Ed. note: The below letter was sent August 21 to my Member of Parliament, as well as multiple national news outlets. An earlier version of this letter was sent August 18 to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Retail Council of Canada, and the provincial Chambers of Commerce for BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

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I am seeking your assistance to escalate an urgent matter regarding the United States government’s Aug. 29 removal of the Section 321 de minimis exemption that allows shipments valued at or under US$800 to enter the U.S. from Canada duty free.

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As you may know, micro businesses of one to four employees represent 57 per cent of all businesses in Canada. While this change threatens to impact every small and micro business engaged in cross-border trade, I am writing on behalf of a particular underserved micro business segment in the retail sector, the vintage- and secondhand-selling community. The pending suspension of Section 321 is already cutting off a crucial revenue artery and impacting the livelihoods of thousands of Canadians who long have relied upon e-commerce to maintain viability. 

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Canada’s vintage and secondhand sector both preserves our past and represents our economic future. Our businesses support the circular economy, diverting thousands of tonnes of usable textiles, furniture, and household goods from our landfills every year into the homes of people across North America.

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In 2023, the sale of secondhand apparel alone in Canada increased 13 per cent over the previous year to an estimated CA$4.2 billion. Canadian secondhand sellers actively contribute to a global secondhand apparel market estimated to be worth US$265 billion in 2025, let alone the used household goods market, which is not tracked as closely.

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Significantly, our sector enjoys a low barrier to entry. As a result, we anecdotally see more employment opportunities for women, newcomers, LGTBQIA+, and BIPOC entrepreneurs. While formal data on the true number of businesses involved in this space does not yet exist, Statistics Canada puts bricks-and-mortar locations at over 3,000.

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Having worked directly with the industry as an independent media publisher over the past four years, I would put a conservative estimate for those operating in either physical locations or the oft-underreported e-commerce sphere in the tens of thousands. 

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The vintage and secondhand sector is frequently overlooked in sweeping legislation that affects all retailers, particularly with the suspension of Section 321, which takes aim at high-volume, low-value shipments crossing the border.

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E-commerce businesses in this industry use buy-sell platforms such as Etsy, eBay, Poshmark, et al., and their own website storefronts, to send one-off parcels containing non-repeatable used inventory to individual customers in the U.S. 

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Most products in this space are not eligible for preferential treatment under CUSMA — used goods are often missing the necessary manufacturer and material information to make a plausible claim.

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While there are provisions for a limited number of art and informational materials to continue enjoying duty-free exemption even after the removal of Section 321, most inventory does not fall under those categories. Already we are seeing antiques (items over 100 years old), previously traded completely freely under the CUSMA agreement, hit with the tariffs invoked under the U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

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In many cases, product margins are not high enough for these micro businesses to pre-pay duties for their customers, as required by U.S. Executive Order 14324. Without duty-free entry, these businesses are not only facing the costs of the tariffs, but also brokerage fees, import duties, and taxes. If shop owners are to pass on these costs to their customers by way of increased prices, they are likely to be rendered non-competitive in the U.S. market.

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There is also a unique challenge faced by the vintage and secondhand sector in that if sellers do choose to pre-pay duties, they must include manufacturer information so their parcel can pre-clear customs. Items are often older than 20 years, tagless, and contain no maker’s marks that could point to manufacturer information. In these cases, they are ineligible to clear under a delivery duty paid option. Delivery duty paid and CUSMA were both designed for companies that manufacture new items and can provide fulsome origin information, and they frequently do not apply to this segment of the retail sector. 

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Postal shipments through Canada Post currently are still available via delivery duty unpaid after Aug. 29 as far as we know. The organization has not yet provided comment if that will remain the case — other mail carriers such as the Royal Mail have already announced suspension of their delivery duty unpaid options to the U.S.

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However, Canadian shipping providers that tap into the postal network, such as ChitChats and Stallion Express, indicate that a) postal shipments will likely experience significant delays; b) there is already confusion over postal shipments at the border despite their current exemptions, and; c) delivery duty unpaid options via postal service will, at some point, no longer be available, either once the appropriate systems are in place to collect pre-paid duties or in the event the postal service suspends delivery altogether. The confusion and lack of guidance has already led to many e-commerce shops across all industries to announce suspension of their shipping to the U.S. over the past week.

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There are far-reaching consequences of this directive for the vintage and secondhand sector, and sellers are pleading for support and visibility on this issue. Lost U.S. customers cannot be replaced easily with new customers from Canada’s considerably smaller consumer pool. E-commerce sellers have turned to the U.S. to grow their businesses, and market expansion will be stymied with this change.

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U.S. sellers who currently source inventory from Canada under a favourable exchange rate will feel the sting of raised prices, increased shipping costs, and diminished access as Canadian shops indefinitely pause U.S.-bound orders, thereby limiting U.S. inventory diversity.

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Ultimately, we will see even more closures among micro businesses that cannot absorb the costs or shoulder the loss of their customers, a phenomenon that has already been happening for months as the tariffs chip away at consumer confidence despite the heretofore uninterrupted flow of goods under Section 321. 

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The pending removal of Section 321 disproportionately harms independently owned micro businesses that operate on low margins, particularly those in this segment of the circular economy.

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Without provisions for these micro businesses, we risk erasing an entire category of entrepreneurial activity that aligns with Canada’s climate goals and allows hard-working Canadians to put food on their tables. The dealers, curators, and sellers who comprise this sector are a key customer base for many related service providers across the country including, but not limited to, shippers, restorers, auction and estate sale companies, thrift stores, and creative professionals who will feel the domino effect.

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We recognize that trade negotiations are underway, and that you and the Canadian government are already working tirelessly to help business owners of all sizes. We respectfully ask that, as part of this work, our federal representatives consider these Canadian micro businesses, whether through the proposal of an alternative low-value shipment exemption that protects independent operators and/or used goods, or through advocating for the reinstatement of Section 321 for businesses that meet certain criteria.

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Vintage and secondhand sellers are only a fraction of Canada’s micro business community — the business models of myriad artisans, creators, and independent retailers also are adversely affected by this change.

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I welcome the opportunity to provide further insight from the vintage and secondhand sector, including industry data, business impact, and anecdotal evidence. 

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Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. Your support is valued and desperately needed.

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Sincerely,

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Kristina Urquhart

Publisher, The Vintage Seeker

thevintageseeker.ca

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