Sales to USA after August 29th - Tariffs / End of de minimis

[wellingnorth]

I asked about this in the weekly chat, specifically whether ebay are alerting US buyers to the fact that they will shortly have to pay duty on anything delivered from outside the US and marco@ebay helpfully later posted this link showing that there is messaging to increase awareness of this:

https://pages.ebay.com/tariffs/

Then I also stumbled across this link:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Announcements/Navigating-New-US-Tariffs-Support-and-Solutions-for-UK...

From this it sounds potentially like we may have to add a 'country of origin' to listings for them to be visible to US buyers at all?

"Add “Country/Region of Manufacture” (country of origin) to your listings: To reach US customers, you’ll need to Include the “Country/Region of Manufacture” (country of origin) in your listing aspects. This information helps US buyers anticipate potential duties and make informed purchasing decisions."

It specifies the same thing for items sent through GSP.

[pillarboxred]

The last place that value was added must surely be where the product was made. Wholesalers will pay tariffs on shipments of unprinted t shirts coming in from where they were sewn.

[wellingnorth]

Here's the gov.uk page on the topic:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-your-goods-meet-the-rules-of-origin

Various similar US pages come up if you search for rules of origin US.

How much any of this will matter when sending single items to the US via the postal service I think we will have to wait and see

[dutchkiwi74]

To me it seems their end aim is to force tariffs being paid before shipping as part of the transaction or part of posting beforehand, to both remove the chore of doing so from their end, and to get money coming in, which seems in effect all that the administration is interested in. In their ideal world, customer can pay tariffs upon purchase of item, money comes in and the administration cost for them is negligible. 

In a sellers ideal world this may also be the case.  Remove that issue from a customers mind, doesn't make them have to pay something separately after their parcel comes into the country. Removes a barrier to sale and to be honest if it's the 10% that the UK deal seems to imply then it's not a big cost issue.

[eastern-lights]

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@pillarboxred wrote:

The last place that value was added must surely be where the product was made. Wholesalers will pay tariffs on shipments of unprinted t shirts coming in from where they were sewn.

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Definitions can I think depend upon the country doing the defining. However the definition I have come across most is on the lines of, country of manufacture is the last place the product was substantially transformed.

[4_bathrooms]

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@eastern-lights wrote:

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@pillarboxred wrote:

The last place that value was added must surely be where the product was made. Wholesalers will pay tariffs on shipments of unprinted t shirts coming in from where they were sewn.

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Definitions can I think depend upon the country doing the defining. However the definition I have come across most is on the lines of, country of manufacture is the last place the product was substantially transformed.

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Here is some guidance from GOV.UK; here is further guidance explaining what "sufficiently worked or processed" means.

[oldpostcards4sale]

I spoke with an Ebay rep and he said country of origin is being treated by Ebay as the location of the item, whereas the official UK government tax advice is that it refers to where the item was made. I have over 3000 items in my Ebay shop and cannot go through manually altering that item specific. Some of my items were made in other countries, some in the UK - they are vintage items made over 100 years ago in many cases. All very confusing. 

[jjambadger27]

I would not go by what they've said, as that goes against how customs in any country would regard the item.  

[*vyolla*]

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@oldpostcards4sale wrote:

I spoke with an Ebay rep and he said country of origin is being treated by Ebay as the location of the item, whereas the official UK government tax advice is that it refers to where the item was made.

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Methinks somebody at eBay is making stuff up.

Origin is where it was manufactured.

Location is where the item is being shipped from.

[jjambadger27]

I'm on the mailing list of a mail order music company called Burning Shed & their most recent newsletter refers to tariffs - according to them...

Certain items such as books, CDs, vinyl, DVDs, BluRays, cassettes, posters and photographs are classified as “informational materials” under 50 U.S.C. § 1702(b) and the guidance we have been given is that there is no 10% tariff on these items.
Obviously this is good news though it does mean that you will have to pay the 10% tariff on items such as t-shirts, hoodies, mugs and anything not mentioned in the exemption.

On the basis of what Burning Shed has said, the whole situation won't affect as many buyers as previously thought - of course, this depends on the guidance that eBay has presumably sought.

[hswalsh]

Well eBay really haven't covered themselves in glory here. I contacted them a while back about postal deliveries going to DDP only (as Royal Mail and DHL updated all of their customers on).

Deutsche/DHL post have now suspended services to the US as of today (see below). Had a similar update from Royal Mail weeks ago about all shipments needing the duties/taxes paid upfront (DDP). Anyone sending DDU (delivered duty unpaid) is going to come unstuck as USPS will apparently reject and return all shipments sent via this method. I've been in meetings about this for the last few weeks and eBay don't appear to have done anything about it. We are prepared on our website but eBay doesn't offer the same pricing/duty/tax calculator options at checkout to send DDP.

eBay need to add a facility to calculate the duties paid and charge the customer and account for the tax/duties themselves or for sellers to be able to add a percentage for sales to US customers only.

