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I didn't ship anything made in China, they were treating all the packages as if they were made in China, then they repealed the rules and put de minimis back, and at that point my packages made it across the border (without tariffs).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

femmefan1946 · ‎04-15-2025

Whatever happens on May 2, it will change on May 3. And again at 3:34 am on May 4. Then another change will be announced on May 6th, but only for some countries.

Then on May 7th changes will be announced for June 12th.

But rescinded on May 9th - on Truth Social at 4am.

And then he'll have a successful bowel movement and rescind the rescinding.

But then he'll try to have a shower and put a new tariff on all water directed to the USA from Canada, including from the Columbia Water Conservancey Project, of 145%.

I'm making book on this. Get in now.

triber · ‎04-15-2025

I agree wholeheartedly, I am in just the same situation as you!

chicweb · ‎04-15-2025

For my part, I already started to message buyers in case of "fees / tariffs" at the border.

Even if it's not currently in place, the situation is so volatile and unstable that I prefer to play it safe, giving them the chance to cancel before I ship.

I explain to them that eBay and sellers are not responsible for those fees and it's the buyer's responsabilities.

I currently do that only for items made in China shipped to the United States at the moment.

Even if I have it in my description, I prefer playing it safe, just in case and in advance. That allows me to have, in messages, the proof that I warned them before shipping. It could only help for bad comment removal or other problems if needed.

Otherwise, I won't change a thing. On eBay Canada, shipping with Canada Post with tracking.

cottagewoman · ‎04-15-2025

Latest I've seen is that mail shipments of CN goods will be charged an additional 100$ on May 2nd plus the 145% tariff, going up to 200$ June 2nd. So the American buying a Shein item for 10$ will pay 114.50$ mailed to their door. Wonder how many times that'll happen?

chicweb · ‎04-15-2025

I don't think it will happen a lot or it would be by mistake.

But who knows? If it does happen and I notified the buyers before, I've done everything I could. 😉

The other solution would be to not sell in the US. But, I'm more inclined to continue selling "just in case".

If I see too many returns, then I will stop. Because nobody likes loosing money (the primary shipping not being reiumbursed, but we must refund the buyers).

So it's a delicate situation indeed.

fergua3 · ‎04-15-2025

Possible very good news. On a toy forum i visit there was a post from a big UK based seller. They said that the China tariff rate will NOT be charged on items sent from any other country except HK/China....ie if Chinese made goods are shipped from another country other than HK/China they will not be subject to the 145% rate. All other countries will get charged the tariff rate of their nation. BUT the deminimus is NOT going away for any other countries except HK and China.

So, if this is true, it should be business as usual for Canada based Ebay sellers. The source of the info came from the Whitehouse and the person in the UK who relayed the info is very reliable.

So, fingers crossed....

chicweb · ‎04-15-2025

Oh yes! That would be excellent.

I don't have a lot made in china... just some toys lots I'm trying out and learning about.

But, if this is true, then we would be able to continue as usual !!

flipistics · ‎04-15-2025

@fergua3 wrote:
Possible very good news. On a toy forum i visit there was a post from a big UK based seller. They said that the China tariff rate will NOT be charged on items sent from any other country except HK/China....ie if Chinese made goods are shipped from another country other than HK/China they will not be subject to the 145% rate. All other countries will get charged the tariff rate of their nation. BUT the deminimus is NOT going away for any other countries except HK and China.

So, if this is true, it should be business as usual for Canada based Ebay sellers. The source of the info came from the Whitehouse and the person in the UK who relayed the info is very reliable.

So, fingers crossed....

I doubt this is accurate. If it was, the Chinese companies would simply forward it from another country.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎04-15-2025

@femmefan1946 wrote:
Whatever happens on May 2, it will change on May 3. And again at 3:34 am on May 4. Then another change will be announced on May 6th, but only for some countries.
Then on May 7th changes will be announced for June 12th.
But rescinded on May 9th - on Truth Social at 4am.
And then he'll have a successful bowel movement and rescind the rescinding.
But then he'll try to have a shower and put a new tariff on all water directed to the USA from Canada, including from the Columbia Water Conservancey Project, of 145%.

