Info Sent to Post Offices Aug 27 (re. USA Shipments)

[dinomitesales]

Okay here is everything that was sent to post offices today regarding August 29th. 

I would recommend everyone download the Zonos app and play around with it (or check out the web version at app.zonosprepay.com). It will be required for all US shipments at the post office (customers will need to pay the duty directly on the app, then it will give them a code that we can enter into the transaction on the computer). Unclear if it will be needed for online shipping labels or whether the app functionality will just be built into Canada Post’s API. I suspect it will still be needed even for online label purchases because I doubt Canada Post was able to embed that functionality in the time frame they had available. We’ll find out tomorrow (Aug 28) as that’s when they’ll start requiring it. 

The app is kind of neat. It has an AI functionality where you can take a picture of the item and it will give you the country of origin and HS Code if it can determine it (may be helpful for non-USA applications). If you create a shipment in the app you can add things and it will tell you what you have to pay. There is a processing fee that is applied based on some calculation I’m unaware of - from my playing around it seems as though it starts at $2.99 (even for gifts or items with no duty owing) and increases as the value of the shipment increases (or maybe it’s as the value of the duty owed increases?).

There do seem to be some glitches at the moment. It’s defaulting a lot of things to China COO on my app if you try and edit a shipment or add something manually. Hopefully it’s all fixed by tomorrow.

Welcome to the new normal lol.

[dinomitesales]

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

@dinomitesales  Approx. 4 MST. Was this basically the first warning for staff? Can imagine there being a major learning curve to all of this. Plus dealing with irked walk ins that know zippo about this. You know how your customers react when you tell em shipping will be <insert large number here> and walk out shaking their heads in shock!!!

---

It was sent to store email accounts at approximately 4 pm CST. The staff at the post office you frequent need to a) have access to the email account (if the manager left for the day already then the staff might not have access to it); and b) be actively checking the email. There will be many post offices that will open up tomorrow completely oblivious to what's going on, as they have failed to routinely check their communications from Canada Post.

There was a preliminary notice sent out last Friday basically saying "hey, things are changing on August 29th. Here's the basics of what de minimis is and what's going on down south. Stay tuned for more updates". And then this series of notices sent today (Aug 27th) was the meat and potatoes. It will be pandemonium at post offices for the next several weeks I'm sure.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@dinomitesales wrote:

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

@dinomitesales  Was there anything in the CP update you got stated that sender was now responsible for the customs clearance charges? This pretty much makes all shipments a formal entry. Or by chance is the buyer on the hook for that portion of the charges. According to a new UPS page they will be charging 10.00 (Unclear if that is US funds, if you will need a UPS account and how much it would be per additional line entry?)

---

I've provided all the information that was sent to post offices. I don't know what you mean by "customs clearance charges". It is my understanding that as long as you follow the process on the app, and have the Declaration ID tied to the parcel, then it will pass through customs and be delivered to the buyer without the buyer having to pay anything.

Don't compare a private courier (UPS) with postal imports.

---

Pre all this insanity if you got something in the USA that needed a formal entry, receiver paid 6.95 USD to have cleared. Everything still will need to be submitted to US customs. Once they approve then it gets released back to USPS and they billed customer on receipt. For the sellers the use UPS they are going to have to deal with customs clearance and Zonos in some way, shape or form. Are you under the impression they are going to waive (eat) those charges? The only other possible scenario I can see is they will still be treated as an informal entry and skipping customs charges.

Covers it all here in a nice bundle:

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/internet-purchases

How it worked before:

Reminder: U.S. Customs and Border Protection holds the importer - YOU - liable for the payment of duty not the seller.

Informal entries:

• Informal Entries: If the value of your purchase(s) is less than $2500 and your goods are being shipped by mail or freight, they may, in most cases, be imported as an informal entry. However, there are exceptions to this. For instance, if the importation is determined to be for commercial purposes, the value limit for filing an informal entry for many textile items is either $250 or $0 - depending on whether or not the item is subject to Quota (see below). Clearing goods through CBP as an informal entry is less arduous a process than clearing them by filing a formal entry. Essentially, when goods are cleared as an informal entry, CBP will prepare the paperwork, including determining the classification number and duty rate for your merchandise.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@dinomitesales 

They should be basically looped as per the bottom part of your post. The depot I was at they knew nothing. I've seen them being trained on serveral occasions. Can you say either entertaining or scary? Lots of flustered faces. 

