The Confusion about Tariffs
People who have never imported goods themselves for either personal use or for retail sale may be confused as to who pays tariffs but it is my experience that it is the recipient of an imported good that eventually pays freight, duties, tariffs and taxes.
I have personally imported books, compact discs, DVDs and blu-rays from abroad and none of the businesses have paid tariffs on my behalf unless that had done so previously to import these goods into their country, to then sell it to someone else.
No eBay or Amazon seller that I have purchased goods from has ever paid customs brokers for products made in their own country and this is how I had managed to save money for decades, as I’ve mentioned in a March 2010 page on this blog.
Instead of placing special orders at my local CD stores, which resulted in a considerable mark-up and delay in receiving the CD, I had taken advantage of a postal importation exemption that allowed me to import shipments valued at less than CA$20, duty and tax free.
No costly customs brokerage fees. Nothing. And it was advantageous on light shipments like that of a CD single, DVD or blu-ray, whose shipping and handling costs were low because they were light. And shipments from England were relatively inexpensive and fast as well.
But I digress…
Like duties and taxes, tariffs are only calculated and billed at the border, by custom brokerages working for the courier. And in my case it was Canada Post because I avoided the major couriers because of their higher brokerage fees. And to facilitate shipments, some companies like Amazon do have their own customs brokers, calculating and including an estimate on shipments to Canada.
Amazon Canada also provides estimates on goods that might be imported, so it is always the customer that ends up with the final bill, not the manufacturer of the product ordered.
After all, they’re the people buying the product and they’re willing to pay to import it mainly because it isn’t made or still available in their country.
Tariffs are based on demand and the British, French, Scandinavian and Australian compact discs, compact disc singles, DVDs and blu-rays that I purchased were not manufactured and distributed in Canada so I paid to import them. And had I purchased them via a retailer, they would have paid a distributor a markup to cover their payment of these fees, which would have been recouped from me by the retailer when I purchased the product there.
The same scheme applies to most products, including American dairy imports. But the Canadian dairy companies importing it to make products have yet to reach the threshold that would result in tariffs, the “tariff rate quota”, so they haven’t paid any tariffs on American dairy for decades, nor have their Canadian consumers until the retaliatory tariffs kicked in April 2025.
This 25% tariff has not been added to books, musical instruments, compact discs, DVDs or blu-rays made in the United States and hopefully that wont happen in the future. But I’ll keep an eye on the situation and update this blog accordingly if something happens.
I hope this helps people that were confused about the situation. And remember, shop around!
- What is a tariff? An Economist Explains
- How Tariffs Work – Export Development Canada
- The Smoot-Hawley Tarriff – United States Senate
Tariffed?
It appears that books, sheet music, compact discs, DVDs, vinyl records, blu-rays and most memorabilia that originate from the United States will not be subject to tariffs according to the list of potentially tariffed items.
In regards to memorabilia, you will notice that playing cards, printed cards, postcards, ball point pens, felt markers, sleeping bags and bedding from the United States are on this list and may be subject to tariffs on July 1st, 2018, although products that weren’t made in the states may be exempt.
Just in case you wanted to know.
Budget Day Goodies ?
Today is Budget Day in Ottawa. And the current government has been promising to address some issues related to the higher prices Canadians pay for certain products.
Canadians pay significantly more for certain products than the Americans and although some of the price differences can be attributed to tariffs, labour and transportation costs, much of the purchase price is pre-determined by the manufacturer.
“Country Pricing” has become the standard and unfortunately Canada’s prices have not been adjusted to match our dollar’s strength.
Some online retailers have done their best to match prices but Canadians were still forced to either import products from the states or pay higher prices at their local retailers.
I suspect that tariffs will be reduced or eliminated on certain products in this budget, perhaps on books, clothing, electronics and home appliances.
Those are the most imported products, especially on Black Friday. But I’m also hoping they will follow the recommendations in the February 2013 Senate Committee report of the US/Canada Price Gap and raise the de minimis threshold for postal shipments from $20.
When you import most products by mail you are exempt from duties, fees and taxes if the product or products shipped are valued at less than $20 Canadian.
I’ve managed to save some money using they exemption. But many countries like the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore had raised this minimum to US$100 in November 2011, enabling their citizens to avoid paying the hefty brokerage fees some couriers charge on parcels.
Brokerage fees have recently gone up in Canada so I’m hoping they will at least consider a CAN$50 threshold.
The other probabilities in the budget are reductions in credit card/banking fees, funding for an expansion of high speed internet into rural areas, and the unbundling of cable channels so I guess lots of Canadians will be watching this afternoon.
The budget broadcast will air on television and online on CPAC at 4PM Eastern. Details on the budget will also be made available on the Government’s Official Site after 4 PM Eastern.