A Message to Canadians re: March 2025 Changes
Dignify is changing ownership and moving our home office from Calgary, AB, to Florida, USA. Dignify is not closing to Canadian shoppers, and products will continue to be available for shipping to Canada, from Florida, in perpetuity. However, as every savvy, Canadian shopper knows: things get a bit more complicated when importing from America!
We are advising our Canadian customers that these final weeks of Canadian-based ownership are the best time to purchase kantha goods from dignify.
What you should know:
1. The prices will be changing
Part of our motivation in starting dignify was specifically to offer these beautiful products in Canada, so serving Canadian customers has been in our DNA. When we launched in 2012, the US dollar and CAD dollar were essentially on par; but, as the conversion rate became less favourable, we initially offered a Canadian discount code, then began overriding the converted prices to make a perpetual, no-code discount for Canadians.
To give an example, the price of a Classic Kantha Throw is $98 USD. In Canada, we currently charge $118 CAD. The more accurate price (with no manual override) would be ~$142 CAD. This is true for all of our products: Canadians receive a +/-15% discount on everything, all of the time. We currently purchase our goods entirely in $USD, and 80% of our sales are to customers in the USA.
As of March 11, 2025, this discounted pricing will end.
2. Duty, GST, and Brokerage Fees may apply on dignify imports in the future
Anything that is imported to Canada over a value of $20 is subject to duty and GST. Shipping carriers are also entitled to charge an additional fee to broker your import and for their administration.
UPS is absolutely appalling and they charge their brokerage fee rate based on the value of the item (For example, a $70 item I received recently was subject to $3.50 in GST, but UPS charged me $36 to clear it. This should be criminal.). FedEx is slightly better, though similar; Canada Post charges a $10 flat rate for clearance, plus GST and duty, if applied.
I cannot comment on the future, on which carriers will be used, on what trade tariffs may be enacted, or how the brokerage will be managed.
At this time through to March 10th, all Canadian shipments will be domestic within Canada and only subject to GST/PST/HST.
3. The cost of shipping may also increase
It has been favourable for us to operate out of Canada, while extensively shipping throughout the US (& globally) with minimal expense & hassle. Unfortunately, the same is not true going the other way (and honestly, may not have gone on as well forever; the future for simple trade under DT is uncertain).
When we ship to the US, we use a service that drives our parcels over the border for a minimal fee (~$1) and allows us to ship domestically. There is no service like this that works in the opposite direction. The new owners will make decisions based on what is sustainable per their own costs, and this may stay similar or may change.
If you are local to the Calgary area, you can pick up your order using the code CALGARY for free shipping. Below are the pick-up times, and the last date for orders and pick-ups is March 10th, 2025. If you place an order with the CALGARY discount code, we will message you with the address.
- Monday, Feb 24th Evening
- Saturday, March 1st Morning
- Monday, March 10th All Day
FAQs for Canadians
Are you increasing prices for Canadians?
The price for Canadians will now be the same price that is paid by dignify’s customers everywhere. The manual discount will be removed and the price of a blanket will be anchored in $USD and fluctuate for Canadians, based on market conversion rates.
If the business was staying in Canada, would the pricing stay the same?
No. This is not only about the move & change of hands; we would have been considering a price change or removal of Canadian discount within the year, regardless. With the conversion rate now closer to 1.45, it was not sustainable for us to provide this discount to Canadians in perpetuity.
Will I still be able to ship dignify blankets to Canada?
Yes. Shipping rates will be automatically calculated upon checkout & these new rates will appear on March 11, 2025.
Every order being imported to Canada will be subject to GST/PST/HST (5%-13%) payment, as well as applicable duty (18%), and any brokerage fee charged by the shipping carrier for importing. These fees will be charged upon import and are not paid up front nor handled by dignify.
Is there any way to get around import duty?
Duty and GST/PST/HST are due on all imports. But, it is the brokerage fee has the biggest variation in cost and is the most unreasonable.
It is possible to register with UPS, FedEx, etc. for "self-clearance", which will save you the brokerage fee and may be worth your time. This requires that you are able to visit a CBSA office in person to clear your goods. You also need to submit paperwork in advance (or refuse your delivery and do it right away) to the shipping carrier that indicates you will be "self-clearing". Do a web search and you will find more information from others (here is one example that walks you through the process).
Is the change because of the US Tariffs?
Amazingly, we were in discussion for 6 months prior to the potential threat of 25% tariffs being imposed on anything imported to the US from Canada. It is happy timing that the operations will be moving to the US and this will not impact our 80% share of American customers.
I understand the disappointment of Canadians that dignify is moving across the border. But, the reality is that if those drastic tariffs were imposed and we were continuing business out of Canada, there wouldn’t be long that we would continue as a business... at all. It would have had a massive impact on our operations & sales, and might have been the end. We are very grateful that dignify can continue, largely unimpeded (except for the increase in cost & inconvenience to Canadian customers), because of this move.