[dinomitesales]

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

---

---

Pre all this insanity if you got something in the USA that needed a formal entry, receiver paid 6.95 USD to have cleared. Everything still will need to be submitted to US customs. Once they approve then it gets released back to USPS and they billed customer on receipt. For the sellers the use UPS they are going to have to deal with customs clearance and Zonos in some way, shape or form. Are you under the impression they are going to waive (eat) those charges? The only other possible scenario I can see is they will still be treated as an informal entry and skipping customs charges.

---

They're not going to charge a fee to every American citizen to receive an international package. The fees were paid up front - that's the whole point of this stupid methodology the orange idiot has implemented.

Just because the de minimis was repealed doesn't mean everything is now a "formal entry". Informal entry should still be available unless the product is restricted or over $2500 in value. If there is some sort of remaining postal clearance fee I'm sure it's been baked into the charge that Zonos is collecting for processing.

[rdemaree]

will this Zonos program be partnering with ebay and be a part of Canada Post labels coming back to ebay?

[phc64]

---

@dinomitesales wrote:

To clarify: You do not need to use the app when sending just regular Letter-post (like your standard documents or greeting cards with a stamp on them). You can still buy stamps and send letters to the USA just like you always have. No app required.

It is required for all parcel shipments, and unfortunately if someone requires tracked shipping or signature confirmation of delivery for their documents to the States then it must be treated as a parcel and processed through the app. In playing around with the app though, it appears there is no fees including no processing fees for sending documents. You just open the app, select "document", and it takes you to a page with the Declaration ID ready to scan with no payment needed. It's just because every parcel entering the United States needs to have this Declaration ID, and parcels with just documents are still parcels 

---

Thank you for clarifying.

In my local rural post office, there is only the elderly postmaster, with no additional employees. The post office is actually closed every day from 12:30 to 1:30 while she is on her lunch break. She goes home at 5:30 every day, so she should just have received the information before she left. She is a very sweet lady and I feel sorry that she is going to have to deal with all this. Fortunately, the population around here shrinks by about 80% after Labour Day.

[john_koenig99]

Wow, easy peasy...NOT. 

As I said it before, I wish good luck to the brave sellers who will keep selling items to buyers in the USA.

This guy is resting its case, and will skip that delightful experience for the next___(days/months/years?).

[phc64]

---

@rdemaree wrote:

will this Zonos program be partnering with ebay and be a part of Canada Post labels coming back to ebay?

---

According to the Zonos website, they offer "seamless duty collection integrated directly into your checkout experience". So hopefully eBay and Zonos will have an integrated system operating soon. Let's hope it will indeed be 'seamless'.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Really appreciate Dino and other users who have cosolidated all these info. I would like to remind some of the frustrated users here to not shoot the messenger. Remember that it is the orange pumpkin down south that created this mess, Dino and others are simply posting what they think would be helpful to the rest of us. 

As for me... I already ended all of my listings last Saturday as most of my listings are on .COM anyway (since 80% of my buyers are from the US). Just had my very last US sale on Friday (one buyer responded to my 35+ sent offers and bought two books), and I saw on tracking that it already crossed the border on Monday morning. I am gonna wait until October to see how things are looking, to decide if I should move everything over to .CA (will take at least a couple weeks to go through it all and update them while I'm at it), and whether or not I will continue to sell to the US... sales have been decreasing, and with the added ~$3+ to use Zonos + tariffs it might just kill all of my US sales anyway lol. I will see how things go... 😓

[byto253]

Interesting that when I did a couple of test runs with Chitchats DDP for $30 CDN video game and Vinyl LP the extra fees were $2.08 CDN total.   

[byto253]

Wonder how this is going to play out at the retail counter.  It is not uncommon to see people show up with their stuff, sometimes without packaging even, and the clerk sorts it out for them.   Will they be told to go away and download Zonos or will the clerk be able to process the whole thing, which will be a huge slowdown. 

[daisydaisy999]

I was dropping off a couple of (Canadian) packages at the CP this morning and the clerk was telling me that she was going to download the app because she was concerned that eldery customers would need help and then realized that they wanted her personal information so that became a big nope for her! That does beg the question though - not everyone is computer-literate or possibly even has the internet so someone who just mails a birthday present to their grandkid on a yearly basis or is a seldom user of US shipping and doesn't have access will they have something in place for that scenario... In the meantime, I am just taking a wait and see approach. I had my first US customer reach out and question why my shipping is now $100... 🙂

[dinomitesales]

---

@byto253 wrote:

Wonder how this is going to play out at the retail counter.  It is not uncommon to see people show up with their stuff, sometimes without packaging even, and the clerk sorts it out for them.   Will they be told to go away and download Zonos or will the clerk be able to process the whole thing, which will be a huge slowdown. 

