Is This the New Tariffs Thing?
I kinda had a good sale...until I saw the VAT.
I never notice it this high.
It does take a bite out of the final total I receive.
Would this be a new tariff thing?
I sold before to this country but never notice it this high.
If I had item + shipping under $100. I wonder if the VAT would be cheaper...would it?
The country is Croatia...which I have mailed to before.
17 comments
steady2304
·1 year ago@12345jamesstamps
The smart thing to do is not to purchase anything from China unless it is absolutely necessary until things stabilize.
This is from an AP article on May 1:
This is for China imports into the USA, including Macao and Hong Kong.
"Commercial carriers, UPS, FedEx, DHL etc, will be collecting 145% tariffs on declared values. The U.S. Postal Service, a government agency that offers international mail service, can choose either to charge a 120% tariff on low-value packages or a flat fee of $100 per shipment, which is set to rise to $200 on June 1."
Cheap parcels from China will no longer be duty-free | AP News
toomuchstuffagain35
·1 year agoIt doesn't "take a bite' out of what you receive. It's like Sales Tax domestically. You never actually receive it as it's something the buyer pays then ebay remits it.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoI could be wrong, but I think James' point is the seller pays final value fee on total buyer pays, including VAT.
If it was a domestic transaction with 7% tax of $7.35 compared to this Croatia transaction with 25% VAT of $26.25, that is a final value fee difference (at 13.6%) of $1.00 on domestic tax compared to $3.57 on Croatia tax.
Fee is $2.57 higher. Although it sounds like shipping wasn't combined, so that difference in ship cost may cover the increased final value fee.
richard1rst
·1 year agoEXCEPT eBay charges their FVF on the vat. So at 13.6% you are losing $3.57 on money you never see.
toomuchstuffagain35
·1 year agoYeah, I forgot that ebay likes to their share off the top of ANYthing the buyer pays these days.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoNothing to do with tariffs. All tax.
Item $90 + Shipping $15 = $105
Croatia VAT is 25%
25% of $105 is $26.25
lacemaker3
·1 year agoI was going to say the same thing, but @wastingtime101 beat me to it.
@12345jamesstamps, the tariffs that are in the news, only apply to items being imported into the USA.
TL/DR: if there are tariffs charged on those purchases, your buyer will have to pay it to the shipping carrier before their packages will be delivered. eBay doesn't collect it.
Yes, a lot of other countries have reciprocal tariffs in place on items being imported from the USA, but eBay doesn't collect tariffs in most transactions. For US sellers, the only time eBay collects tariffs is when the item is shipped by eBay International Shipping (eIS ), if the international buyer chooses to pay import charges at checkout. You don't have eIS shipping on those listings.
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/shipping-delivery/changing-delivery-address-method/international-purchases-shipping?id=4057#section3
With all other shipping methods, and when the buyer of an eIS item chooses to defer the import charges, the international buyer has to pay the tariffs and other import charges to the shipping carrier, before the package is delivered. That includes your sales under discussion, because you did not offer eIS shipping.
For packages that are being imported into the USA, the only time eBay collects import charges including tariffs at checkout is if the package is being shipped from the UK by Global Shipping Programme (GSP). For all other transactions, the US buyer pays the tariffs and import charges to the shipping carrier, before delivery.
There may be some exceptions, for example, if the international seller is using a third-party shipper, such as Stallion or Chit Chat in Canada, or OSM, which transport packages into the US and through customs, and then take them to the USPS for final delivery. In that case, the seller would need to find some way to add the expected tariff & import charges to their shipping or purchase price. Some of them are blocking US purchases until they can figure out a way to deal with this.
12345jamesstamps
OP1 year agoWith auctions one never knows now what might occur?
My seller in Macao, China states for items from Macao and Hong Kong starting on May 1 the tariff is $25.00 for package or item under $800.
I assume a package with 2+ winning auctions or more it is only $25.00?
Rather confusing...to say the least.
And on June 1st it goes up to $50.00 per item?...or a package of multiple items?
Confusing even more as is Macao and Hong Kong a part of China(which they are) or separate with the tariffs.
Makes me not want to bid on auctions outside the USA anymore...
sin-n-dex
·1 year agoIn Canadian forums they're saying the "per package fee" is now $100, going up to $200 in June.
