New import/tariff rules on eBay
 

Is anyone else struggling to figure out the new rules with import fees and/or having issues with shipments from Europe? I paid for an item and then asked if there were any additional fees, to which the seller replied that he did not think so. In some cases, new tariffs are clearly spelled out, but that is not always the case, I've noticed.

Today, after a week in transit, I get an email saying an item was returned to the seller because of "an anomaly" related to the import paperwork. The seller does not understand it, either, but I have no clue how this works. It may be import fee related or not; it's just not clear as there was no explanation (of course).

Anyone else having issues? I did not see this discussed before, but if it has been, please point me to a link.

Slightly OT, but came to my strange mind anyway:

When asked whether he would ever use a foreign substance on the ball, it was either Perry or Sutton who replied: “Everything I use was made right here in the USA”.

Being based in the UK, I'm have the problem in reverse. The removal of the de minimis rule for imports the US has caused havoc with shipments into the US. I've taken down all of my US ebay listings because there's too much uncertainty.

I suspect you're seller's paperwork failed to identify the country of origin, which is a new part of the US import requirements. I think because the presidential order rushed through the changes to the de minimis rules made things worse. Most of the post offices and big shippers didn't have time to update their systems and there are a number of uncertainties. As a result, a large number of postal services (including the UK) have suspended all shipments (other than letters) to the USA.

Some of the open questions are about the calculation of the import duties. Do those have to be paid by the seller or the buyer. The rules means that a package can either be charged the new duties or a fixed fee. It's not clear which one. For example, from the UK, it would be a 10% duty but they could decide to charge an $80 fixed fee. So if I sell a $20 card to the US, the buyer could end up paying a $10% fee (e.g. $2). That's not disastrous, but normally USPS will charge a fee for having to process the duties. I'm not sure how much that it, but let's say it's $6. That's $8 of import fees on a $20 card. I don't think many buyers will be happy with that. But if the US authorities decide to charge the default fixed fee rather than the calculated duties, then it could be an $86 customs duty for a $20 card. That's pretty nuts.

Now, country of origin should be the easy out. If I'm selling a 1960 Topps baseball card, the country of origin is the good ol' USA. So it shouldn't attract any duties. But it's not clear how that will actually work with the customers officers in the USA. It could be that they ignore that and try to charge the fees. Or, the package could be held for inspection. That could add weeks while the package is held by US customs.

As a seller, it's not something I'm keen to try out. I think most buyers would either reject the shipment and I'd have to pay the return shipping to the UK or they've file a item not received claim and I'd be out the money and the card.

I'm hoping that the changes to the de minimis levels are stuck down or the process calms down we get some clarity. Until then, it's really frustrating for buyers and sellers.

This is consistent with my recent experience with a shipment of cards that I tried to send back to the US to a consignment seller that I use regularly. After many such shipments with no issues, my last shipment was first rejected by the local post office -- they just won't ship to the US, period -- I then got DHL to do it (at much higher cost). Package made it to US shores and then was stuck for a couple of weeks. Just got word that there was an import documentation problem. Package on the way back to me. So basically, a big fail. I strongly suspect it has to do with how the items are described in the customs forms. The old descriptions that worked flawlessly before don't seem to work flawlessly anymore.

Thanks for the insights, guys. The more I hear, the more I believe that I am SOL. Just as I thought, it's clear as mud.

To quote one of my favorite poets, Dylan, "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now".

As of August 29th this year, any shipments going from Canada to the United States needs the tariffs paid up front because USPS doesn't have the systems in place to calculate this fee on their own. The tariff rate is 35% for Canada. This fee has to be paid up front with a third party company used by Canada Post (Zonos), then, you are given a code. Then, you take that code to Canada Post, and only with this code, Canada Post will ship your package.

So, I sell you a card for $100 + $15 Shipping through Canada Post before August 29th,

After August 29th that same card is now $100 + $35 tariff + $1.99 Zonos fee + $15 Canada Post.