---

Speaking as a retail postal clerk, there is little we can do to help them. If they come with a package destined for the States, we let them know of the new regulations and give them an information sheet (the first image I shared in the original post). It is up to them to navigate the Zonos app and pay. Once they get the Declaration ID then we can proceed with the transaction on the computer.

There is no way for us to process it for them. Our computer systems can't even access a web browser to visit external websites; and even if we could access the Zonos web app it wouldn't help because the Declaration ID needs to be tied to the account of the person sending the item. Post Office staff is not receiving any training in the use of the Zonos app. I've played around with it a bit myself to the point where if someone needed assistance I could probably help them, but I'm still experiencing glitches myself where it's defaulting things to CoO "China".

I have been actively encouraging people not to send anything to the States until at least next week (or until the app is working properly).

[dinomitesales]

For anyone wondering, you do still need to use the app to get a Declaration ID even if you want to purchase your shipping label online through SnapShip (I assume other platforms like Shippo will work the same way). I did a mock transaction, and this is the note it gives you before getting to the step where you enter the customs information.

Of interest is the note "You can also set up automatic billing for duties in Account preferences" - unsure how that works.

[dinomitesales]

I see Canada Post has put up an official page with details on shipping to the USA. I encourage everyone to read through the FAQ at the bottom.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/campaign/shipping-to-us-duty-updates.page

Of note:

• If you use a "Zonos Verified Account" (I believe this is what my screenshot above from SnapShip is referring to, where they will bill you automatically) you pay a reduced remittance fee of $1.99.
• When using the app you pay a base remittance fee of $3.99 BUT you get a $1 discount if you use their AI photo technology when setting up the shipment (this is why I was seeing $2.99 fee when playing around with it). I guess having the photo ensures greater chance of compliance so you get a discount.

There's also a note relating to CUSMA:

• Q: How are CUSMA duty free eligible shipments going to be handled in the postal network?

  After August 29, 2025, CUSMA duty-free treatment is still available, however, CUSMA-originating goods from Canada and Mexico are not exempt from IEEPA tariffs for postal shipments. All postal shipments pay IEEPA rates regardless of CUSMA qualification.

[mrdutch1001]

For myself, I am not getting my hopes up for any shipping to the USA now or in the near future as I refuse to prepay tariffs and I am not a "business" in the true sense of the word,so attempting to go the CUSMA way with what "may" qualify is not feasible...selling online is just my  "something to do",  so am going to continue to donate more & more of my items locally and I will also decrease the amount of listing I do on eBay, but hopefully potential Canadian buyers will see through this tariff scheme and buy more Canadian. I do hope Canadians change their buying habits and opt for supporting the Canadian economy, purchase from Canada or at very least purchase from non-USA countries...

[easoss]

You're so right. Small hobby sellers and the "side hustle" types are finished. This'll bleed thousands of sellers away from online selling. And eBay works best when there are not only a lot of buyers but a lot of sellers as well. I know people who build collection's by selling what they don't want to pay for the stuff they do want. That's gone. Also less sellers hits the bottom line for eBay which means increases in store subscription rates and final selling fees. Bizarro world has arrived.

[phc64]

I tried using the 'take a picture' option on the Zonos app.

I sent them a pic of a 45rpm record made in the USA (the record company's address of Chicago, Illinois is clearly visible) that I currently have listed for C$7.75. The Zonos app concluded it is made in the UK and has a value of $60.00.

[raanana]

Agree !! I'm not a grandma,but prefer to use my computer and not Zonos App on my phone.It's a  big headache for everybody as well those who works at PO .Even if you use it how do we know what ammount should be paid and add it to the invoice.Another question if this amount will be added to a total,would ebay charge FVF on this and then add HST on a top,as they doing it now ? 

[dinomitesales]

---

@phc64 wrote:

I tried using the 'take a picture' option on the Zonos app.

I sent them a pic of a 45rpm record made in the USA (the record company's address of Chicago, Illinois is clearly visible) that I currently have listed for C$7.75. The Zonos app concluded it is made in the UK and has a value of $60.00.

---

It's definitely not perfect - it is AI after all.

There is an option to edit the details, but unfortunately (at least in my experience) any time you try and do that it changes the CoO to China which jacks up the duties.