US Tariffs

[moonspender]

Sales seem slow this week and I feel like this is down to Trumps tariff plans; people holding off buying, waiting to see what happens.

Also concerned once he applies tariffs what will happen to Ebay? If the EU retaliate will Ebay being a US company be in their sights ? Will this result in additional costs for us to sell into the EU; its bad enough since they started applying VAT.

I guess no one has a crystal ball and like probably every other business in the world that exports we are all waiting with baited breath .... very hard to plan with the uncertainty it is bringing.

[auctiongabble]

Sales have been non existence from start of February.

If tariff charge introduced i can see this being another additional fee bolted on for online sales going to US.

It's bad enough now with GSP increasing prices, this killed a large amount of my international sales.  

I'm just amazed at how slow the UK site is, recent changes and huge numbers of disgruntled users both private and business on here, there is no improvement from ebay and any signs that they are listening to users problems and frustrations and willing to change things for the better

[4_bathrooms]

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@moonspender wrote:

Sales seem slow this week and I feel like this is down to Trumps tariff plans; people holding off buying, waiting to see what happens.

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Yesterday saw council tax, water and energy bill increases for most on top of all the other usual "new tax year" price rises. I suspect those had far more of an immediate effect on sales than the tariffs that are expected to be announced by Trump.

[maturin.surprise]

Tariffs are mainly based on raw materials, industrial imports, etc, that are being imported by a business from another business outside the country for resale. Steel, materials, commodities, high value items like vehicles, etc.

Regular small online retail packets bought by end consumers typically aren't included. That would be crazy if they decided to make US citizens pay tariffs themselves for personal use items purchased from abroad. I don't personally see how that would work, but under this Trump administration who knows.

[the-nutwood-collection]

The US has a high ($800) de minimis.  The Chinese have taken advantage of this to import loads of stuff to US consumers.

Initially, there were threats to reduce or negate this de minimis, to encourage/force US consumers to buy goods manufactured in the US. 

It doesn't seem to have been mentioned recently, all the tariff talk has been about steel, cars, fertiliser etc.  However, that doesn't mean it's been forgotten.  If it's revived, it may just be directed towards China.  Hard to tell with Mr. T, he seems to have a scattergun approach to directing is ire. 

Just a game of wait and see. 

[antiquarianbooks-uk]

Just worried that US customs won’t know what to do. I sold things on Monday through Wednesday - no tariff paid by USA customer. I will post them next Monday. When they arrive in USA will US customs let them through, will USPS demand that customer pays 10% tariff before they will deliver the parcel.

Hopefully tariffs will not apply to small business selling direct to USA consumer, ie the $800 limit mentioned by Nutwood.

it took about two years for the Brexit *bleep* to be fully implemented to everyone’s harm, but Trump thinks it’s the work of an afternoon. Until he has clarified what it means on the ground I can see US customers avoiding foreign sellers ‘just in case’.

[swiss_expert_uk · Accepted solution]

The 10% tariff on the UK applies to business to business transactions. Private individuals in the US can continue to buy tariff free from UK businesses. The planned removal of the $800 USD de minimus threshold only applies to goods shipped from China or Hong Kong. 

[eyewear247]

I have always sent several orders a week to the US, the US being my biggest export country after Germany pre GPSR.  (GPSR seems to of almost killed my EU sales despite having the relevant information displayed on most of my listings.).....  However the last 2 weeks sales to the US have almost dried up. 

Regarding the 10% tariff the UK is being hit with, this is half of the 20% to EU is getting. With my half full cup of coffee sitting by my side I see this as possibly a positive thing as it would make buying from the UK more competitive than buying from the EU.

I note other posters have mentioned that the majority of sales on eBay to the end user will be unaffected by tariffs. I am not aware if that is correct or incorrect but it has certainly slowed down my orders from the US.

[bojangled]

@the-nutwood-collection 

I believe he also ended the duty free de minimis yesterday as well, starting in May. 
Jo

[davrman]

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@bojangled wrote:

@the-nutwood-collection 

I believe he also ended the duty free de minimis yesterday as well, starting in May. 

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That's only for China and Hong Kong, I believe (so far)...

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I've seen a lot of talk about ending that, but I cannot find anything on BBC News about it actually being ended?

[moonspender]

Thanks for clarification, that will put alot of peoples minds at rest

[bojangled]

@therenewalworkshopltd found it on the The White House site.

@davrman is quite correct.

CLOSING LOOPHOLES IN THE TARIFF SYSTEM: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order eliminating duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value imports from China, a critical step in countering the ongoing health emergency posed by the illicit flow of synthetic opioids into the U.S.

[ojewellery]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-closes-de-minimis...

I can only find references, regarding de minimis, to People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong.  This is an extract from the above White House link

Following the Secretary of Commerce’s notification that adequate systems are in place to collect tariff revenue, President Trump is ending duty-free de minimis treatment for covered goods from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong starting May 2, 2025 at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Fair enough.  Only China and Hong Kong.  But that will kill the likes of Shein etc.

Wish they would do something about it in the UK, as the volume of stuff that comes in from China and undercuts us is insane.

[ojewellery]

They'd just do what they've already done to bypass in the US - set up an entity with stock to use as a workaround.  How many items do we see complained about on the boards that are claimed ship from UK but we know aren't UK small business - whether its warehoused stock or an outright lie on stock location.

Our domestic ethical morality and rule following aren't internationally mirrored

The very driven sales first attitude, without fear of consequence, is something I can't quite decide if I'm in awe of.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Quite possibly true, but at the very least, it makes it a lot more awkward for them.  🙂

And it should help to increase their costs one way or the other.