Tariffs, Customs, Duty Etc.

[bill937ca]

Fees and sales tax is charged in Canada as below from the article linked above.

 

Canada's threshold varies — $150 for customs duties, $40 for taxes on courier shipments from the U.S. and Mexico, and $20 for goods from other countries. 

[bill937ca]

I think the de minimus exemption was never meant to be what it is today.  Originally it was probably only those few people who traveled internationally by train or boat.  

 

Now there is a whole export / import industry built around small items sold on eBay and Amazon. Thousands of parcels coming in and nobody knows for sure what is in the package.  These may also be moved at a loss by the post office.

[cteno4]

Yes use to be most international shipping was by slow boat anyway so not something you did everyday like now. Internet kicked it off with ebay and postal deal for cheap small package shipping from china, then the new exporters like Temu, SHEIN, etc have really amplified that. Its been a really fast spiral. 

 

It’s in the millions of packages and a big contraband issue. Again i think the logical thing is an upfront duty payment system that will then allow better tracking and verification of sender to prevent contraband and keep things simpler.

 

Jeff

[RS18U]

2 hours ago, bill937ca said:

Fees and sales tax is charged in Canada as below from the article linked above.

 

Canada's threshold varies — $150 for customs duties, $40 for taxes on courier shipments from the U.S. and Mexico, and $20 for goods from other countries. 

My last parcel (March 28 from PJ) was GST, BC PST and a $10 handling fee.  Shipped Japan Post and paid at the Canada Post office when I picked it up.  Declared value was 118.98 CDN which aligns with what I paid to PJ (plus shipping).  A friend just got an order from Walthers last week, US to Canada with no extra charges, we were all very surprised.  Canada Post delivered to his door too. 

 

And to @cteno4s point of products made one place and shipped from another, will be a big ? with so much still made in China but sold/marketed by others.

[bill937ca]

2 minutes ago, RS18U said:

  A friend just got an order from Walthers last week, US to Canada with no extra charges, we were all very surprised.  Canada Post delivered to his door too. 

There is an exemption under the North American Free Trade deal for small items. It usually shows on the white declaration form.

[Tony Galiani]

As we know, we are living in interesting times.  I have items I would like to get but nothing that I am really anxious for so just planning to sit tight for the foreseeable future.  Do have one pre-order pending and the date on that has changed twice so who knows when that will arrive.  

Wonder how many hobbyists will just cut back for a while to see how this goes?

Tony

[disturbman]

3 hours ago, RS18U said:

And to @cteno4s point of products made one place and shipped from another, will be a big ? with so much still made in China but sold/marketed by others.

I wouldn't expect that to happen, as it would be near impossible to achieve, would require large international compliance and a lot of paperwork, and would be even greater insanity.

[Lessigen]

12 hours ago, Tony Galiani said:

As we know, we are living in interesting times.  I have items I would like to get but nothing that I am really anxious for so just planning to sit tight for the foreseeable future.  Do have one pre-order pending and the date on that has changed twice so who knows when that will arrive.  

Wonder how many hobbyists will just cut back for a while to see how this goes?

Tony

 

Personally, I cancelled a few of my pre-orders to trim spending and changed my mind on a few other pre-orders (i.e. going from the DCC version to DC for some of my NA orders). Being in Canada the tariff situation doesn't directly affect my model train hobby spending (no US-based model train manufacturer orders), but about the general economic climate as my job will likely be affected by a harder-hitting recession so I'd rather have a bit of extra money just in case. I still plan on going through with the majority of my existing orders otherwise, maybe with some extra money set aside for contingencies. In the best case scenario that money isn't needed and I can use it for later hobby stuff or for other things.

[Tony Galiani]

I will confess that I had planned one more order before taking a pause but RG Rokko uses PayPal and, for some reason I could not fathom, my credit card would not work via their (PayPal's) platform.  Fraud alert on the first try then nothing on the second.  So a bunch saved.  I will note for that my order via RG would have run about US$40/50 less than the comparable order via HobbySearch.  At some point, I will see if I can sort this issue out for future reference but not today.

 

BTW, when I went to do the purchase via PayPal, it gave me the option of paying in dollars (automatic choice) or changing it to yen.  At the current conversion rate, paying in yen would have saved me more than US$10.  Tired of this subtle way companies  try to extract more money from everyone.