It's really weird, when I get a delivery with fees owed I pay on delivery at my door. Now, when I mail something to the States I have to pay the delivery fees for someone else. Why can't all fees just be paid on delivery in the States like they are in Canada? Fair? Thanks Trump!

These extra tariff charges will simply get baked into any price Americans pay for anything going forward. It's not just for cards, it's for anything you want that is not produced in the United States. Trump only wants Americans to buy American. But America doesn't make everything or have everything. That was the point of a global marketplace! Sometimes, cool things to buy are outside the United States. Oh, and by the way I love my American friends, I don't love the decision makers though.

Okay, let's take Canada as an example.

I was interested in something from the Great White North, and I get the message:

"Due to US policies, import fees for this item will need to be paid to customs or the shipping carrier on delivery. Learn more."

Well, I click the link to "learn more" and actually feel dumber than before.

If I go to check out on the item, there is no mention of additional fees and no mention of additional fees on the actual listing. So, someone, anyone, tell me when/who to pay if I go ahead and buy this item? I think that may have been the problem with my original order, so I doubt I will go double-or-nothing on this (LOL).

This article has more information

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...tedly-removed/

You might have to wait... in October, Ebay International Shipping is coming to ebay.ca. It's like Ebay International Shipping on ebay.com. Buyer will pay all fees up front and the Canadian seller will ship to a "hub" like they do in the States.

There are about 90 countries that have stopped shipping to the US due to the de minimis rule. Although my understanding is anything under $100 is exempt. I have a UK passport stuck in shipment which isnt supposed to be held up. Total cluster. Also have tried to do some medical things in the US and gave up on that as well and flew to Toronto. Cant wait to get back to SE Asia. Im finding Cambodia and Thailand to be more efficient. Never would of thought that in a million years.

What I heard on Canadian news was that anything under $100 that is declared as a gift is exempt. Purchases are not.

This is going to make more liars out of more people than anything in recent history.

Dumb policy and dumber implementation. But at least it is now socially acceptable again to say that the people who designed this policy are a bunch of retards. So we Americans have that going for us, which is nice.

I'm not sure how many Americans are aware, but prior to the de minimis rule being dropped, the disparity between the allowable dollar amounts between Canada and the U.S. was quite staggering.

If a Canadian person/business shipped any purchase with a declared value of under $800 USD, it would reach its American buyer free of duties.

If you flipped that around, any purchase sent by an American to a Canadian recipient would only be free of duty if it had a declared value of a pitifully paltry $20 CAD or less! With the exchange rate, what would that amount to? Three cents?! :rolleyes: My country clearly has some policies it needs to update as well. The strangest part is that I would many times receive a package from America with a declared value of more than that $20 and no duties were requested! I have no explanation for that.

All we can pray for is that once we have a bit of logic implemented on both sides, we can perhaps do something akin to $800 on either end of the equation. I think most of us can understand the need for duty on higher value shipments. Making it impossible for us to ship lesser-valued goods without duties, hassles and fees doled out to some heretofore unheard of third party is needlessly cruel will have a severely negative consequence for small business owners in your country and mine. China and India, et al? OK, I can see some sense behind that thinking. But Canada?

This is similar in the UK. For us, duty kicks in at at over £135 but 20% VAT (e.g. Sales Tax) applies to most imports unless it's a gift worth less than £39.

I think everyone will get used to the import duties to the US. The issue at the moment is the speed the change was implemented. I understand that the bill passed by Congress made changes to De Minimis in 2027. Trump used an executive order to bring that forward to Aug 29th this year. That rushed timetable means that the global postal system hasn't been able to implement the change to their systems and processes.

Hopefully things will settle down in the next few months.

Exactly. Everyone will be trying to manipulate the system. I reckon people will be taking more trips overseas, buying their clothes and cutting the tags, buying electronics and getting rid of the boxes. We will be like the Mexicans when they would come on weekends to the US and do their shopping and every Sunday night the parking lots of best buy, the malls etc in McAllen Texas would be full of empty boxes. You also get this with the Chinese coming to Singapore and flying back home after a shopping spree. As other members have said some countries have much lower limits but eventually everyone finds a way to get around the system.

