Any discussions with your buyers on the tariffs?

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

I was busy trying to figure out verbage to use when talking to buyers about how there might be tariffs on packages. It was pointed out to me that since the US president is telling Americans that other countries pay the tariffs, that my buyers might think I'm supposed to be paying tariffs and if their goods show up with tariffs owing, then I did something to get out of paying them and pass on to them (and they'll still believe they're not the ones who has to pay).

I was talking with the shop owner today (where I get a lot of my items) and he said it will be hard to educate all the buyers on tariffs when the US President is lying to them about who pays them. And it might take some time for US buyers to realize that they're paying the tariffs by having the cost of everything go up (as they realize this is happening).

Anyone talk to their buyers about tariffs and how is that going? 

I've had a few buyers asking about tariffs to see if I know anything new about how it's all going to work. They're asking me if the stuff in my store is subject to tariffs, how do they know if they'll have to pay, that kind of thing.

I did have one discussion with someone in the US (not one of my customers, they are another seller) who said "the tariffs are paid by the other country, Americans don't have to pay tariffs. They put tariffs on other countries so the other countries will be the ones paying". I tried to explain about the cost of everything I buy at the grocery store that comes from the US with tariffs on it costs more for me the end shopper to pay, and they will be paying more for a lot of things too because of the tariffs. This person was as dense as cement and I couldn't get through to them that the buyer pays the tariff, not some other country that's selling a product to the buyer.

This discussion with a dense individual in the US is making me wonder how many dense customers are out there that will be angry with us because they have to pay tariffs and are not realizing that as the buyer they have to pay tariffs, it's on American citizens to pay their government for the privilege of sourcing outside the US. (And if you start making it all in the US it will cost more, because the manufacturers will be sourcing outside the country, or the factory workers need living wages and the cost of everything will go up because it's made in the US).

Some people don't get it... curious to know if anyone selling here has encountered this yet.

C.

[reallynicestamps]

Most of the books and sewing patterns I sell on other accounts are US made.

I may be adding a note to my FB that because they are US products there should be no tariff charged on them. Just to remind the buyer that some purchases will be tariffed.  Might be fuzzy thinking on my part.

Feedback, which I leave on shipment in any case, may be the best way to communicate. YMMV.

Also, about eBay not requiring sellers to refund when the shipment is Undeliverable (which includes Refused), we must keep in mind that the smarter buyers may realize they can still use a credit card chargeback.

[intimewithmusic]

@sapphyres-designer-jewellery 

  Hi. Thank you for acknowledging my post. Sometimes I compare running my brick & mortar with running a store that I can list in my pajamas. A sight no one could ever un-see.

   I'm so happy I don't have to open my store in the morning after shoveling human feces off of the entrance like so many business owners do in Kelowna every day. I'm relieved I no longer have to have someone oversee my little girls while I go to my store at 3 am brandishing a baseball bat , alarm sounding, no sign of  police and shattered glass everywhere. I'm wondering if the freak or freaks are still in my store. 

   I did that for 20 years.  A few customers stole from me. On occasion I had to go into homes and reposses. Sometimes under threat. Sometimes confronted by a little boy. These are things no one anticipates when becoming an entrepreneur. Things like this are part of the job. I never blamed my customers.  I ran an unrelated construction business for 20 years working on BCs highest valued properties. It was exactly the same. 

   Blame Trump. Blame Canada Post. Blame the CUPW. Blame whoever you want except, never  blame,  never belittle and never stop appreciating your customers. If you think  you can talk about them behind their backs you can't. Posters venting in the community need to understand this is no longer just us. Take your pick. Some say God listens and now some say AI listens. Either way AI makes everything searchable .  If you discredit your buyers in a public forum you might as well discredit them on The Tonight Show.

  This was much easier in the 80's but we're all here now.  There is no more ponline privacy. The one thing that remains unchanged is the business winner is the one who satisfies customers.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

---

@reallynicestamps wrote:

@sapphyres-designer-jewellery 
About $350USD

My error was accidentally buying and using tracked but Surface shipping.

UGH.

