Unfortunately I’ve had to suspend all shipping to the United States due to the current tariffs and border protection processes.
I hoped that the process would settle down and become smoother after the initial confusion, but that hasn’t happened.
To ship to the US now requires me to engage a US-based agent to handle the import process. I can’t pre-charge for tariffs because the rate is so volatile and seems to be calculated on a case-by-case basis, and the process is terribly convoluted: I have to submit an application to send a package, then wait 10 hours for US Customs and Border Patrol to process the application and get back to the US agent with a response. They then pass the response back to me.
Then if I want to collect the tariffs from my customer I have to get in touch with them, see if they still want to go ahead with the order with the tariffs added, invoice them, and receive their payment.
THEN I have to pay the tariffs to the US-based agent and obtain proof of payment before taking the package with all the associated paperwork to Australia Post to actually send the package.
Apart from the tariffs themselves being egregious, the process is so time-consuming and opaque that it’s not worth shipping orders to the US. Even if the customer agrees to pay the tariff and go ahead with the order, I’ll lose so much money just with the time and other fees involved that it doesn’t make sense to do it.
I’m really sorry to all my US-based customers. Unless the US changes its isolationist and antagonistic trade policies, I can’t serve you anymore 🙁