The SCD article was somewhat useful. Here is another:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/08/new-...consumers.html

I won't be buying an aluminum products. Yikes!

Good thing there is no equivalent special tariff for cardboard--yet.......

My Japanese baseball card purchases now have a prepaid 15% tariff added to the shipping bill to the US.

These stupid politicians just keep people poor by making it very difficult to do business. Eff them hard !!

In the UK, the Royal Mail has updated their systems and I've started to list some items for sale in the US. I've had a handful of sales over the past month and it's gone smoothly.

When I buy my postage labels, the Royal Mail system assesses any likely postage due (of which there's been none).

My sales were relatively small (less than $30 each and for things (e.g. cards and pins) that originated in the USA - so your mileage may vary.


Wondering if any any other non-US based sellers have had any luck?

I just purchased a ticket from Japan (U.S. wins ice hockey silver medal 1972 Olympics) for under $20. The shipping was $7.99 which seems quite normal. I guess due to the price there was no need to worry about customs.

I have an acquaintance who runs a sports auction house in Germany. Occasionally, I will make post auction purchases of unsold lots. These are for group lots of autographs that I can sell individually and make a profit. It is now not worth it due to customs fees.

Conversely, I have a friend in Switzerland who has every U.S. purchase shipped to me. It originally started with ebay sellers and auction houses charging exhorbitant shipping fees, global program or not. He is also on Swiss Customs list and they check every package he receives for valuable items to get him on duties. I just save everything and deliver it to him one of the two times a year we see each other. He also maintains a p.o. box across the border in Germany where they do not check as closely.

"I have a friend in Switzerland who has every U.S. purchase shipped to me. It originally started with ebay sellers and auction houses charging exhorbitant shipping fees, global program or not. He is also on Swiss Customs list and they check every package he receives for valuable items to get him on duties. I just save everything and deliver it to him one of the two times a year we see each other. He also maintains a p.o. box across the border in Germany where they do not check as closely.
__________________
'Integrity is what you do when no one is looking'"

There's some irony there somewhere, I'm sure of it!

Scott,

I don't disagree. He does not alway tell me packages are coming. I just follow his wishes.

One nice thing about sending Topps cards from another country TO the U.S. is the fact that each of them clearly states that they were made in the USA. There is no way that any entity can deny this, nor can they hardly charge a tariff on an American made product re-entering its own country of origin. At least that's what logical people would think. Logic isn't always at the forefront of all these recent harebrained happenings, so this is what I have been doing:

I stick each card in a penny sleeve, then a top loader, taping the top loader face down against the protective cardboard so that if Customs opens it, they will see the back of the card. On each penny sleeve, I boldly circle where it says the country of manufacture, then write "MADE IN USA!", with arrows pointing to it, just in case they are completely blind or failing to pay attention. On the declaration forms, I declare as "Trading cards (Made in USA)" for good measure. For Country of Manufacture: "United States". I would definitely wish to not use the phrase "Trading cards", but the courier companies have been giving me grief over the vagueness of simply stating "Cards". I wish they would just let me make that decision and roll my own dice, but that's how it is right now. "Cards" worked for the longest time. I don't wish to use "Ephemera" due to general unfamiliarity with that term. "Printed matter" seems too much of a grey area, so I've stayed away from that one as well.

The HS code you need to use when filling out customs forms for U.S.-made cards is 4911.99.0000 At least this is what has worked for me on the first couple of shipments thus far. No issues.

I hope we can all agree on that !
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I'd like to think that 99% of my countrymen would happily agree. Then, there are all the other countries of the world who likely share in that sentiment...

I recently purchased my first card from outside the USA (Canadian seller) since this started. Pleasantly surprised not to pay any duties: they got it right--the card is an American-made card being repatriated.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/6moAA...B/s-l1600.webp

I have so much wished to try the word "repatriated" when filling out the documentation, but don't want to confuse a yone with seldom-used verbiage. Perhaps it's more commonplace in that field, but I haven't been able to convince myself enough to try it. I know that Scott had luck with it.