So the shipment was well late, the buyer had been reasonably patient, and  I refunded.

Cursing myself.

Then he let me know that it had finally arrived, but he refused to pay the VAT .

In theory it should be returned to me.

Fingers and toes crossed until then.

---

Hope you get it back, $350 is not a small purchase. Generally when it gets over $50 CAD I start to get nervous if anything is going wrong (like an impatient buyer, or tracking that looks weird... yes I do watch tracking, but not obsessively. I check up on tracking every few days on Stallion to see what's still in transit to keep an eye out for anything taking a long time).

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

---

@reallynicestamps wrote:

Most of the books and sewing patterns I sell on other accounts are US made.

I may be adding a note to my FB that because they are US products there should be no tariff charged on them. Just to remind the buyer that some purchases will be tariffed.  Might be fuzzy thinking on my part.

Feedback, which I leave on shipment in any case, may be the best way to communicate. YMMV.

Also, about eBay not requiring sellers to refund when the shipment is Undeliverable (which includes Refused), we must keep in mind that the smarter buyers may realize they can still use a credit card chargeback.

---

I have auto FB, I would have to switch to manual FB to leave a custom message about shipping. I figure that if there's tracking that's pretty good communication (but I get that you ship a lot of things without tracking, some of my Canada items go without tracking, depends on value).

Stallion is making noise about how CUSMA stuff should not have tariffs (just the 99 cent to 1.99 brokerage fee). Fingers crossed they don't want too much as proof, perhaps the manufacturer being in Canada will be enough proof. If the CUSMA stuff goes tariff free, I will probably use Stallion for those, even if it might cost as much as 1.99 to get it across the border. I recently raised shipping rates, but not by a whole lot. I don't want to price my shipping out of the market and scare of buyers, but at the same time don't want to lose money on shipping.

C.

[intimewithmusic]

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@marnotom! wrote:

---

@intimewithmusic wrote:

  Your supposed to honor your customers. It doesn't matter what you feel about politics or

"cement heads". These are your buyers.

Sellers are within their rights to “fire” customers they feel are detrimental to their mental well-being or to the health of their business.

https://fullfocus.co/fire-your-customers/

---

@marnotom!  Unfortunately you missed the point.  Because you hide your account from the forum using your alias none of us are privy to your professional sales experience.  One thing I can say is after training sales people for decades not one of them ever said this about the customers;

"Maybe send the cement-heads a link"

   In all that time I had to fire one guy because he forgot to lock the music store when he left for the night. That being said while in my employ he treated every single customer like gold.  Unlike the OP, @sapphyres-designer-jewellery  is visible and has something to lose but using your alias that does not reveal your listings  you can say whatever you want with nothing to lose. That is the 2nd point that unfortunately you missed:

"Can AI track public forum comments ?" 

AI Overview

Yes, AI can track public forum comments using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and other algorithms to analyze large volumes of text, identify keywords, extract themes, and gauge sentiment. Social listening and media monitoring tools leverage this AI to aggregate data from various public sources like forums, blogs, and social media to provide insights into public perception, emerging trends, and customer opinions.
How AI Tracks Public Forum Comments:

Data Aggregation: AI-powered social media monitoring tools collect comments from publicly accessible online forums and other sources.
NLP & Sentiment Analysis: These tools use Natural Language Processing to understand the context, sentiment (positive, negative, neutral), and intent behind comments.
Keyword & Theme Identification: AI identifies key themes, popular keywords, and recurring topics within the comments, helping to understand what people are talking about.
Automated Categorization & Tagging: AI can automatically categorize comments by topical areas or themes, making it easier to sort and review large amounts of feedback.
Trend Analysis: By tracking these themes and sentiments over time, AI can identify public opinion trends and spikes in activity around specific topics or mentions.

Social Listening: Tools like the WHO's EARS platform analyze online conversations to understand public health concerns by pulling data from forums, blogs, and social media.
Brand Monitoring: Companies use AI tools to monitor public discussions about their brands in forums to gain customer insights and track public perception.
Public Feedback Analysis: AI can be used to process vast numbers of public comments on regulations or projects, allowing organizations to quickly identify key concerns and themes.

