Why am I getting charged by ebay for shipping then again by Pitney Bowes plus import fee's.

[force1967]

I recently bought an item on Ebay.  The purchase was 28.00 US and 7.05 shipping as it states on my Paypal. Total 35.05 US. Then there is another charge from Pitney Bowes for 17.80 us, broken down as follows. 10.05 for shipping and 6.59 for import fees, so what and why 2 shipping fee's. 

Please advise.

[shanstat]

Sounds like the seller utilized the new global shipping program which uses Pitney Bowes as a third hand shipper and broker for the international shipment. Pitney Bowes would then levy their service fees along with the brokerage levied fees for importing the item into Canada. Pitney Bowes pays Canada Customs the duty and taxes on the item being imported into the country.

My advice, DO NOT purchase items from US sellers who use the global shipping program. Deal with sellers who are willing to ship items to Canada on their own using USPS ONLY!

Items shipped through couriers such as Fed Ex and UPS will incur brokerage fees and import fees payable upon delivery.

Many items shipped with USPS do not incur any duty or taxes if under 100.00 value...

Something to think about when purchasing from south of the border...

[femmefan1946]

Any import over $20 CDN (about $16USD at the moment) will have applicable Canadian duty and Canadian/provincial sales taxes.

The shipper is also allowed to charge a service fee.

The GSP charges about $5, Canada Post about $10 (but...) and couriers like UPS and FedEx $25 or more for this.

NAFTA/ Free Trade does not apply to item bought from the USA,only to items manufactured there. (And in Mexico, Peru and Chile).

There is no duty on used goods.

There will be sales taxes on new or used goods regardless of their place of manufacture.

(but...)

Canada Border Services Agency and Canada Post in a surge of common sense do not usually charge the applicable duty or sales tax or service fees on low value items, especially if those items are small and lightweight. I guess they figure it makes little sense to process such items when the amount that might be collected is less than the cost of collection.

If you think that $20CDN is too low, ask your Conservative candidate about it at a town hall meeting during the upcoming election. It's fun to watch them obfuscate.