eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎04-12-2025

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I didn't ship anything made in China, they were treating all the packages as if they were made in China, then they repealed the rules and put de minimis back, and at that point my packages made it across the border (without tariffs).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 · ‎05-15-2025

Makes no sense what you are saying. If a product is made in the USA and I export it, it shouldn't be tariffed sme way as a Chinese product that has been subsidized.

devon@ebay · ‎05-15-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

@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.

@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.

Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies! Could you elaborate on what cancellation reason is being requested?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-15-2025

devon@ebay wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@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.
@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.
Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies! Could you elaborate on what cancellation reason is being requested?

devon@ebay

When a customer, after the fact either before payment or right after when they find out there is the potential for tariffs being applicable. Currently there is very limited number of reasons for a cancellation.

There could still be a chance they would discover it just prior to delivery. Why it would be important for the shipping label to give the seller the option for both return and dispose. Currently with eBay labels dispose shows up with premium services. Above USA/Intl tracked. With CP labels purchased directly and Shippo both were choices. Unsure how it looks with eBay labels when using Fedex/UPS. If you purchase outside of eBay both options are available. (When an item is of extremely low value it just isn't worth it to have item returned. That goes Canada and USA when there is return shipping and/or customs charges involved.)

cottagewoman · ‎05-15-2025

Not sure which post you are referring to - wishing de minimis would end? I imagine if an item is verifiably marked as being made in USA no tariff would apply.

itolduandso · ‎05-15-2025

That's what I meant, yes.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-15-2025

@flipistics wrote:
@itolduandso wrote:
Ebay makes is PITA to edit listings. You can edit title and description, using CSV, okay, but forget if you want to edit that custom field for Country of Origin.
I had buyer yesterday insisting my listing said the item says "Country of Origin is Canada". Well, I always had it like that, because I didn't care, it wasn't important. Now this needs to change and all my listings need to update. I have the CSV ready with the C: Country of origin etc field, but Ebay doesn't accept partial edits of custom fields using CSV. The only way to update is to update all custom fields and that needs to be done by category.
This didn't need to be so complicated and time consuming. It's country of origin. That field is there. Every item has the field there, regardless of category. I emailed Ebay about that and from Turbodata I got response " Thank you for your suggestion we will consider for the future".
Heck I need it now!! Not in the future. I need to update 400 listings and this is nuts.
Use the bulk editing feature. Select them all and edit the item specifics. One of the fields there is country of origin.

@flipistics

A major PITA for anyone with 100's or 1000's of listings. Sellers would have to pull out individually to confirm. And you may pull out and half aren't even marked. eBay is at nauseum updating item specifics. Majority are either irrelevant or unknown. But it's always worth checking....just in case.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-15-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
devon@ebay wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@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.
@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.
Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies! Could you elaborate on what cancellation reason is being requested?
devon@ebay
When a customer, after the fact either before payment or right after when they find out there is the potential for tariffs being applicable. Currently there is very limited number of reasons for a cancellation.

There could still be a chance they would discover it just prior to delivery. Why it would be important for the shipping label to give the seller the option for both return and dispose. Currently with eBay labels dispose shows up with premium services. Above USA/Intl tracked. With CP labels purchased directly and Shippo both were choices. Unsure how it looks with eBay labels when using Fedex/UPS. If you purchase outside of eBay both options are available. (When an item is of extremely low value it just isn't worth it to have item returned. That goes Canada and USA when there is return shipping and/or customs charges involved.)

devon@ebay

FYI and for shipping team reference.

Sample of a standard handwritten bill for international surface waybill attached.

Note: A/B options in center for returns.

CP Area on right for auditing and total cost.

Certificate area bottom right

Field at bottom with extended total value for customs

Importer/sender reference below wb # (covered field)

Field for shipment date.

itolduandso · ‎05-15-2025

I wonder if anybody tried direct message the CBP with questions. The Buffalo CBP is what Stallion uses to get packages to the US. I have hard time getting answers to some questions from Stallion or CBP contacting directly but I think will try to reach out via twitter they can be direct messaged.

dinomitesales · ‎05-15-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
devon@ebay

FYI and for shipping team reference.
Sample of a standard handwritten bill for international surface waybill attached.
Note: A/B options in center for returns.
CP Area on right for auditing and total cost.
Certificate area bottom right
Field at bottom with extended total value for customs
Importer/sender reference below wb # (covered field)
Field for shipment date.

Just FYI, these forms are obsolete and haven't been used for years (aside from one very specific case that rarely occurs). Everything is digital now. I'm not 100% sure what point you're trying to get at here - if it's about the "Non-Delivery Instructions", then it's irrelevant for US/Int'l Tracked/Small Packet as there is never any return postage charged on those services. I've never seen it, nor heard any anecdotes of it happening, anyway.