[intimewithmusic]

Hi Lotz,

  There will be a bottleneck so why not temporarily exclude items over $100? CP's $100 insurance limit which  also fallsunder the eBay Seller Protection given tracked is included will not be a seller's liability. That way the processing issue is isolated and you can focus on  US buyer hesitation? 

IT

[intimewithmusic]

@silverpinups 

   Thank you Thank You  Keep On Bashing ;>}

We've all been party to 6 months of Trump bashing. Maybe Trump bashing makes some feel in control of things. It doesn't do anything at all to improve the mood on the eBay sales floor. Nothing negative does. Nothing negative ever increases sales.

   As shown by your post's "Kudos" the bashers have gathered around the water cooler while the rest of us are seizing the opportunity to take your sales.

  Stick to your values.  Spend your time Trump bashing away. 

   While you are doing that I just had the best sales day of 2025! 

  Thanks!

[marnotom!]

---

@intimewithmusic wrote:

---

---

@marnotom!  Unfortunately you missed the point.  Because you hide your account from the forum using your alias none of us are privy to your professional sales experience.

---

Sadly, you've missed the point of my post which was to gently steer you back toward the original topic. This off-topic grandstanding I'm seeing is now verging on the hostile and seems to exhibit the behaviour that you're trying to caution us against.

For what it's worth, I have considerable experience in brick and mortar retail myself but my online selling days are long behind me, by the looks of things.  Does that make any difference to how you regard my posts?  I doubt it very much.

I'm glad that your customers, at least, get treated like gold.

[john_koenig99]

No discussions, so far. 

I added a warning disclaimer to all my listings directed to US buyers. (they are mostly Japanese items, with a few odd ones from Malaysia and Korea., and one from *gasp* China) .

Basically, I'm warning them to be ready to pay up for the big, beautiful choice they made, back in November. 

[silverpinups]

"As shown by your post's "Kudos" the bashers have gathered around the water cooler while the rest of us are seizing the opportunity to take your sales".

Do you sell high end vintage original photography and CGC grade comic books?

The answer would be "no" so how are you taking away my customer base? 

My golden rule is never discuss politics and religion with buyers.... Good luck with your sales. 

[rosscd57]

With respect to Dense Americans. it also goes back a bit. Remember George Bush was elected and started a war in Iraq claiming they had weapons of Mass Destruction - so he started a war and thousands of people, Americans and men, women and childeren from Iraq  killed and many more wounded horribliy. 

Bush, his War Department and his entire cabinet lied to the American people  that Iraq had weapons of Mass Destructions. They didnot have any. The American people were extremly upset when they found out about this and that they had been lied to.

Then they voted him in  for a second term.

Go figure.

[darak10]

this should not surprise anyone, the average American has the literacy level of a grade sixer.  They believe the nonsense they are being indoctrinated with, not reality (the country instituting the tariff pays the tariff, not the govt but the individual.)

I do find it interesting that since I noted on my store page about my "thanks Donald Trump for destroying Canadian ecommerce" sale, I have had way more Canadian customers than normal and only American customers from blue states.  

On a separate but still slightly related note who got that Chit Chats email about the aggregate value enforcement?  customs brokers apparently are having to get involved.  Forget free trade, we are headed back to the 1920s.  

[mrdutch1001]

" who got that Chit Chats email about the aggregate value enforcement? "

further to that topic, there is discussion on this over on Etsy forum regarding ChitChats trucks being rejected at the border, so for anyone interested, this is the issue:

https://chitchats.com/blog/cbp-aggregate-value-enforcement

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

---

@john_koenig99 wrote:

No discussions, so far. 

I added a warning disclaimer to all my listings directed to US buyers. (they are mostly Japanese items, with a few odd ones from Malaysia and Korea., and one from *gasp* China) .

Basically, I'm warning them to be ready to pay up for the big, beautiful choice they made, back in November. 

---

In this store (on the dot ca site) I have a thing in my description that says "this item ships from Canada", so even if I use Stallion and they take it over and ship by USPS, I use the Stallion tracking which shows it's coming from Canada.

