I figure once Trump has upset enough Americans, he’ll stop playing games with tariffs against other countries, including Canada. For now, I’ve stopped all shipping to the U.S. until there’s a plan in place where I don’t lose money—especially when items get returned to me.
I’m curious—what are other Canadian sellers doing about this?
For the same reason, I will also stop shipping to the USA from Cyprus. Tindie should do something about this. Ebay has informed customers about the problem that exists.
I don’t believe it’s Tindie’s place to intervene when it comes to customs duties or import tariffs. We’ve already seen what happens on platforms like eBay, where the seller ends up powerless under overly controlling policies. That’s not the direction Tindie should go.
The current tariff situation is a direct result of decisions made by the Trump administration. It’s not a platform issue — it’s a political one. When enough Americans get tired of paying 35% (or more) in extra fees on everyday items, the next election will likely bring change. Until then, we’re stuck with the consequences.
The only workaround right now is using courier services like FedEx or DHL, which handle brokerage themselves — but they charge steep fees for that, on top of the tariffs. And what happens when a customer is notified they owe a significant amount in customs? Many simply refuse the parcel. If the item is returned, the seller eats the cost — and that’s if it gets returned at all.
For small sellers, this isn’t sustainable. But forcing platforms to take on this burden won’t solve the core issue — it’ll just drive more sellers away.
It would be nice to add support for country-specific pricing or percentage-based price adjustments. I can sort of handle it with product-specific shipping rates for the US only, but I have no way to factor tariffs in when product options are selected. It wouldn’t require any additional administration for Tindie, just providing us the option to adjust prices accordingly.
I’m in Australia and they’re planning to open back up to the US soon where tariffs need to be prepaid to a third party.
