Touché. You’re right about that.
I love the eBay offer function. I list stuff higher than I expect to sell it for and then when people make an offer of what I actually expected to make I’m happy and they think they got a deal.
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Delete.
So, like real estate, if you price too high you may actually deter offers.
Many of my books I either am not motivated to sell for a lower price, or my price is lower (or lowest) amongst comparable listings.
But mostly I’m jaded by the deadbeats. Those who accept an offer then don’t pay. Meanwhile they are holding the book hostage from being sold to someone else willing to pay my asking price.
I don’t price too high, I think. I see your point, however.
I’ve never encountered this before. I guess I have not bought something international in a while. This isn’t related to the De Minimis exemption? My package is well below $800 (less than $100). The exemption doesn’t expire until 8/28…so not sure if this is the old normal or the new normal.
This reached customs 5 days ago. From Toronto. Shipped on 8/20.
The warning is new, there were no warnings when sending previous. I don’t think it will affect you, the warning is probably placed on all shipments now because of the removal of the exemption. All shipments are affected, no matter of value, all are subject to taxes and tariffs but it should only start on those moving through customs into the US after Aug 28.
We’ll see. I’m the Guinea pig, it would seem.
I’m not sure exactly what customs does with something t like this…I would assume they have the right to examine package contents…and that would be disappointing if they damaged these because they are 9.8 candidates…
I would also be pissed if they end up charging me a post
8/28 rate because they held onto it for several days.
I’m interested to see what happens as well, would love an update when you get it. I’m not sure what type of taxes/tarriffs would be due. I would have to assume that the normal trade agreements are in place, they were not removed, so if comics fall under a trade agreement exemption there would be no extra fees. Just the broker costs for passing it through customs? Not sure, its all a little messy right now.
I’m mostly worried customs is going to get all
Man-Hands on my books…
But yeah, this probably won’t end well, and I’ll be sure to share.
They don’t normally open packages, unless they seem suspicious. You know how much labor would be involved if they opened every package to seal back up?
They don’t have the man power to physically check every single parcel that passes through customs into the US. What’s more likely is that they choose a couple of packages to spot check out of the hundreds of thousands maybe millions(?) that passes through their hands everyday.
I have sent thousands of comics to the US and I’ve never gotten a buyer telling me that customs has manhandled their books.
eBay global shipping is another story. They actually have to open up your parcel at the hub to make sure they fill out everything correctly and that they have what you sent them. That means actually physically opening up your comic to see where the country of origin is (ie where its printed and manufactured)
Because of the new rules I wasn’t able to ship one comic yesterday from a third party shipper because my indie comic that I sold was printed in China. All it said was that it was printed there with no manufacturer address and information, so they had to refuse because of the new rules.
When the K9 drug and bomb sniffing units go nuts on your package, that’s when they open it… 
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Just think of the truckloads and even shiploads of merchandise that big businesses send internationally everyday day. Customs isn’t going to pick out your $50 comic in a mailer to see if they can destroy it from being a 9.8. C’mon man, comic book collectors are something else 
Yeah, like I said. If they opened every package, imagine the delays of stuff just coming into the U.S… We’re talking things that would likely take years sitting in a warehouse just to eventually pass and go on the rest of it’s way!
I checked with my shipper and played around with their new DDP (delivery duty paid postage) where I the seller would have to pay any upfront fees/taxes/duties for the customer before it ships to the USA for comics. This is what I got.
Since comics and books in general are part of the USMCA free trade agreement there are no tariffs going into the USA provided they are printed in Canada, USA or Mexico. Majority of comic books (Marvel/DC) are printed in Canada and USA.
I played around with the fees and to see what happens when I sell a comic to the USA from Canada. I tested it with a $25 sale and a $400 sale. The shipping cost to me is the same indicating there are no tariffs and even any duties. There is a small extra charge here for processing:
DDP Costs Breakdown
- Postage cost (as usual)
- Chit Chats Insurance (if added)
- Duties/Tariffs (if applicable)
- Calculated based on 10 digit HTS code (refer to official US site)
- Merchandise processing fee (MPF)
- Calculated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and may change at their discretion. It is a flat fee per shipment (1.35 USD flat fee*).*
- Shipment items fee
- Individual item processing fee for broker to process the individual HTS coded items in the shipment (0.15 USD / line item).
- Example: You are shipping 1 tshirt, 2 mugs and 3 pins = 3 shipment items
So I had to pay $1.35USD flat fee for “merchandise processing fee” and a $0.15USD processing fee (comic) for a broker to process the HTS coded items (comics/books)
So I have to pay an extra $1.50USD to the US government to process the items coming in. Also my shipper added approx $1 for me to use the DDP postage service option if I want to pay all the fees for the customer.
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Buyer who received that Invincible issue he said I trimmed requested a return. Cool. (Sounds like an old switcharoo) has yet to shop the book. Sucks because they give buyers so long to return books he requested the return on 8/21 and has until 9/12 to return the book. I think he is trying to find his copy to return but hasn’t been successful yet.
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Or purchase a lesser quality copy, receive it, and send yours back.
Thanks for the breakdown. The books seems to be moving again.
What I don’t know is whether I’ll be paying for any fees, or if the shipper paid them already. It seems like from what you’re saying above you have the option to pay (or not pay) the fees prior to shipping?
You shouldn’t have to pay any fees because your books got to customs way before the 29th deadline. It’s probably slow moving because they’re probably swamped with paperwork at the moment to prepare for Friday. I wouldn’t worry about it.
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