Apparently some UK couriers (eg Royal Mail and DPD) have suspended shipments to the US - does anyone know if USPS etc have done the same for the opposite direction? Presumably it's down to confusion over the customs arrangements related to whatever trade agreement The Donald and Two Tier Kier have cobbled together between them. 

I just shipped a package by USPS a few days ago to a member in the UK.  It sat in "outbound customs" here for a few days but that happens sometimes.  

The only new thing is they are requiring more detailed descriptions on the customs forms for outbound shipments.  For example, you used to be able to say "parts" and now you need to say something more specific like "used 1976 Yamaha clutch assembly".  They said that this change was required by the receiving countries, not the USPS.

Thanks Mark.

Collection of that extra detail needed might be a bit beyond our couriers at the moment!

I looked into this and here's a brief summary...  (Just FYI, many countries besides the UK are cancelling postal shipments to the US, sucks for us!)

There used to be "loophole" for us here in the US.  We could import items from other countries and as long as the package value was less than $800, we didn't have to pay any import duties or tariffs.

What this spawned was a whole industry that companies were using to bypass tariffs on smaller items.  For example, a container full of t-shirts from China had a value of well over $800.  So they would send the container to Mexico where the container contents would be repackaged into perhaps hundreds of smaller shipments to the USA, each valued at less than $800 to bypass any import duties or tariffs.  (This was sometimes called the "Tijuana two-step")

The US closed that loophole but did it in an unusual way.  They are also requiring the "sending country" to collect any import duties or tariffs from the shipper and forward those funds to the US.  So basically the USA is trying to turn Royal Mail, for example, into a "tax collector" for shipments into the USA... which is something the shipping countries are not set up to do so they kind of have no choice but to cancel shipping here.    

The standard way import charges work is when the package arrives in a country, the receiving country collects any import taxes, fees, duties, or tariffs from the recipient of the package.  Which is exactly how it works in the UK.  If I ship a package to the UK,  the UK collects any import charges from the person in the UK that is receiving the package. Kind of the same concept as collecting "postage due" except it's "import charges due".

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Thanks Mark.

It would be interesting to know if the existing set up used by fleabay, Amazon etc already provides the tax collection service and content detail required.

Alan, just between you and me (and I guess whoever else reads this LOL), some of the news media here has been making a big deal about the distinction of "who pays the tariff".   Some say the tariffs being enacted are paid by the "exporting country" which is generally not technically true. 

(Without getting into that debate, the logical bottom line is "someone" pays the tariff and it could easily raise the prices of imported products on the shelves here.)

Anyway, this move to make the exporting country pay the import charges instead of the receiving party paying here upon arrival now makes it "technically" correct to say the exporting country is paying the tariff.

That sounds like the govt collecting tax on the beef before it goes to the slaughter house?

Here in Ireland, if i buy from Ebay in the UK, (which is now outside the EU) the import duties and taxes are added to the cost of the purchase in the UK, which i assume are then forwarded to the Irish tax system by the UK, however it is ME, the recipient, who is paying the taxes!
More expensive for me!
cheers
les.

I believe that fleabay collect the tax on behalf of whoever it is due to, so in your case the Irish government. VAT that I (in the UK) pay on overseas purchases is collected by fleabay and forwarded to our HMRC.

Our US friends will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this process for fleabay etc first started in the US, when some states introduced inter state taxes. Having already developed the software, I would imagine it was then relatively straightforward for fleabay to start collecting other taxes as and when required.

A recently introduced hassle here in the UK is that if a private seller makes over a certain number of sales in a financial year, they have to give their National Insurance number to fleabay, and they forward your transaction details to HMRC - I guess that any net profit over a certain amount will attract Capital Gains Tax.

Just a few minutes ago, I ordered a new high end VR headset directly from its chinese manufacturers factory shop.  I can confirm that I had to pay the UK import duty at the point of sale.  Ouch.  Really smarts handing over all that cash to Rubbish Reeves.