It seems like 25% tariffs are being placed on Canada and the US.
I feel like a lot of people don’t understand tariffs though. Tariffs are paid by the importer. In other words, people in the US will now pay 25% more when buying from Canada.
I don’t fully know how this will play out with respect to cards. Will there be a minimum value threshold? Will ebay put the tax in during the sale or are buyers going to have a bad suprise during shipping? How will this affect the ability of Canadians to use vault services?
If you have a good understanding of the potential consequences please weigh in, otherwise this will serve as an ongoing discussion thread.
The assumption is the assumed demand destruction will cause Canada to come to the negotiating table. The problem is the negotiations are on moving targets. Regardless, doubt these tariffs last very long.
I think the reality is that a lot of people just won’t be willing to pay 25% more for these items to come from Canada. Prices will either need to be adjusted on that side to match what someone would pay in the US, or they will likely stay in Canada. The supply of TCG is large enough in the US that I don’t think people would be willing to pay to import cards unless they were significantly rare and not normally available.
Unrelated to Pokemon, the Mexico tariffs do affect all imports, including food products so I will have to evaluate raising almost all of one of my businesses prices this week. Concerning economic times.
We can expect an updated tariff schedule to be published that will outline what specific categories will be covered by the tariffs. While the info available now (at least as of yesterday) makes it sound like a blanket 25%, it’s not likely that’s how it’ll play out.
Toys as a category have been exempt in the past, which pokemon cards would likely fall under. That being said, it may not be safe to assume how things were done 8 years ago is how they’ll be done now.
I’m a similar frequency! It’s tough as the main countries for pokemon are us and japan. My spending pattern is almost exclusively those two, but maybe that’s just me.
Outside of general inflationary pressure especially on a raw materials, energy and food, it will probably directly impact Canadians more than Americans, and it will be on us to navigate the details. But I can confirm there are Canadians who collect cards so at the very least this discussion will be relevant to them. Plus I sell to Americans all the time so there should be a general awareness of what’s going on.
On a more hypothetical note, we could be on the cusp of a larger global trade war. Tariffs were also placed on China. It’s not outside the realm of possibility for Japan to be hit too, which will certainly affect a lot of people here.
I think these tariffs with Taiwan, Mexico, China, and Canada are all going to bite us in the ass. In any case, I ordered a bunch of maple syrup and a new computer this past week before they’re the next thing to go up 3x like the $14 dollar per dozen I gotta pay for eggs now.
This is true. Used to be those farm fresh field grazing eggs with bright orange yolks that you’d splurge and pay $6 for. Now you’re basically getting white prison eggs with those shells that crack if you look at them funny and dull yellow yolks that cost $14
Isolationism has never been a great concept. Steering away from globalization just feels like intentionally screwing with the economy so a few winners can walk away with some deals to aggregate even more wealth at the expense of literally everyone else.
That makes sense! I figured there were buyers, it’s probably going to be a change in frequency. I wonder if us buyers will start asking if packages can be marked at $20.
I might expect Germany and Japan next based on import %, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Trump has used the reasoning of fentanyl and illicit drug imports as a means to enact tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. As he targets more countries (e.g., Germany, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, etc.), more eyebrows will be raised as to the rationale and pushback may heighten.
If tariffs do trickle into playing cards, could do something like all Canada orders stay in Canada until the tariffs are lifted. Not signing anyone up for it, but if you have Canadian friends, could be an idea when seeing cards pop up for a good price or too rare to pass up
I primarily collect all over the world, but Canada and Mexico are not often countries I buy from. China and Taiwan will really suck. And I’m concerned about a larger trade war that could include many European countries, as that’s probably where I buy from most.
I meant a USA buyer could find a Candian friend to send stuff to that pops up on ebay Canada. Since it stays in Canada, there would be no tariff. Then send it all to the USA when this is over
