the toy company Mattel because they moved production from China to Vietnam and not from China to the USA.  He is oblvious to the reality that toys made in the USA would cost about 5 times as much as those made in China or Vietnam, plus the US does not have the technology or know-how to make modern day toy quality.    What a stable genius.

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@fergua3 

@itolduandso 

It's the the Trumpian version of a limited time offer. Will expire  or can be revised without warning. Void where prohibited by state, provincial and country laws. 1 per family. Photo copies will not be accepted.  Taxes and handling charges may or may not be extra at checkout. If there is an error refunds are not applicable. 

As an afterthought, I wonder if all eBay users chipped in and bought him a jet could we get reduced tariff rates to everywhere? Hmmmm....

[itolduandso]

Lol. I never knew Trump is so eloquent in writing.

[itolduandso]

Yeh, buying him a golf cart maybe. 

I asked ChatGPT explain how it works with the $100 minimum tariff and the 54% duty on Chinese origin goods. So is this 100 dollar optional according to the article in The Verge which ChatGPT cites as well? It looks like the importer can decide whether to pay 100 dollar or calculated tariff. It doesn't make sense to me, why would they even did offer this option. Wasn't it minimum 100 dollars?

https://www.theverge.com/news/665541/trump-reduces-tax-on-cheap-imports-from-china?utm_source=chatgp...

I didn't know the 200 dollar is cancelled. That's new too.

So much chaos.

[itolduandso]

I got my response from CBP. I asked them if having a letter in writing from a company in the US about the origin of the item can be considered instead of having the made-in-USA on the product. The product I have is an expensive equipment but it was manufactured as custom item for special order and there is no made-in-USA marking althogh the product was made in the USA. So I asked if having a letter from the company would help. 

Their response was no - it must be on the product. 

But faking country of origin on the product is probably easier and I can see Chinese alraedy running their etching and laser engraving tools hot as everything worth selling money and time will just be ingraved with Made in USA. 

Another question was about who decides and how decides if the tariff charged is percentage or flat 100 dollars.

The response: It's the carrier that decides how much they charge, if they charge the percentage or flat 100 dollars. What choice will the carrier make? So what difference will the lower new tariff make at 54% if the carrier still can choose to charge 100 dollar if there is less work with that. 

This is clear as mud. 

And by the way - why wasn't the CBP information center officer infirmed the duty assessment is now 54%. Where are they taking that 120% now?

Is this something more recent or they have older information?

The second link has whole emails directory to send questions. I don't mind sending questions directly to somebody out of the list instead to the general mailbox.

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/rulings/informed-compliance-publications/marking-country-origin-us-imports

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/centers-excellence-and-expertise-information/cee-directory 

[valuestore]

The de minis is great for consumers, not so great for sellers. 'Foreign' manufacturers can walk into your market where $10 sell price is standard, they come in at $5, in some cases this is subsidized by foreign governments , you can't compete with cheating. It sends you and your family to the food bank line up. 

[cottagewoman]

Honestly at this point I want de minimis to end - if type 11 entry replaces it, at least all products that enter will have a tariff applied - US consumers will have to face a new reality that for the last generation or so didn't exist, well since online shopping took off mid 2000s anyway. And hopefully CBP will not be looking to find goods of CN origin in de minimis shipments, as everything will have some kind of tariff applied, more detailed information sent, etc. It's wearing me out this whole thing

[valuestore]

Carney libs likely won't end the de minis, they're more likely to expand it. $40 hand made bird houses stand no chance against 0.60 cent zero de minis production lines. I hope wrong, socialists bread lines will be long.

[cottagewoman]

I'm referring to the US de minimis, not Canada.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@itolduandso wrote:

Except many sales cancellations on yout account may trigger an automatic red flag, not a good thing, I wouldn't want to deal with that given that there is nobody to speak with at Ebay about account issues. 

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@itolduandso 

Sellers, according to ebay are not supposed to be held hostage for buyers cancelling because of any applicable duties. Sellers are not on the hook if an item is attempted to be delivered an buyer refuses or for any customs delays. 

devon@ebay  Can you address and confirm?  Currently there is no option for cancellation for this reason. It might be helpful if there was. If it is not a thing yet, it will become one.

[intimewithmusic]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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@itolduandso wrote:

Except many sales cancellations on yout account may trigger an automatic red flag, not a good thing, I wouldn't want to deal with that given that there is nobody to speak with at Ebay about account issues. 

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"@itolduandso 

Sellers, according to ebay are not supposed to be held hostage for buyers cancelling because of any applicable duties. Sellers are not on the hook if an item is attempted to be delivered an buyer refuses or for any customs delays. "

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Hi Lotz,

 The eBay Canada Sales Team confirmed how eBay will handle these issues on April 3 in their announcement on tariffs.

 Reprint:

Delays = ".... eBay will take steps to automatically remove defects and adjust your late shipment rate when valid tracking information indicates that these problems were caused by systemic shipping delays. Learn more about our defect removal guidelines."

Duties: = ...."note that buyers are responsible for paying any duties on their orders. If you receive negative and/or neutral feedback from buyers related to customs delays or fees, we will take care of it for you. For more details, check out our feedback policy page."

As far as the liability for widgets in transit I would assume eBay will handle them on a case by case basis depending on what the shipper put for "Non Delivery Action" on their shipping documents. Those still going by the adage " If it ain't broke"...who  only use the eBay label as their shipping document will not have an option for "Abandon or Return".  In that case I would at least indicate it in the "Comments" box on the eBay label to bring to eBay's attention later if needed.

FYI: Shippo provides the option for "Non Delivery" on their docs. 

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