GSP charging taxes on non-taxable items?

[bilge21]

I was looking to purchase a used hearing aid to replace my aging one and found that the GSP charges $37.95 when shipped under the GSP program to Canada.

Hearing aids are duty and tax-exempt so I am wondering why the GSP are charging taxes on them?

Example listings:

181206300798

171120146067

130774784888

GSP also charges for hearing aid batteries, which are also tax-exempt:

310738963559

171119412872

Any pinks want to check into this?

[pierrelebel]

Good examples of items where eBay is giving the wrong "import fee" information.  In this case the same misinformation is given on both eBay.ca and eBay.com

Since "pinks" generally do not answer those questions on the boards except for the Wednesday 1pm Eastern "Board Hour", I suggest you send your question directly to kalvin@ebay.com  He is the community manager for eBay.ca and is based in Toronto.

[pierrelebel]

Possibly, the "import fee" charged by Pitney-Bowes in this instance does not include taxes - since the items are tax free - but represent Customs brokerage and handling fees.

UPS charges $47 (plus COD charges) for the same value. 

http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipping/cost/zones/customs_clearance.html

Canada Post charges nothing since no tax is collected.

At $38 Pitney Bowes would be somewhere in between.

[Anonymous]

I wonder does Kalvin ever respond to any direct email messages?  I did send him 2 different serious situtation messages 3 weeks ago but so far nothing.  Hope it is not another trend of "poor customer service"?  Thanks.

[pierrelebel]

Kalvin is manager of eBay.ca community.

He usually suggests users with a specific problem contact Customer Service (link on top of the page). His position does not involve customer service as such.

Now from time to time, you will see him answering a few posts on these boards. 

You can also find him every Wednesday afternoon at 1:00pm (Eastern) for the weekly Board Hour. That may be the best time to earch him.

[synetech]

Possibly, the "import fee" charged by Pitney-Bowes in this instance does not include taxes - since the items are tax free - but represent Customs brokerage and handling fees.

Read: scam.

[pjcdn2005]

Read: scam

Or

PB has no idea that hearing aids are non taxable in Canada.

If that's the case, it is more a case of incompetance rather than a scam.

[bilge21]

"Possibly, the "import fee" charged by Pitney-Bowes in this instance does not include taxes - since the items are tax free - but represent Customs brokerage and handling fees."

After checking around a bit, similiarly-priced items that are taxable are basically around the same GSP charges, so I doubt it's a brokerage charge.

I suspect PB simply doesn't know that some items are duty and taxes free, which is a shame because PB should have done thier homework before implementing the program.

[bilge21]

This is something that definitely should be brought up at the Wednesday weekly board hour. Hopefully I can be there during this busy season.

[marnotom!]

The problem might be that the tax portion of the import charges is calculated based on the category of the item and not the sub-category.  Since hearing aids fall under "health and beauty" there may be no distinction made by the GSP between something subcategorized as a hearing aid versus something subcategorized as cosmetics.

[bilge21]

You could have a valid point there, marnotom.

[kalvin@ebay.com]

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@bilge21 wrote:

I was looking to purchase a used hearing aid to replace my aging one and found that the GSP charges $37.95 when shipped under the GSP program to Canada.

Hearing aids are duty and tax-exempt so I am wondering why the GSP are charging taxes on them?

Example listings:

181206300798

171120146067

130774784888

GSP also charges for hearing aid batteries, which are also tax-exempt:

310738963559

171119412872

Any pinks want to check into this?

---

Thanks bilge21,

Will look into this - appreciate the head's up.

[kalvin@ebay.com]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I wonder does Kalvin ever respond to any direct email messages?  I did send him 2 different serious situtation messages 3 weeks ago but so far nothing.  Hope it is not another trend of "poor customer service"?  Thanks.

---

Hi honeybed1950,

I definitely do my best to address those email that are directed to me - if not, I wil forward them to the appropriate team so they can be reviewed. Please do resend anything I may have failed to act on.

Thanks, 

[mmorfesis]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

Possibly, the "import fee" charged by Pitney-Bowes in this instance does not include taxes - since the items are tax free - but represent Customs brokerage and handling fees.

UPS charges $47 (plus COD charges) for the same value. 

http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipping/cost/zones/customs_clearance.html

Canada Post charges nothing since no tax is collected.

At $38 Pitney Bowes would be somewhere in between.

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38 is NOT in between 0 and 47  in an instance like this.  GSP is a SCAM.