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Wonderful... even more so as HK is included in this! Can only hope for you US guys that the customs can distinguish between a parcel from China/HK and one from Taiwan – although I wouldn't bet on it, given that everything and everyone seems to dumb-down.

I'm not surprised. Do Western-facing Chinese vendors sell most of their tea to the U.S.?

It's been reversed

Tyler wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 05, 2025 11:46 am

It's been reversed

Good to hear. However, I'm sure the upheavals in the States will still affect vendors based in China, as well as American vendors of Chinese tea.

We were told by China Post that actual tax is going to be paid on our side ( probably monthly with shipping fee bill ) .
Some vendors already took an action, although I think not quite neat solution as this one is unfair to non US buyers :

https://www.reddit.com/r/puer/comments/ ... ces_by_10/

We still discuss with my wife if we gonna take a full hit ( pay full 10% for customer ) or split ( like put extra only 5% on US buyer invoices and other 5% we pay ...basically make less money ).
Because I think the economy doesn't support any price raise , let alone some tea might be cheaper this year...at least I hope so.

I was just wondering what is the opinion of community here on it?

aet wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 06, 2025 4:18 am

We still discuss with my wife if we gonna take a full hit ( pay full 10% for customer ) or split ( like put extra only 5% on US buyer invoices and other 5% we pay ...basically make less money ).
Because I think the economy doesn't support any price raise , let alone some tea might be cheaper this year...at least I hope so.

I was just wondering what is the opinion of community here on it?

I think it wouldn't be fair to swallow the whole 10% for the vendors... Tariffs go two ways and actions have consequences.

aet wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 06, 2025 4:18 am

We were told by China Post that actual tax is going to be paid on our side ( probably monthly with shipping fee bill ) .
Some vendors already took an action, although I think not quite neat solution as this one is unfair to non US buyers :

https://www.reddit.com/r/puer/comments/ ... ces_by_10/

We still discuss with my wife if we gonna take a full hit ( pay full 10% for customer ) or split ( like put extra only 5% on US buyer invoices and other 5% we pay ...basically make less money ).
Because I think the economy doesn't support any price raise , let alone some tea might be cheaper this year...at least I hope so.

I was just wondering what is the opinion of community here on it?

I thought the importer (i.e., the tea buyer) was supposed to be the one paying the tax. Raising prices for everyone, whether they're in the U.S. or not, seems totally unfair to me. People in the EU already pay exorbitant customs fees for their tea, and Canada is having its own issues with the States right now. Adding the full 10% to American customers' invoices seems to be the best solution. Even if you lose some American customers, you're not punishing everyone else for choices they didn't make.

Apparently, Scott from Yunnan Sourcing has figured out a way to charge American buyers an extra 10% based on their IP, with everyone else paying the pre-tariff prices. Is this something other China-based vendors could do? I don't fully understand how he was able to do that, but it seems like a decent solution if you could implement it on your eCommerce site. Other vendors have paused shipments to the States altogether until things settle down.

correct
https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/1 ... of_the_10/

GaoShan wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 06, 2025 3:44 pm

Apparently, Scott from Yunnan Sourcing has figured out a way to charge American buyers an extra 10% based on their IP, with everyone else paying the pre-tariff prices. Is this something other China-based vendors could do? I don't fully understand how he was able to do that, but it seems like a decent solution if you could implement it on your eCommerce site. Other vendors have paused shipments to the States altogether until things settle down.

Not sure how he does it. YS has a warehouse in the U.S. Scott does have the option to import teas to his warehouse and then ship teas within the U.S. from the warehouse. It’s just a guess if I wanted to ensure my U.S. customers don’t need to deal with import taxes. Other vendors who don’t have a warehouse and store front in the U.S. would be more tricky.

nah, he's doing it based on shipping address, not IP. i also kinda don't get the point, but it is easier for the customer perhaps.

I would be concerned about tax/import fee since I no longer have the waived import fee on packages worth less than $800.

I think he's doing this on his .com address, not his storefront in the U.S. He probably has a webmaster who can somehow change the prices on his site.

There's a way for the vendor to prepay duties for customers so they don't have to pay on their end. I think Sazen does this for customers in the EU, though I'm not sure about other vendors.

Basically, vendors don't need to raise the prices for everyone and they should be able to find workarounds for American customers, either by prepaying the duties or by leaving prices as is and letting customers handle the tariff when the package gets to them. Tea is already expensive for Canadians due to the exchange rate; I don't want it to get even more costly.

Tax ON / OFF ...
seems like we are back to normal again...for the moment.