Tariffs

What’s changing on August 29, 2025?

The United States is eliminating the de minimis exemption for imports under $800. As of August 29, all shipments to the USA must go through U.S. customs clearance and may be subject to duties and processing fees, regardless of their value or country of origin.

All duties or fees owed under U.S. imposed tariffs are the sole responsibility of the customer to pay.

Will I pay duties or fees when ordering from Zipperloft (Canada)?

It depends on the product:

  • The Canada-US-Mexico (CUSMA) free trade agreement governs the tax-free entry of goods between member countries.
  • CUSMA-compliant products (e.g., most YKK zippers, sliders, hook & loop tape) remain duty-free, but still require customs clearance at the U.S border.
  • YKK EVERBRIGHT zippers (made in Japan) may incur a tariff.
  • Non-CUSMA products (e.g., Luxcrafter hardware, future Zipperloft webbing) and the YKK Colour Guide (printed in China) will incur the tariff imposed by the USA on Chinese goods.

All qualifying U.S.-bound orders include a CUSMA certification form to support duty-free entry for those products made in North America. This document is expected to be ready early in September.

Remember, despite claims by the president, no foreign government including the Government of Canada has any obligation to pay an import tariff. A tariff is a tax on an importer - the customer - and as such the sole responsibility of Zipperloft is to collect the duties owed from the buyer in order to purchase pre-paid duties postage.

How are duties and fees handled when I order?

Zipperloft uses Duties Due Paid (DDP) shipping labels:

  • Duties and fees are calculated based on the item’s HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) code.
  • The tariff amount is shown at checkout and included in the total owing for an order shown there.  There are no additional charges.
  • If an item is CUSMA-compliant and properly documented, no duties are charged but service fees may still apply.

What kinds of additional fees should I expect?

Even if no duties apply, carriers may charge:

  • Broker Conveyance Fee - The merchandise processing fee that is imposed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for 'informal entries'.
  • Shipment Items Fee - An individual item processing fee imposed by the broker to process the individual HTS coded items in the shipment.

Will there be shipping delays?

While the imposition of tariff collection is not expected to affect our turnaround time for an order, shipper anticipate that there will be delays in shipping in the early weeks following the Aug 29 changes, because:

  • Carriers and customs systems are still adjusting.
  • Shipments with incomplete paperwork may be delayed or held.
  • Some postal services may temporarily pause U.S. shipments.

Zipperloft intends to continue to serve its U.S. customer through this site, but this could be revised based on customs backlogs or documentation challenges that arise in proving country of origin.

How can I avoid unexpected costs or delays?

Before placing an order:

  • Ensure the item being ordered is CUSMA-compliant from the FAQ above.
  • Review and be aware of any customs fees you are being charged, as clearly listed at checkout.
  • Monitor your order tracking status in case U.S. Customs requests more information from you to process your order for delivery.

How is Zipperloft helping to avoid delays?

  • Right now we plan to only ship CUSMA-compliant items to the USA. That means, items made in Canada.
  • We will ensure that Customs has a valid certification of origin and will include a copy in U.S.-destined orders.
  • Will be tweaking the website throughout the next month to accommodate changes required by Customs, to ensure the correct tariff fees are charged and listed at checkout.
  • Like you we will monitor the tracking status of each order in case Customs requests more information from us.

Why is the U.S. making this change?

  • The U.S. government believes the current system had loopholes that allowed large order sellers to avoid duties by breaking shipments into low-value packages.
  • The stated goal is to enforce fair trade practices and support domestic businesses, however part of the mandate is to force U.S. citizens to look for and purchase from shops in the USA.
  • These changes apply to all countries, including Canada, even though CUSMA remains in place.

How is Zipperloft applying tariff collection?

  • DDP (duties paid) shipments require fees and tariffs are paid when ordering a shipping label.
  • Over the next week Zipperloft will be introducing a tariff and fee collection tool to the Shopify checkout page expressly for this purpose, and the U.S. customer will be charged applicable tariffs during checkout on zipperloft.ca.
  • Customers in Canada are unaffected.
  • By having Zipperloft purchase prepaid tariff labels, customers will not owe tariffs or fees when the order arrives in the U.S.A., allowing for more rapid direct home delivery.
  • DDP however encourages the myth that Canada is paying to sell into the USA. This is patently incorrect as all fees and tariffs owing are collected from U.S. customers during checkout.  The U.S. customer pays all import fees despite the statements of the president to contrary to apply to the shipping label cost.
  • Further, because Etsy is not willing to help sellers on that platform collect fees and tariffs due on U.S. bound shipments,, Zipperloft will be disabling the ability for U.S. customers to place orders on Etsy.  U.S. customers that formerly used Etsy must place all orders via the Zipperloft website.

The timeframe to process all the necessary changes to the existing relationship between the U.S. and Canada was very short, so shippers, customs and online stores all have been struggling over the past three weeks to meet a too short, arbitrary rushed deadline requiring changes to the processes and methodologies of shops wanting to continue to sell to the USA, not to mention the incredible hurdle of suddenly needing to determine the HTS code of every product and the mountains of documentation that need to be gathered to prove CUSMA country of origin for customs certification.

We appreciate your understanding and patience as we work out all the bugs from the magnitude of the changes required. 

-- Dan and Jane

(rbaug2725)