I guess we'll have to wait until someone pays it and comes here to complain about it.
C.
da6170
·1 year agoEbay says they're collecting it https://pages.ebay.com/tariffs/
lacemaker3
·1 year ago@da6170, no, not really.
The original question relates to an item being sold by a US seller, being shipped to another country.
In that context, eBay only collects the import charges including tariffs for eIS shipments, if the buyer chooses to pay them at checkout. That page you linked to above (which is also linked on the page I referred to) confirms what I said:
https://pages.ebay.com/tariffs/
Both of those pages say that eBay only collects the tariffs in certain circumstances, as I said.
For items being imported into the USA, eBay only collects the tariffs at checkout for purchases from the UK and being shipped by GSP.
For most other shipping carriers (post office, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.) the tariffs and import charges will be collected from the US buyers by the shipping carriers, as shown above under "Other Shipping Carriers".
For SpeedPAK (only available for shipments from China and Japan), eBay requires the seller to prepay the tariff when shipping. I believe sellers using that are currently trying to figure out how to collect it from the buyer. For third-party shippers, I don't know what they are doing, but I think it will be similar to SpeedPAK.
The page I linked to in my earlier response gives a more complete summary in this table. When reading this, remember that the first 3 shipping services are only available in specific circumstances, different for each of them. The last option "Other Shipping Services" is the general situation, that applies unless one of the other specific services is being used.
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/shipping-delivery/changing-delivery-address-method/international-purchases-shipping?id=4057#section3
da6170
·1 year agoThere's this asterisk on You'll pay tarrifs on shipments over $800 from China and Hong Kong.
lacemaker3
·1 year agoOK. That's new in the last few days, I think, and it only applies to shipments coming from China or Hong Kong, and it applies to all shipments, even under $800. I was responding generally, and I think that is one of the specific situations that I referred to earlier.
*Effective May 2, 2025, goods of any value from China and Hong Kong will be subject to duties. Duties will be included in the item or shipping cost on goods less than $2500 from China or Hong Kong.
That is basically what I said about SpeedPAK shipping. eBay requires the sellers to prepay the import charges and tariffs, so the sellers have to include them in the item price and/or the shipping.
eBay requires a lot of sellers to use SpeedPAK if their items are shipped from China. That is probably why that has been added. To my knowledge, eBay has not published when or how they decide if sellers shipping from China have to use SpeedPAK, and the published pages (for export sellers) are mostly on country-specific eBay policy pages. So it is hard to figure out the requirements with certainty.
I suspect that eBay may be requiring any sellers (with items coming form China or Hong Kong) to use SpeedPAK (or another third-party shipper) unless they have a warehouse in the USA that they are shipping from.
Note that tariffs are charged on items made in China or Hong Kong, no matter where they are being shipped from.
So if an item made in China is shipped to the USA from for example Canada, then tariffs would be applied and would have to be collected by the shipping carrier at delivery (unless it is shipped by a third-party shipper such as Stallion or Chit Chat, but I don't think they are currently accepting any items made in China).
There have been some reports from US buyers purchasing from the UK that the eBay UK Global Shipping Programme appears to be collecting tariffs on items that could be from China if the country of manufacture is not specified. (I haven't seen any reports relating to items shipped from the UK where the country of manufacture was specified to be China.)
a_c_green
·1 year agoYes, indeed; the Value Added Tax has been around for literally decades in the European Union, and is not related to tariffs, or the current kerfuffle regarding same.
I remember years ago when I had a British buyer all upset over the amount of VAT he had to pay on his purchase, as if somehow the whole thing was my fault. 🙄
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoIt is probably only VAT and correct.
20% or more for VAT is typical.
12345jamesstamps
OP1 year agoAnd second question...giving a discount on two items with combined shipping...I wouldn't really get a reduce eBay fee I am guessing?
wastingtime101
·1 year agoI'm not sure if I understand your question about a reduced fee, but hopefully this will answer it:
If the combined shipping discount is applied before the buyer pays, the eBay final value fee will be on the total amount buyer pays.
If the combined shipping discount is a partial refund after the fact, you will receive a prorated final value fee credit for the amount refunded.
In practice:
If the variable fee is 13.6% and you submit a refund of $10, eBay will credit $1.36 fee as part of the refund and pull the balance $8.64 from your funds to refund the buyer a total of $10.