Case study: A herbal tea manufacturer selling on Amazon Canada

A domestic herbal tea manufacturer in Vietnam, operating facilities in both the South and the North, that adheres to HACCP standards. The company specializes in herbal teas, including chrysanthemum, lotus embryo, perilla, agricultural-produce-based detox teas, Solanum procumbens, and butterfly pea flower tea.

• A potential market in Canada
• Consumers are interested in health and health-promoting teas

• Consequences of a Lack of Understanding of Canadian Laws Violating Canadian tax regulations.
  • Specifically, failing to register for a GST/HST number when required, leads to the following issues:
    • Amazon seller account may be suspended, resulting in a significant loss of revenue, while existing sales proceeds become frozen and inaccessible.
    • Unable to open a Canadian bank account, forcing to incur conversion fees of 2–4% because cannot receive payments in CAD and must instead accept them in VND, effectively losing 2–4% of the total revenue.
    • Goods may become stuck at customs due to a lack of import documentation and the absence of a Canadian legal entity to act as the importer of record. Since the manufacturer is using Amazon FBA (rather than shipping under FOB terms), they are forced to repeatedly hire a customs broker at a high cost, just to clear your goods from the port.

• Bringing “Made in Vietnam” herbal tea to the North American market through sales on Amazon (Amazon FBA)

• The Trade Representative package helped the factory resolve FBA shipment customs clearance issues by providing a representative in Canada to handle the documentation.
• The Corporate Services Standard package facilitated GST/HST registration in compliance with Canadian tax law, enabling the reopening of the client’s Amazon Canada account.

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