On my dot com site, there's no verbage in the description anymore, I took that out a while back when I had to make changes to the TOS for other reasons. The verbage got replaced with "we ship twice a week", and new listings didn't have any reference to shipping. When I go and edit the listings in SixBit I need to take old verbage and replace it with new verbage and do an update and sync with ebay.

I realize the buyers are getting a notfication when they check out, but my buyers on the dot com site are used to me shipping items from NY, so I'm trying to get my head around how to change this and let people know and not have disappointed buyers (if you bought from me before and got it as a domestic order, how do you feel if it's suddenly not a domestic order, and worse it has tariffs?)

It's going to be tough. I just had a buyer contact me on the dot com store about a Canadian token he wants to buy when my time away is done, but it's time sensitive to give as a gift, and I'm having to explain to him I can't promise shipping time with it crossing the border (and even with Stallion I don't think I can get it there by the date he needs it).

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

---

@darak10 wrote:

On a separate but still slightly related note who got that Chit Chats email about the aggregate value enforcement?  customs brokers apparently are having to get involved.  Forget free trade, we are headed back to the 1920s.  

---

I did not get it, can you post it here? I think Chit Chats has disowned me because I haven't shipped with them in over a year. Or is it on their blog for me to go and read? (I'll go look, I'm just not so good at finding stuff online).

I'm interested in reading all mail from all the cross border shippers to learn as much as possible about what's going on so I can formulate my plan. Stallion's email yesterday is helping it come together.

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

---

@mrdutch1001 wrote:

" who got that Chit Chats email about the aggregate value enforcement? "

further to that topic, there is discussion on this over on Etsy forum regarding ChitChats trucks being rejected at the border, so for anyone interested, this is the issue:

https://chitchats.com/blog/cbp-aggregate-value-enforcement

---

Thanks! I replied to the previous post before reading the rest of the thread. I'll take a look, I might start a thread on this issue (depending on what's in the article).

C.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

---

@sapphyres-designer-jewellery wrote:

---

@mrdutch1001 wrote:

" who got that Chit Chats email about the aggregate value enforcement? "

further to that topic, there is discussion on this over on Etsy forum regarding ChitChats trucks being rejected at the border, so for anyone interested, this is the issue:

https://chitchats.com/blog/cbp-aggregate-value-enforcement

---

Thanks! I replied to the previous post before reading the rest of the thread. I'll take a look, I might start a thread on this issue (depending on what's in the article).

C.

---

OK, it wasn't a long read, and it doesn't apply to me at all. I never have sales worth that much (not worth starting a thread on this, I thought the value enforcement had to do with people undervaluing shipments to pay less tariffs, which would be worthy of a discussion after reading a bulletin).

Not sure if this applies to anyone else... I don't think too many of us have sales over $800 to a single customer. (And I think if you do, splitting the shipment to go on different days makes sense, when I split a shipment I wait for the first one to clear customs before dropping off the second shipment).

If I get more than $250 at once from one customer that's pretty rare... I was OK with de minimis being lowered but not happy with it going together completely.

C.

[recped]

---

@mrdutch1001 wrote:

" who got that Chit Chats email about the aggregate value enforcement? "

further to that topic, there is discussion on this over on Etsy forum regarding ChitChats trucks being rejected at the border, so for anyone interested, this is the issue:

https://chitchats.com/blog/cbp-aggregate-value-enforcement

---

Enforcing the aggregate value used to be difficult to enforce, it still is if you ship through the postal system. If you are shipping via private carriers they are all doing pre-clearance electronically so uncovering those that attempt to abuse the de minimis exemption are easy to find.

As far as I know Stallion has always blocked sellers from shipping multiple (separate) packages to the same US address on the same day if the combined value exceeds US$800. FYI - Almost all countries have a similar policy for importers utilizing the de minimis exemption.

It's all moot anyway in two weeks.

[Anonymous]

I like what you did, but I doubt if it will have any effect on the POTUS - he's bulletproof.

[Anonymous]

Oops ... a 'political' post ... WATCH OUT!