Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

How's all this going to play out?

Bonjour,

In France, we read: "As of Tuesday, April 8, 2025, Donald Trump has increased the customs duties imposed on China to 104%."

If someone in the US buys an engine off eBay from China, how and who collects the tariff?

Good Question Jim ..... I would assume that evilbay will be doing that, just like they now collect State Sales Taxes as an added part of the total listing sales price.

I just took delivery of two of Jin's engines yesterday, and there was nothing extra taken for those. Looks like they may be the last to come in for me under the wire however!?!?

I was curious if this will affect the Ball Top Monitors we pre-ordered?

Quote from: Nick on April 09, 2025, 07:54:35 pm

I was curious if this will affect the Ball Top Monitors we pre-ordered?

Probably, if one side or the other doesn't concede a little, I wouldn't put money on either side, but I do believe in a short while it will be resolved. China has much to loose revenue wise.

Jin has expressed the same concern.

Quote from: Jim on April 09, 2025, 05:19:17 pm

If someone in the US buys an engine off eBay from China, how and who collects the tariff?

The US government collects it from the US buyer, it is basically a tax. How that will be done is still up in the air as far as we know here in Canada.

Again, I can see no way other than eBay doing the math and collecting the tariff. EBay already collects State Sales Taxes for each individual State, and many States have different Sales Tax rates in different parts of the State. Kaliphoney has at least a dozen different Sales Tax Rates depending on where you live in the State and/or what City or County you live in, and eBay successfully does those calculations and charges the buyer the tax rate percentage of purchase price commensurate with where they live!

As an example, I live eight or so miles outside the Bishop City limits. My unincorporated community has a tax rate that is 3/4% less than the City of Bishop. When I used to have a P.O. Box down in town and would sometimes have eBay items sent to that address, I was charged the higher City tax rate by eBay, over the rate I would be charged had it been shipped to my home, even though it was processed through the same Post Office in town.

If eBay can make that distinction, then collecting a universal Tariff for all States, should prove no problem, though it will have to be adjusted depending on the source country.

I'll be very surprised if it is done any other way.

Speaking as a seller I would hope that any duty would be paid by the customer one way or another before the goods are shipped.

Many years ago I had a boutique where I purchased items from a wholesaler that he imported from England, unfortunately he fell on hard times, long story, and went out of business. He gave me a heads up that there was a shipment from England that he would not be making his credit payment for the shipment or paying the duty at customs. The goods ended up at a Canada Customs auction where I bought them for pennies on the dollar.

Well, that seems to have worked out as a good deal for you .... but at the cost of a very sad deal for your supplier.

Pretty sure that the seller won't be on the hook for any of these new Tariffs, as I doubt that they are responsible for any other import duties or VATs imposed by other Countries either.

Actually things worked out between myself and the seller in England as I started to deal directly with them for future orders, my point in the post was that a seller has to make sure that any duty is paid in advance by the buyer. I guess we just have to clear that if we buy from another country we pay the duty, which in essence is a tax no matter how it is spun.

YEP!