eBay

cottagewoman · ‎07-02-2025

In the bill the Senate just passed in the US, de minimis for ALL COUNTRIES ends July 2027. It is ending, guaranteed. There is strong bipartisan support in the current Congress for this change. Who knows what the exemption will be replaced with. Simply do a web search for 'reconciliation Bill de minimis' and you will see the provision in the bill.

As well the EU is ending de minimis, on top of adopting a Digital Passport system with block chain for all goods imported into the country. Casual online selling will be a thing of the past in 2 years. Barrier to selling will be high with all the new regulations coming, costs and complexity will shut out millions of micro and small businesses world wide.

flipistics · ‎07-06-2025

@38e_avenue wrote:
@flipistics wrote:
@38e_avenue You might want to increase those to the full 10 digits.
I think the additional 4 digits indicate the COO - so I simply added "made in ..." instead.

They don't. They further refine the product and are country specific, meaning each country can refine and categorize the product in different ways.

38e_avenue · ‎07-06-2025

@flipistics wrote:
@38e_avenue wrote:
@flipistics wrote:
@38e_avenue You might want to increase those to the full 10 digits.
I think the additional 4 digits indicate the COO - so I simply added "made in ..." instead.
They don't. They further refine the product and are country specific, meaning each country can refine and categorize the product in different ways.

You are right. I printed new labels. But I see a little discrepancy here. Below is ChitChats statement which contradicts the CP (CP is still asking to provide HS, and not HTS code).

I tried to put 10-digit HTS code and it has been rejected.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-06-2025

@38e_avenue wrote:
@reallynicestamps wrote:
Country of Origin in the Description and in Item Specifics.

And don't forget those HS codes.
I've got a list in my daybook of my most used ones.
I printed labels I put now on every package going to the US.

Also important to remember/consider HS codes can and do vary depending on the country the item is being shipped to. Just another wrinkle thrown into the mix.

No, while the first six digits of HS (Harmonized System) codes are consistent globally, the complete HS code, which includes additional digits, can vary between countries. These additional digits, often referred to as "tariff lines," allow countries to further classify goods for their specific needs, such as taxation and statistical data collection.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎07-06-2025

@wilsonharborsales wrote:
Open a U.S. Corp and transfer all assets into the U.S. Corp. with a physical location on the U.S. side of the border. Ship everything from there. Once de minimis is gone, tariff rates will be changing weekly on a whim and based on the mood of a few high ranking people. Impossible to operate an export business in Canada under those conditions.

There isn't anything else you can do if you want to keep selling online and you are a Canadian resident.

I'm not a big enough operation to hire someone in the US to ship (from a warehouse I would be renting... I sell small items, they take up a few bookshelves in the back of the brick and mortar store). If I do the shipping myself US immigration will bar me from entry for "working" in the US, and I will be spending 4 hours to drive to this location in the US for every trip I take there.

If you have staff and a warehouse, transferring it to the US makes sense (and hiring local people to ship), but if you're operating out of your basement or garage like most of us here, and doing everything yourself, it makes no sense to incur these kinds of expenses. I don't even sell enough to pay myself a full time salary, let alone anyone else.

C.

reallynicestamps · ‎07-07-2025

These additional digits, often referred to as "tariff lines," allow countries to further classify goods for their specific needs, such as taxation and statistical data collection.

But.

It is the responsibility of the importer to know the rules of their own country, not the exporter.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-07-2025

@reallynicestamps wrote:
These additional digits, often referred to as "tariff lines," allow countries to further classify goods for their specific needs, such as taxation and statistical data collection.
But.
It is the responsibility of the importer to know the rules of their own country, not the exporter.

@reallynicestamps

The exporter on record has responsibilities too.

Betting majority of 1 and done importers (unless they happen to be a business) have no grasp of the local regulations especially how it relates between countries. As an exporter you are signing that document and are held accountable. Just like not shipping hazardous goods or goods that "might" leak in transit. Besides if the wrong HS code is used even in error there is a good chance receiver would be paying more than they should be because of an oopsie. I don't believe that buyer would be super impressed. These scenarios were less of a problem pre lowered/removed deminimus. Now i's need to be dotted and t's need to be crossed.

As per ebay transactions are B to C. B to B would be more likely to know what can and can't be imported and applicable tariffs.