I'm making book on this. Get in now.

I read this like a monologue to my partner and we both laughed. Thanks for making this chaos humerous, I think that's what we need at a time like this.

I think probably though what I was wondering would be what's going to happen to our parcels if we try to mail stuff after May 2, but it could be like that company on CBC that sent their truck off to cross the border ahead of the tariffs, they were like 10 min late, and got hit with $36K in tariffs, which were later postponed but because the truck crossed in the few hours tariffs were in place they owe the money (and can't pay, big surprise there).

C.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎04-15-2025

@chicweb wrote:
For my part, I already started to message buyers in case of "fees / tariffs" at the border.

Even if it's not currently in place, the situation is so volatile and unstable that I prefer to play it safe, giving them the chance to cancel before I ship.

I explain to them that eBay and sellers are not responsible for those fees and it's the buyer's responsabilities.

I currently do that only for items made in China shipped to the United States at the moment.

Even if I have it in my description, I prefer playing it safe, just in case and in advance. That allows me to have, in messages, the proof that I warned them before shipping. It could only help for bad comment removal or other problems if needed.

Otherwise, I won't change a thing. On eBay Canada, shipping with Canada Post with tracking.

I might follow suit with that plan and message my buyers (in case they don't read the listing). there are ways I'm going to try and avoid tariffs if it's at all possible, but in some cases I'm sure it's unavoidable. It depends what the rules are when they go into place, and how much they change from day to day... I'm trying not to make big changes to my listings until I know whatever is going on is going to stick for more than 2 days.

C.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎04-15-2025

@cottagewoman wrote:
Latest I've seen is that mail shipments of CN goods will be charged an additional 100$ on May 2nd plus the 145% tariff, going up to 200$ June 2nd. So the American buying a Shein item for 10$ will pay 114.50$ mailed to their door. Wonder how many times that'll happen?

That package fee increases with every post... I guess that's something that's constantly changing.

I'm wondering what will happen when this all hits the fan.

C.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎04-15-2025

@chicweb wrote:
I don't think it will happen a lot or it would be by mistake.

But who knows? If it does happen and I notified the buyers before, I've done everything I could. 😉

The other solution would be to not sell in the US. But, I'm more inclined to continue selling "just in case".

If I see too many returns, then I will stop. Because nobody likes loosing money (the primary shipping not being reiumbursed, but we must refund the buyers).

So it's a delicate situation indeed.

My dad is worried about me shipping packages that buyers won't claim due to tariffs (with a $100 package fee who can blame the buyer). He's afraid this tariff situation is going to cost my business a lot of money. He points out as much as I complain about selling on eBay in this current economy there are people who rely on China shipments to fill their stores with wares and these businesses cannot afford a 145% tariff. He suggests things will change pretty rapidly when all these businesses start going bankrupt (in the US). He wants me to hang in there for a few months and hopes things will be better for all us Canadian sellers in a few months.

C.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎04-15-2025

@fergua3 wrote:
Possible very good news. On a toy forum i visit there was a post from a big UK based seller. They said that the China tariff rate will NOT be charged on items sent from any other country except HK/China....ie if Chinese made goods are shipped from another country other than HK/China they will not be subject to the 145% rate. All other countries will get charged the tariff rate of their nation. BUT the deminimus is NOT going away for any other countries except HK and China.

So, if this is true, it should be business as usual for Canada based Ebay sellers. The source of the info came from the Whitehouse and the person in the UK who relayed the info is very reliable.

So, fingers crossed....

I think it will be chaos with the cross border shippers until things settle down. Stallion said the tariff applies to China made goods shipped from Canada (but they didn't specify the rate on which the tariff is applied).