 

Tony

[mr bachmann]

On 4/6/2025 at 5:52 AM, RS18U said:

Will be interesting to see how this shakes out world-wide.  We are headed to England for a almost a month next week and I was going to place a relatively (for me anyway) big order with PJ for the track I need for the portable layout when I get back.  For us in Canada there will be no direct issue re extra tariffs coming from Japan, just the usual GST/PST/Canada Post handling fee, but the impacts to exchange rates and shipping costs, who knows.  The Yen - CDN $ has already climbed 2 cents since March 29.

well a letter off Parcel Force (they handle ALL parcel imports into UK) regarding order from Plaza Japan , my usual normal order is below £125 UK . This order is for Greenmax Tamper 237£ UK (over the ‘safe’ 125£) . Parcel force want £54.75p to deliver the item , the money has been paid . 
 

so if you are ordering from UK and with several items on your list , make 2 orders (or more) below 125 UK £ , but order one today one tomorrow ….. hope this will help , normal orders take about 2-2 1/2 weeks Japan post 2nd class 

[bill937ca]

Tariffs are paused for 90 days.  But I suspect the De Minimis exemption is history. Get those orders in now before Golden Week!

Edited April 9 by bill937ca

[Section31]

The biggest hit will be those changming models i feel. Thankfully you got time till the CR400AF-Z start delivering.

 

The Japanese model are made in Vietnam from one i have.  Even Tomica cars plarail are made in Vietnam

On 4/6/2025 at 4:02 PM, cteno4 said:

Yes lots of chaos and unknowns here sadly. I am a bit worried there will not be much love for worrying about all the fees that will need to be added to pay for the collection of tariffs as mostly this i think will be part of the well its just another roadblock for imports in addition to the tariffs. Also a lot of our consumer protection is getting dismantled now as well so the gov wont be looking out for the consumer here and for USPS it will be the gov charging the fees for duty processing. If the exemption is completely dropped it will effect many countries that use it.

 

Again the logical thing would seem to be using prepayment via the gst/sales tax system now in place in a lot of the world for these small shipments. That would take the whole paperwork side out of having to deal with it with the package in hand. It could be much simpler and more responsive to tariff changes as well. But sadly logic is not what is driving all this.

 

There has not been a lot of discussion on what tariffs will do for a japanese product that is made in china and then sold thru japan [ie many tomix products]. Do you pay the china or japan tariff rates when importing to the us from japan?

 

jeff

 

[Section31]

On 4/6/2025 at 4:45 PM, bill937ca said:

Fees and sales tax is charged in Canada as below from the article linked above.

 

Canada's threshold varies — $150 for customs duties, $40 for taxes on courier shipments from the U.S. and Mexico, and $20 for goods from other countries. 

I will add this CBSA is so overwhelmed that not large plastic things get through even if they exceed the threshold. There’s reason i use Khaho over the Japan and Europe (for japan brands) sites one being hkd is weaker than cad and the other being stuff tends to gets through tax free. Though i have ordered from Japan - model tomica including the neo vintage line and other plastic stuff and have not been taxed. Must use cheapest air shipping.

Edited April 10 by Section31

[Lessigen]

7 hours ago, bill937ca said:

Tariffs are paused for 90 days.  But I suspect the De Minimis exemption is history. Get those orders in now before Golden Week!

 

Important to note that for the US the tariffs for items from Mainland China are not paused, and in fact were raised to 125% effective today. A CHANGMING CR400AF for instance would go from HK$1650 (~$212.54 USD) to HK$3712.50 ($478.22 USD). That's an insane increase in taxable value which if de minimis disappears, will probably hurt a lot.

[Section31]

9 minutes ago, Lessigen said:

 

Important to note that for the US the tariffs for items from Mainland China are not paused, and in fact were raised to 125% effective today. A CHANGMING CR400AF for instance would go from HK$1650 (~$212.54 USD) to HK$3712.50 ($478.22 USD). That's an insane increase in taxable value which if de minimis disappears, will probably hurt a lot.

 

The otherway is go through khaho which does underdeclare its value big time 

Edited April 10 by Section31

[Section31]

On 4/6/2025 at 7:31 PM, RS18U said:

My last parcel (March 28 from PJ) was GST, BC PST and a $10 handling fee.  Shipped Japan Post and paid at the Canada Post office when I picked it up.  Declared value was 118.98 CDN which aligns with what I paid to PJ (plus shipping).  A friend just got an order from Walthers last week, US to Canada with no extra charges, we were all very surprised.  Canada Post delivered to his door too. 

