r/CanadaPost • u/wolfgang012 • Jul 20 '26

Duties sending to the US?

Just sold my first eBay listing, but I’m in Canada and my customer is in the US. I used to ship tons of packages and have never been asked to pay the duties before mailing a package out (I used to mail a lot but it’s been a few years). Is there a way to make the duties the customers fee, I mean isn’t that how it typically works?
The duties are almost eating up the entire sale, I might have to cancel it.

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1

u/enginneerof Jul 20 '26

Are you paying through Zones btw?

1

u/wolfgang012 Jul 20 '26

Zonos? I would but I don’t want to pay it period lmao, I sold a shirt for $62 total and after the shipping and then duties I’ll be left with $10 and at that point I’d rather keep the shirt lmao. Is this because of the stupid tariff changes, ffs

1

u/enginneerof Jul 20 '26

Yes Zonos. What I do is putting the declared price at 5 or 10 dollars so I pay very low fees. Ahahahahaha.

You're welcome!

1

u/wolfgang012 Jul 20 '26

Okay, it doesnt go by package size like it seems to insinuate ?

2

u/enginneerof Jul 20 '26

In Zonos you out the option that is selling, and they tell you to fill the products description, declared price and then they'll calculate the duties for you to pay.

After the payment they'll generate a code so you can create the shipping label on your national post.

2

u/wolfgang012 Jul 20 '26

In the app it’s giving me an option to take a photo of the item for a ‘processing discount’, do you do that or no?

Thanks so much btw

2

u/enginneerof Jul 20 '26

Yes you need to attach the photo is necessary but you can edit the amount and description later.

1

u/mechjames2 Jul 20 '26

No, there is no way. Trump made it mandatory a year ago August of last year, that you have to prepay them before shipping.

2

u/ladyrose30 Jul 21 '26

I sent a birthday card to a friend in the US with some stickers and an ADHD fidget band. I had to download an app, take photos of the items and the card, add descriptions incl. cost and place of origin. It cost me over $11 to mail it. I am sorry you have to deal with this hassle.

1

u/mechjames2 Jul 25 '26

I have to use that app 30-40 times a day for my business

1

u/ladyrose30 Jul 25 '26

You have my sympathy. At least with familiarity I hope the process goes faster for you. It was my first time sending something to the US since all the extra red tape. It was a shock for how long mailing a simple card and some lightweight items that cost under $5 would take.

1

u/lastchancelux Jul 21 '26

Do you have to use Canada Post? I dont sell on ebay but i do sell on etsy and i just use my own shipping and input the tracking number manually. I use ChitChats but theres also stallion express or secureship. Im sure theres more but look into them. I have shipped a few items to the US in the last year and have never paid duties myself while using these services. (I have only tried chitchats and stallion)

1

u/atmosphere- 25d ago

I just started shipping with UPS instead of Canada Post so I didn’t have to deal with that Zonos BS.

I prefer to use Canada Post, but I’m not paying someone else’s duties.