They did say recently we will have to provide manufacturer info to unlock DDP options, we'll have to see what unfolds on May 2.

C.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎04-15-2025

@chicweb wrote:
Oh yes! That would be excellent.

I don't have a lot made in china... just some toys lots I'm trying out and learning about.

But, if this is true, then we would be able to continue as usual !!

I have Hong Kong stamps, coins and banknotes (and some China banknotes too). I'm thinking of ditching the current banknotes at the foreign exchange since I don't anticipate going back to Hong Kong anytime soon.

I listed some Hong Kong stamps on my store last night.

C.

fergua3 · ‎04-15-2025

@fergua3 wrote:
Possible very good news. On a toy forum i visit there was a post from a big UK based seller. They said that the China tariff rate will NOT be charged on items sent from any other country except HK/China....ie if Chinese made goods are shipped from another country other than HK/China they will not be subject to the 145% rate. All other countries will get charged the tariff rate of their nation. BUT the deminimus is NOT going away for any other countries except HK and China.

So, if this is true, it should be business as usual for Canada based Ebay sellers. The source of the info came from the Whitehouse and the person in the UK who relayed the info is very reliable.

So, fingers crossed....

I doubt this is accurate. If it was, the Chinese companies would simply forward it from another country."

Yes i realized that loophole after i made the post. But that does appear to be correct for the moment. Once the stable genius relaizes the loophole i suspect there will be another rule change because it would be better for US buyers to NOT buy from US retailers but from retailers anywhere else, except China and HK because then they would not face any tariffs on Chinese made goods (unless over $800 value of course)....US retailers having been charged the 145% tariffs when the goods were imported, albeit on the wholesale price.

mrdutch1001 · ‎04-16-2025

With a 245% maximum tax tariff now on Chinese goods imported into the USA, I think Canada>USA goods looks pretty good right now.... for the next few hours anyway and/or until the dementia riddled orange head says otherwise...

fergua3 · ‎04-17-2025

Is there a list of what is included in the new abusrd rate? I guess billionaires won't be bothered by this tariff but the general public in the US may not be happy with seeing many of the goods they buy nearly triple in price.

But Trump doen't have to care anymore since there won't be any more elections in the US....at least not real ones.

cottagewoman · ‎04-17-2025

245% applies only to electric vehicles and syringes from China. That number is based on the cumulative 'stacking' tariffs. This is also true for Section 301 tariffed items - literally thousands of products, mostly any/all electronics - that are tariffed at an additional 25-35%. For those the cumulative tariff is 170-180%. Nobody talks about those.

fallsavenue · ‎04-17-2025

On May 2, the minimis will be gone for all China/HK origin goods, regardless where they're shipped from. 10 digit HS codes will either be required or advised on Customs forms to speed up clearance.

Not sure USPS will be ready but it's also handling a lot fewer parcels this month. Chinese sellers had to prepay tariffs at their PO and HK has suspended shipments to the US so the volume is down from the roughly 4M parcels USPS handles every day. Next month, there'll be even less.

This will be devastating to Canadian sellers even if they don't sell Chinese goods. Americans will be hesitant to order out of country and who knows what the CBP will do to confirm COO. Will they open parcels or require proof of origin?

Adding the COO attribute to listings will be necessary. Like that eBay put a QR code on the packing slip so customs can also view the listing. I plan to affix the slip on the parcel next to the label.

For me, no shipping to the US that first week either but after that, it's business as usual except I won't be sending any China made goods there ever. Added a blurb to my listings and will cancel any of those orders.

I'm more concerned they might remove the de minimis for all countries. Was hoping for just a decreased amount, guess we'll have to wait it out.

ricarmic · ‎04-17-2025

Yesterday a US buyer mentioned in their subsequent communication with me that they were hesitating on the purchase because of the tariff concerns. They ultimately decided to risk it, but makes one wonder how many aren't? (So far my US sales don't seem much different than usual, to my surprise).