Selling magazine back issues in the US and to Canada

What to take away

What you may resell and what you may not

Section 106 gives a copyright owner the exclusive rights to reproduce a work and to distribute copies to the public. Section 109(a) limits the distribution right. The owner of a particular copy lawfully made under Title 17, or a person the owner authorises, may sell or otherwise dispose of that copy without the copyright owner's authority. You can find the text in Title 17, chapter 1.

Section 109(d) adds a limit: the privilege does not reach someone who holds a copy by rental, lease or loan without owning it. A copy lent to you is not yours to sell. In Impression Products v. Lexmark, a patent case, the Supreme Court restated that in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons it held the copyright first sale doctrine applies to copies of works made and sold abroad, so a foreign edition that was lawfully made and that you bought falls under the same rule.

Reproduction is different. A scanned issue, a PDF archive or a bound reprint copies the contents. Section 106(1) gives the copyright owner the right to reproduce the work, so that needs permission from the rights holder. The pitching and commissioning guide explains the difference between a rights grant and an assignment, and photo rights documents compared covers the paperwork for images.

This is a summary of US law, not legal advice. A lawyer should review any plan to sell digital copies or reprints.

Grade and price from completed sales

There is no certified grading standard for magazines. Book sellers use a shared vocabulary, and AbeBooks publishes its guide to used book conditions from As New through Fine, Near Fine, Very Good, Good and Fair to Poor. Its own caveat is that criteria vary from seller to seller. That is why photographs and written notes carry the proof.

Editorial suggestion: borrow those seven labels, and write what you checked beside each one.

For price, use sold prices. eBay's Product research covers the last three years of sales and shows the actual sale price even if a Best Offer was accepted. It is strict about matching: a sale generally has to match your keywords and filters exactly to appear. Search the title, issue date and edition, then compare condition.

Editorial suggestion: if only a few copies sold in the period, treat the issue as part of a lot rather than a stand-alone listing, and widen the date range before you set a price.

Shipping inside the United States

Postage often decides whether a single issue earns anything. Use the current USPS Notice 123. The figures below are from the edition effective 4 October 2026.

Do not assume Media Mail. DMM 173, section 4.1 says only the listed items may go at Media Mail prices. The list names books of at least eight pages without advertising matter, films, printed music, test materials, sound recordings, playscripts and manuscripts, educational reference charts, certain medical loose-leaf pages and computer-readable media. It does not name magazines, and a standard magazine carries advertising. Ask a USPS counter before you quote the cheaper rate.

Periodicals prices are not a route for resale either. DMM 207 says only a publisher or registered news agent with authorised Periodicals privileges may mail at those prices. Section 4.10 lets a publisher whose entry is in effect mail unbound back issues at Periodicals prices. That is a rule about the publisher's own mailings. See the Periodicals permit guide.

Editorial suggestion: pack flat between rigid board and measure the thickness before you quote a price. Thickness decides the price class for international large envelopes, and a thicker perfect-bound issue weighs more. The paper, print and binding guide explains how stock and binding change a magazine's bulk.

Shipping to Canada: customs, tax and language

Postage. Notice 123 lists a Canada column for First-Class Mail International large envelopes. The weight steps are up to 8 oz at $6.65, up to 12 oz at $7.60 and up to 15.994 oz at $8.55. The piece must fit the large envelope limits in IMM 241.232: more than 11-1/2 inches long, 6-1/8 inches high or 1/4 inch thick, and not more than 15 inches long, 12 inches high or 3/4 inch thick, flexible, rectangular and uniformly thick. The notice says rigid, nonrectangular or unevenly thick pieces pay package prices. The sender completes a customs declaration; the CBSA's importing by mail page says a proper declaration speeds clearance.

Duty. In the CBSA's 2026 tariff, chapter 49 lists tariff item 4902.90.00, newspapers, journals and periodicals, with a general rate of Free and preferential rates of Free. Because the general rate is already free, a CUSMA origin claim does not change the duty for this item.

Surtaxes. The CBSA mail page also announces surtaxes on certain US goods from 8 September 2026 and links to a list. Check your tariff line against the Department of Finance list, which is dated effective 8 September 2026. In the part of that list read for this guide, heading 4902 does not appear and the only Chapter 49 line is 4911.91.00, other printed matter, but the list is long and revised, so confirm before you ship.

GST/HST. The Canada Revenue Agency's guide RC4027 has special rules for books, newspapers, magazines and periodicals sent by mail or courier. It says a non-resident that solicits Canadian sales of these items must register unless it is a small supplier. A small supplier has $30,000 or less in worldwide taxable supplies, including those of associates, in any single calendar quarter and in the last four consecutive calendar quarters.

The guide lists what counts as soliciting: advertising in Canadian print or broadcast media, advertising in non-Canadian media or websites aimed at Canada (for example prices in Canadian dollars or a Canadian toll-free number, address or email), subscription offer inserts targeted at Canada, flyers or addressed mail to Canadian homes and businesses, and mentioning an additional charge for residents of Canada. It says advertising that is not directed at the Canadian market does not count. It does not address marketplace listings that simply offer shipping to Canada, so put that question to the CRA.

If a supplier that must register has not, the guide says the CBSA delays the publications regardless of value and assesses the tax, and Canada Post collects it from the addressee with a $9.95 postal handling fee. The guide also says non-registered suppliers that need not register may send publications valued at $20 or less, which the CBSA releases for delivery. The CBSA's Postal Imports Remission Order memo separately excludes books, newspapers, magazines and periodicals from the CAD 20 remission where the supplier is required to register and has not.

Quebec. The Office québécois de la langue française says consumers have the right to be informed and served in French by businesses operating in Quebec, and its consumer rights page names catalogues, brochures, flyers, websites, social media accounts, invoices, contracts and receipts. It does not say whether a US seller with no Quebec presence is operating in Quebec, and nothing reviewed says that reselling an English-language magazine requires a French edition. Ask the OQLF before you target Quebec buyers.

Sales tax and records

In South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018), the Supreme Court held that the physical presence rule of Quill and National Bellas Hess was unsound and overruled both. The South Dakota law at issue covered sellers that deliver more than $100,000 of goods or services into the state or make 200 or more separate deliveries there. Read the opinion, then check your own state revenue department and each marketplace's seller policy. Rules differ by state.

Keep a log of what you paid, the sale price, platform fees, postage and the date shipped to each destination. For Canada, also keep the customs declaration and tracking record.

Listing checklist

Sources