Choosing "Return at Sender's Expense" or "Abandon" is still an option on Canada Post with higher-level international shipments (XpressPost).

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-16-2025

@dinomitesales wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
devon@ebay

FYI and for shipping team reference.
Sample of a standard handwritten bill for international surface waybill attached.
Note: A/B options in center for returns.
CP Area on right for auditing and total cost.
Certificate area bottom right
Field at bottom with extended total value for customs
Importer/sender reference below wb # (covered field)
Field for shipment date.
Just FYI, these forms are obsolete and haven't been used for years (aside from one very specific case that rarely occurs). Everything is digital now. I'm not 100% sure what point you're trying to get at here - if it's about the "Non-Delivery Instructions", then it's irrelevant for US/Int'l Tracked/Small Packet as there is never any return postage charged on those services. I've never seen it, nor heard any anecdotes of it happening, anyway.

Choosing "Return at Sender's Expense" or "Abandon" is still an option on Canada Post with higher-level international shipments (XpressPost).

@dinomitesales

The only time I now would use a manual bill are the prepaid products. Regarding the non delivery of tracked/small packet air I had a shipment returned to me from Germany several years ago and where I had to pay for the shipping cost. Found out later customer had gone on holiday was the reason for it being returned. Had to make arrangements for customer to repay to reship. They did appologize for my inconvenience. I was still out the money for the return costs. Also had a shipment returned to me in Canada where a buyer forgot to include the suite. So returned at sellers expense does happen.

I recently ordered some supplies from CP and a 2 of those bills were included (maybe someone was housecleaning to get rid of them?They weren't noted on the PS). Personally I haven't used that specific service in over 10 years. (I just included it for reference of how a bill should look with the additional fill in the blanks.) In the past when I used Shippo the option for return vs abandon were included with the bonus long form even when you used USA/Intl Small Packet Air & Tracked. I routinely checked that off "Dispose" on lower value items. With eBay you see return to sender with Expedited when label prints. For most sellers Xpresspost/Priority are rarely used due to be cost prohibitive. The issue being DISPOSE is NOT an available option with eBay Labels. Return to sender is the defacto default. Made real messy if someone decides tariff collection is involved. (That's been recently reported with UPS shipments that are getting returned . Unsure if that is folklore or really happening.) All I know as a seller if I had a shipment returned to me I wouldn't want to be on the hook for any of this insanity or charges.

dinomitesales · ‎05-16-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@dinomitesales
The only time I now would use a manual bill are the prepaid products. Regarding the non delivery of tracked/small packet air I had a shipment returned to me from Germany several years ago and where I had to pay for the shipping cost. Found out later customer had gone on holiday was the reason for it being returned. Had to make arrangements for customer to repay to reship. They did appologize for my inconvenience. I was still out the money for the return costs. Also had a shipment returned to me in Canada where a buyer forgot to include the suite. So returned at sellers expense does happen.

I recently ordered some supplies from CP and a 2 of those bills were included (maybe someone was housecleaning to get rid of them?They weren't noted on the PS). Personally I haven't used that specific service in over 10 years. (I just included it for reference of how a bill should look with the additional fill in the blanks.) In the past when I used Shippo the option for return vs abandon were included with the bonus long form even when you used USA/Intl Small Packet Air & Tracked. I routinely checked that off "Dispose" on lower value items. With eBay you see return to sender with Expedited when label prints. For most sellers Xpresspost/Priority are rarely used due to be cost prohibitive. The issue being DISPOSE is NOT an available option with eBay Labels. Return to sender is the defacto default. Made real messy if someone decides tariff collection is involved. (That's been recently reported with UPS shipments that are getting returned . Unsure if that is folklore or really happening.) All I know as a seller if I had a shipment returned to me I wouldn't want to be on the hook for any of this insanity or charges.

I don't know what you mean by "The only time I now would use a manual bill are the prepaid products" - there are no international prepaid products offered by Canada Post.

Your story about the Germany shipment is honestly the first time I’ve heard of anything like that happening, and I’ve been in retail postal work and the Canadian selling scene for years. Even in that case, the return shipping wasn’t charged to your account; you were simply asked to pay the fees when picking it up. Refusing it at that point would’ve had the same outcome as choosing “Abandon” as the non-delivery instruction - so in the end, the selection was ultimately irrelevant.

Supplies shipped from Canada Post are usually just processed with a regular shipping label - I'm not sure why they would use a paper label, but I suppose they could if they wanted to. That's mostly irrelevant to the conversation though considering this is a discusion of international shipments. The form in the photo you supplied is an international customs declaration form and is completely different from a domestic prepaid paper shipping label that used to be issued to companies to facilitate parcel shipping.