Does anyone affected by the latest policy about taxes & tariff in the US?

[Zopi]

Hey everyone, I just came across some news about policy on taxes and tariffs in the US by Trump. This sounds like a big deal for cross-border eCommerce, especially for dropshippers sourcing from overseas like China.

I’m curious—how do you think this will affect dropshipping businesses? Is there anyone affected by this? Could this change pricing strategies or shipping choices?

Would love to hear your thoughts! Do you see this as a major advantage, or do you think other challenges still remain? Let’s discuss! 🚀

[scom]

For anyone who is shipping directly from China, this is a huge issue. Whilst there has now been a pause on the tariffs, our fulfilment agents are saying we will need to prepay the tax on the value of the goods at a rate of 30%. The problem we are now facing with Shopify is not being able to apply different tax rates based on location.

[Zopi]

Hi @scom, 

That’s a really important point! A 30% prepaid tax on goods could definitely impact profit margins, especially for those relying on Chinese suppliers. Have you looked into any potential workarounds, like using a third-party fulfillment center in a different location to reduce costs?

Regarding Shopify’s tax limitations, you’re right—it doesn’t allow different tax rates per location natively. Some merchants use third-party tax apps or custom scripts to handle this. Would that be a viable option for your store? Curious to hear how others in the community are tackling this issue

[scom]

My current workaround is to set different pricing for the market in USA to offset the new import duty. Moving fulfillment location to USA wont help if you still need to pay the additional duty on the goods when they are shipped from China to the warehouse in USA. I also want to avoid the higher costs of fulfilment in USA.

As for custom scripts, my main reason for going with Shopify was to avoid the need for all these 3rd party apps and getting developers to mess around with code. If I wanted that experience, I would just go with WooCommerce.  

[Zopi]

@scom,

That makes a lot of sense - adjusting pricing for the U.S. market seems like a practical way to offset the new duties without the added complexity of moving fulfillment. Have you noticed any impact on conversion rates since making this change? Are customers still responding well to the adjusted pricing?

And I also get why you'd want to avoid third-party apps and custom scripts - Shopify’s simplicity is a big draw. But with these new challenges, do you think Shopify should improve its tax settings to offer more flexibility?