Last updated: June 3, 2025
~TLDR: We're still shipping to USA. Shipments are few days slower than usual due to processing delays at our shipping provider and at the border. You do not have to pay any tariffs / duties during checkout or upon receiving your order. We may switch between USPS and Purolator (UPS) depending on what would be the quickest method. We expect things to be back to normal by June.
Earlier this month, the United States excluded products of Chinese origin from duty free entry to the country, even if they're shipped from another country like Canada. All such products are subject to an ever changing amount of import tariff, with some exceptions. Thankfully, most of the products we carry are exempt from any such import tariffs.
Unfortunately, all of the shipping carriers are currently experiencing varying levels of delays and backlogs for all US bound orders.
USPS Shipments
Our primary shipping partner for USPS labels require all of our products to be checked and approved by a customs broker. We have completed all of the steps on our part, we're just waiting for the process to complete. This is taking far longer than what they told us.
While we wait for our primary shipping partner to get up to speed, we've switched over to a secondary provider for USPS shipments. They are more expensive than our primary partner and they also charge us for brokerage fees for every shipment. We're happy to cover this for our customers for the time being, but please note our US shipping rates may go up by 10-20% over the next few days to account for this increased cost. For existing orders, you will not have to pay a penny more than what you've already paid during checkout.
Every USPS shipment sent out through this secondary partner may take an additional 1-4 business days from the delivery estimates provided during checkout. The reasons for this delay are:
- US customs are performing thorough inspections at the border to make sure all of the shipments coming into the country are compliant with the new rules.
- If the US customs find a single non-compliant shipment in our shipping partner's truck, the entire truck and all of the shipments inside are sent back to Canada. This is why employees at our shipping partner are opening and checking most packages that are shipped through them. This part is responsible for the bulk of the delay.
- There is currently a backlog of USPS shipments crossing the border because of point 1 and 2. Because of the extra checks, they cannot process all of the shipments they get in a day.
05/18/25 - Our secondary shipping partner is having difficulties processing our tariff exempt shipments. Their scanning system was designed with only tariff added products in mind. We were able to create the labels just fine, but they can't scan them when dropped off. We're expecting a fix on Tues/Wed
05/20/25 - Our packages dropped off this past Wednesday have been scanned in. It appears that they fixed their system. We'll get in touch with them for more details, and will likely ship the rest of the pending US orders today or tomorrow!
05/21/25 - Looks like the packages are moving well and moving quickly. Tracking number sent for all pending US bound in-stock orders. The shipments will be dropped off tomorrow, Thursday.
05/21/25 - A few shipments from Wednesday that were on the way show a tracking update that says "Returned to sender". As all these companies are still trying to figure things out, we're not sure if the status means what it means, or that it isn't shown by error. We've reached out to our shipping partner, Chitchats for clarification. As it's past business hours, we're not expecting a reply until tomorrow. Be assured we're monitoring the status of these shipments constantly, and we'll update here as soon as we have something to share.
05/22/25 - As suspected, it was just a misleading status. Chitchats replied this morning: "Your shipments are still in Burlington. They are sending Made in China shipments in a different truck. They already transferred your shipments into trip. Your shipments are not to return to us."
05/26/25 - We are aware of the shipment awaiting crossing changing their status to "Returned to Markham". We've reached out to Chitchats for more info. We're extremely sorry for the ongoing uncertainties with Chitchats.
05/27/25 - Unfortunately, all of the packages sent through Chitchats were returned back to us this morning. There is more tariff owing on your package despite us having paid the amount presented to us when creating the label.
We are happy to pay the balance, but Chitchats appears to be operating really slow. They're making just one trip across the border per week on top of general processing delay.
Stallion Express in the meantime have got their new US shipping procedures up and running. We sent a couple of US shipments through them and they were handed off to USPS much, much quicker.
Since we have the returned packages in hand and since they've been delayed so much already, we've decided to ship them out through Stallion Express instead. You will receive a new tracking number today / tomorrow and your packages will be shipped out tomorrow / Thursday.
This applies to orders that received a tracking number but have not been scanned in at Chitchats yet.
We will pay all the outstanding tariff so you do not have to pay anything upon delivery. We're reaching out to all affected customers individually with more details.
05/30/25 - We're in the process of creating and sending labels to all existing, unshipped orders. It's taking longer than expected, we're having to add our entire product catalog to Stallion's panel complete with correct description, HS code, manufacturer information and more. We're extremely sorry for the continued inconvenience
06/03/25 - All the US bound shipments placed on or before May 30 have been dropped off to Stallion yesterday. By default only a direct USPS tracking link is sent to all customers by Stallion. Please visit this link and enter your USPS tracking number for more detailed tracking updates until USPS receives the package.
We drop off all in-stock orders within 24 hours of sending out the tracking number, but you may not see any tracking update for the first few days due to point 2 above.
Purolator / UPS Shipments
We're not shipping US bound orders via Purolator / UPS for the time being. We're still waiting to hear back from them whether our customers will have to pay any brokerage fee, despite the contents of the shipment being tariff exempt.
We are upgrading all such orders to equivalent USPS shipping methods.
We'll update this page once we resume shipping via Purolator / UPS.
When will things go back to normal?
This new policy change has everyone scrambling to adapt and be compliant to the new set of rules set by the US. The rules are changing frequently, which makes it harder for us all to adapt to.
We expect the shipping process to be streamlined by the end of May. Our shipping partners should clear their backlog by then.
As things stand currently, you'll continue to pay no import tariffs / taxes on our products, but shipping fees on new orders may go up by a couple of dollars.
Once you've placed an order, you will not have to pay any extra over what you've already paid during checkout. Should they be subject to any tariffs / taxes / duties later on, we'll cover them on your behalf.
