Shopify president Harley Finkelstein spoke out in favor of de minimis on Tuesday, saying that countries should make it easier to sell low-cost items cross-border.
"We think protections like de minimis are crucial for small businesses that engage in trade," Finkelstein said on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call. "By exempting these low-value shipments from taxes and duties, they keep costs down and allow entrepreneurs, I think, to compete on a much larger scale."
"Rather than eliminating de minimis, countries should really try to streamline these custom processes and improve digital duty collection to make things a lot easier," he continued.
Finkelstein's comments came in response to a question from Financial Technology Partners analyst Craig Maurer about how impending tariffs and the end of the de minimis exemption would affect Shopify's business. Shopify hosts online stores for millions of sellers and generates revenue from sales transacted on its platform.
In the meantime, Finkelstein said that Shopify had built a new capability for merchants to display and collect duties at checkout. He also said that customers can ensure they shop from brands in their home country by using new filters on the Shop app.
"Tariffs impact real entrepreneurs that are carving out livelihoods for themselves," Finkelstein said. "We try to protect and empower every business we can, but obviously, especially, we care about the underdogs."
Shopify reported revenue growth of 31% year-over-year for the fourth quarter and 26% for fiscal year 2024. It also reported nearly $300 billion in annual gross merchandise volume, or GMV, representing the total dollar value of orders transacted through Shopify.
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