You will most likely be aware that on 30 July 2025, the USA published the Executive Order "Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment For All Countries". According to this decree, all shipments of goods by business customers arriving in the USA after 29 August 2025, 00:01 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) will be subject to import duties. In addition to the elimination of the previously existing duty-free limit of USD 800, this Executive Order also brings with it numerous procedural changes and provisions for the shipment of goods by post.

As a result, it is necessary to implement a temporary service suspension for the DHL Globalmail service for shipments containing goods to the USA.

Please note that DHL Express services continue to be available to the USA and US Customs territory of Puerto Rico.

[hswalsh]

From Royal Mail:

As you may be aware, on 30 July, the United States Government announced an Executive Order which outlines changes to customs obligations and processes for goods being imported into the USA.

These changes affect all customers and carriers who export goods to the USA and are expected to become effective on 29 August 2025.

Key points of the US Executive Order

• Currently, low-value goods and gifts can enter the USA from other countries ‘duty-free’ because of a ‘de minimis’ duties threshold of US$800. The changes mean goods entering the USA from any country, from 29 August 2025 will be subject to tariffs (duties) payable to US customs.
• For goods shipped via the international postal system, the executive order indicates customs duties will be calculated using the value of the item and the prevailing country-based tariff for the item’s country of origin (origin of manufacture, not origin of shipment).
• The customs duties on items need to be paid to US Customs before those items enter the USA. US authorities will not accept items without duties paid on them.

What does this mean for UK customers exporting goods to the USA?

If you only send personal correspondence to the USA, you are not affected by these changes and can continue to send these items to the USA, without a customs declaration.

If you ship goods to the USA and currently complete a customs declaration, we understand the following changes will apply on 29 August 2025:

• The duty-free threshold (‘de minimis’) of $800 will be removed and replaced by tariffs (duties).
• Senders in the UK will have to calculate, collect (or account for) duties at the point of sale. The duties are payable to US Customs in advance of items entering the USA.
• We understand required duties for UK postal shipments will be based on an item’s value and the country-based tariff (country of manufacture rather than country
  of shipping).

What can customers do now to prepare for these changes?

From 29 August customs duties need to be paid for export items travelling to the USA. To continue to export goods to the USA, you will need to:

• Consider how to calculate the duty/duties payable on each item. You may want to consider doing this by integrating a ‘landed cost calculator’ at your online checkout to calculate ‘landed cost’ (taxes and duties). Landed cost calculators can also collect those taxes and duties.
• Decide how you will account for these duties with your customers (e.g. you can choose to pass the cost of duties on to your customers or absorb it).
• Capture essential electronic product data at item level (much of which is already a requirement) including:

o Country of Origin
o Value of goods/product costs
o HS codes

[wellingnorth]

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@hswalsh wrote:

Well eBay really haven't covered themselves in glory here. I contacted them a while back about postal deliveries going to DDP only (as Royal Mail and DHL updated all of their customers on).

Deutsche/DHL post have now suspended services to the US as of today (see below). Had a similar update from Royal Mail weeks ago about all shipments needing the duties/taxes paid upfront (DDP). Anyone sending DDU (delivered duty unpaid) is going to come unstuck as USPS will apparently reject and return all shipments sent via this method. I've been in meetings about this for the last few weeks and eBay don't appear to have done anything about it. We are prepared on our website but eBay doesn't offer the same pricing/duty/tax calculator options at checkout to send DDP.

eBay need to add a facility to calculate the duties paid and charge the customer and account for the tax/duties themselves or for sellers to be able to add a percentage for sales to US customers only.

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That is a very useful post. I have a Royal Mail Click & Drop account which I've used to send to the US, but didn't get any message from them. I had received a similar message from TransglobalExpress but I had assumed that was just relating to their own USPS service, saying: 'From 29th August, DDP will be the only available shipping option for USPS shipments.'

So are you thinking that basically there will be no option to send parcels to the US unless duty is paid up front? This would make sense in terms of the extra capacity needed in customs otherwise.

So for now sellers would have to ask US buyers for additional payments to cover any applicable duties. 

Or the other option will be to use GSP.

Is the long term solution for ebay  to add hs code to item specifics and then use that to calculate and charge duty in a similar way they charge VAT under IOSS? Although for now at least the seller would have to receive the duty paid and pass it on to the courier I think?

[tonyfisher]

Very confusing but I read that a gift valued under $100 is exempt. Also, my post office said the sender is the one charged, not the receiver. Assumes that is for a non gift.

[tonyfisher]

Fine unless they have labels showing where they are really made.

[tonyfisher]

China is literally the worst place to claim something was made.

[wyntersemporium]

Mine don’t have labels on them though except the Halloween bat and ghost although now looking to put them somewhere else. And I don’t need to send them to the USA as blocked 

[wyntersemporium]

a gift is exempt but if you’re a business you’re not