My disclaimer. Main reason I am aware of doing things properly is because I was responsible for these task with my work. Really not helpful that all we are provided are the basic bare bones customs forms vs the actual long version.

ae_purveyors · ‎07-07-2025

I have looked into 3PL order fulfillment from the USA for my own eBay selling. It is no doubt costly. Storage and picking/packing fees were about $3,200 CAD a month. That was at about 10,000 units storage (1000 boxes at 12"x12"x12"), and at estimating 100 orders per month. Obviously fulfillment costs would go down the more you sell, but I just picked conservative numbers to estimate.

Not only is it costly, but it's also giving up a lot of control. You're at the mercy of the fulfillment centre. You're relying on them to make sure they ship the right item to the right buyer. You're relying on them to package the order well and safe for transit. You're also putting your inventory in their hands with respect to handling and storage. You may send 500 units, but mysteriously, the fulfillment centre only received 475. Customers receiving wrong items or damaged orders could really tank your seller rating fast. Nevermind dealing with damaged or missing inventory.

Personally, for me, I couldn't see it working if I wasn't netting minimum $10,000 profit per month.

If only it were as easy as opening an LLC in Delaware and renting a storage unit in Niagara Falls, NY and crossing the border on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to fulfill orders. If it were, everyone would be doing it!

Oh well! Vive le Canada!

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎07-07-2025

@ae_purveyors wrote:

If only it were as easy as opening an LLC in Delaware and renting a storage unit in Niagara Falls, NY and crossing the border on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to fulfill orders. If it were, everyone would be doing it!

I had US Immigration contacts, this plan (if it were possible) is a no go. Going into the US to fill items (or even bringing an item across the border to a pawn shop), is considered working. A friend of mine brought $1000 worth of silver coins to a coin show in Chicago to sell to dealers at the show (without a table), and US Immigration denied him entry. Other factors did not work in his favour (like not having an apartment lease or a regular job), but the denial was because he was violating immigration law. Since he declared his intentions honestly they let him and his coins return to Canada (with no bar on subsequent entries so long as he could satisfy immigration he wasn't going to the US to work).

In my specific circumstance, my items come from sources in Canada, so to get them to a fullfillment centre I would need to import them into the US, for which there would be tariffs. Much better to deal with the tariffs as things sell and not create an immigration problem which might result in me being stuck in Canada and my goods being stuck in the US.

C.

dinomitesales · ‎07-07-2025

Am I the only one not worrying about this right now?

This is two years away. A lot can happen in two years. If this is still a "thing" at the beginning of 2027 then maybe I'll start getting slightly concerned (but even then, my business is tailored towards a Canadian market and most of my sales are to Canadians as it is).

There's pretty much zero chance they've actually thought about how exactly this is going to be implemented. They can't even figure out how to process non-de minimis shipments from a single country (China) right now; I have zero confidence in the US CBP to be able to process literally every postal import entering the country without increasing their workforce and costs by a significant margin. So either they'll just deny all postal imports altogether (highly unlikely), or they'll do what Canada and many other countries do and just ignore all items under a certain valuation.

ricarmic · ‎07-07-2025

I'm not sure if I'd even be worrying if it was scheduled for the end of this year.

When one considers all the on again off again we've seen in the last few months, things can and most probably will change very much in the meantime.

When the state of constant confusion began, I formulated various plans (in my head) of how to handle inconvenient shipping changes to the US to catastrophic changes requiring me to close off sales permanently to the US folks. I have the priviledge of not solely depending on my online income which gives me more freedom.

We've not only the tariff type stuff, we've the never-ending risk of postal disruptions as well.

I've mentioned in earlier threads that with the postal strike at the end of last year I began to put more effort into non-online, and/or non-postal selling options. They are still a far cry from ebay in terms of sales volume but I've only been growing them for 6 months. As time goes by, they will increase my independance from any one venue. (at the time online was "everything" I evolved to have several separate online selling venues, the future is likely just another evolution across venue types to handle the "shipping evolution" is my guess)

If the deminimus is as bad as the worst case scenario, it will still be solvable via my "suite" of plans.

When I see new potential problems I decide if I can handle them in the current plans, I'd only worry/devise another if I had no plan to cover them.

PS as a reminder, I've no live listings at the moment as I'm on summer vacation..... (tomorrow will be an exception: I had enough regular buyers looking to get stuff it will be open for the full day tomorrow as it's another 30 day time away cycle day)