Suspending Paper Book Sales to the US

Backlog and Uncertainty at the Canada - US border

Due to the threat of a 25% tariff on Canadian products and the reports of a heavy backlog of shipments at the US border I have temporarily suspended sales of all paper books to the United States. I wish to avoid unpleasant surprises and negative reviews.

The shop remains open to the rest of the world.

Americans can still buy and download e-books.

UPDATE: On 6 February, I heard from a reliable source that US Customs and Border Protection agents at one location were simply turning away courier vans, despite the 30-day grace period that our Prime Minister negotiated. The problem seems to be with Canadian sellers who were using the de minimis loophole to shift Chinese goods south of the border. In any case, I don’t want a customer’s book to be on that van.

I think it best to allow the dust to settle, and give US customers a month or two to grow accustomed to paying more for Canadian items. I’d rather not deal with an onslaught of angry emails and posts:

“I don’t know why I had to pay an extra $5 for this book! It was a month late, and the seller should have paid the tariff for me!” — one star review by stinkbottom73

Fortunately digital goods appear to be exempt from these tariffs, at least for now, so American readers can still buy and download PDF copies of all my translations from ebooks.oboluspress.com

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Typically more than half of my paperback sales are made to the United States, so I don’t know what kind of long-term effect these measures will have. It’s not good though, that’s for damned sure.

At the moment I am thinking about focussing on small format, limited editions that can be shipped overseas at a reasonable price. There is, after all, a Commonwealth full of potential readers. What’s old is new again.¹

Map from a brochure encouraging immigration to Canada, early 1920s.

1. I say this tongue in cheek, but still…