 

And to @cteno4s point of products made one place and shipped from another, will be a big ? with so much still made in China but sold/marketed by others.

 

I got dinged pretty badly on an custom keyboard aviator around then. 60Cad. It was undeclared at 10usd (item is around 200usd).

 

I saw the khaho declaration for train orders. it is between 50-100cad. So even if caught for taxes etc its low cost

Edited April 10 by Section31

[Little-Kinder]

1 hour ago, Section31 said:

The biggest hit will be those changming models i feel. Thankfully you got time till the CR400AF-Z start delivering.

 

The Japanese model are made in Vietnam from one i have.  Even Tomica cars plarail are made in Vietnam

 

kato only produces in Japan, they have one factory for the trains and another one for the rails, I think they are opening the third one but i could be wrong.

[Section31]

15 minutes ago, Little-Kinder said:

kato only produces in Japan, they have one factory for the trains and another one for the rails, I think they are opening the third one but i could be wrong.

 

Not sure about Kato but Tomix and even some of the european brands i have say vietnam 

[bill937ca]

23 minutes ago, Section31 said:

 

Not sure about Kato but Tomix and even some of the european brands i have say vietnam 

 

Kato is made in Japan apart from some items like buildings.

https://www.katomodels.com/company

 

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/release/202307056924

 

https://www.kato-oo9.com/en/sekisuiml

 

Edited April 10 by bill937ca

[Section31]

5 minutes ago, bill937ca said:

 

Kato is made in Japan apart from some items like buildings.

https://www.katomodels.com/company

 

Thanks for telling. Good to have some made in japan. Not so common nowadays especially in diecast metal toy world.

[Little-Kinder]

1 hour ago, bill937ca said:

 

Kato is made in Japan apart from some items like buildings.

https://www.katomodels.com/company

 

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/release/202307056924

 

https://www.kato-oo9.com/en/sekisuiml

 

Wasn't aware they had buildings made in china, thanks
And thanks for confirming the third factory

[disturbman]

3 hours ago, Section31 said:

The otherway is go through khaho which does underdeclare its value big time 

 

Beside the illegality of under declaring value, this will make it for you impossible to get proper reimbursement from the insurance if things go sideways. And they do. I have had a couple of shipments disappear never to be seen again, and I have seen more than a few being totalled. Undervaluing is not something I recommend accepting on shipments with high value; even more with fragile items like model trains.

It's like Russian roulette. You are fine until you aren't anymore.

Edited April 10 by disturbman

[Section31]

6 hours ago, disturbman said:

 

Beside the illegality of under declaring value, this will make it for you impossible to get proper reimbursement from the insurance if things go sideways. And they do. I have had a couple of shipments disappear never to be seen again, and I have seen more than a few being totalled. Undervaluing is not something I recommend accepting on shipments with high value; even more with fragile items like model trains.

It's like Russian roulette. You are fine until you aren't anymore.

That very much is always the case for sure. It definitely is russian roulette but i am ok with doing it for these sort of hobbies. It’s kind of something many asian are used to even abroad. As long as you are willing to live with potential lost shipments so be it.

 

Then its also case for me to- Do i pay international shipping or go route of buy from china/hk - store or online it and keep it at my physical addresses in china/hk and then figure out my own logistics too. Something i try to avoid but with tariffs maybe no choice.

 

I am seriously considering going back to grey market electronics products like laptop some pc component cameras and cellphones like in the past from hk/china (when i go back to visit yearly). I won’t underdeclare them but will pay the taxes (12%).  I still save and get the latest and best at cheaper prices. Going to be long term thing to deal with and have to leave luggage room to carry the stuff.

Edited April 10 by Section31

[Section31]

However i may have to cut my losses on another order that unfortunately got caught in the china usa tariff war. And then that item might get hit also on canadian-usa one. Fortunate the gb runner is working on ways to mitigate it but i would not accept the tariff on an 350usd alu keyboard order lol. They already have to underdeclare it going to the us and to canada as result of the ongoing situation.

[RS18U]

9 hours ago, Little-Kinder said:

Wasn't aware they had buildings made in china, thanks
And thanks for confirming the third factory

I also have some Kato vehicles that are made in China but the vast majority of their production seems to be from Japan.