canadian customs question

[sketchratner]

Question for Canadians buying from the US.

I just purchased an item for $550.00 + $20 ship + 76.39 custom/import fee.  All the monies were taken from my account as expected. 

 Paypal showing 2 withdrawals ( 1 for the item and 1 for the custom fees)  which is fine.  So the item was sent. Though when it was picked up (Someone else had to pick it up for me as I was unable to) They were charged $40 for custom fees. Was this supposed to happen? I thought the point of paying the fees through ebay prior to shipping was to avoid having to del with it. I wouldnt m8nd so much but I already had to deal with over 100 in shipping charges already.

[surplusdealdude]

Canadian Customs has the right to re-assess the value of an item.  You might have had someone at Customs do that.

[pierrelebel]

"They were charged $40 for custom fees."

?????

Pick up where?  Who exactly charged what exactly?  What does the receipt say?

[pierrelebel]

Was the parcel sent to you by Pitney Bowes or directly by the seller to you?  How?

What is your province of residence? (it makes a difference on taxes)

[sketchratner]

I purchased an item. I paid for the item 550$ plus the 20$ shipping plus the 80$ import/customs fees . The seller sent the item off. I had my friend pick up the item at the Canada Post Postoffice for me, since it was her address the item was sent to. We both work up in northern alberta. She was going to bring the item to me when she retuned to work. Anyway. Canada Post charged her 40$ for import fees. The same fees I already paid through ebay when I bought the item prior to shipping. Canada Post should not have charged me those fees. I called ebays office and they confirmed thay as well.  What im wondering is if anyone else had that same problem before.

[pierrelebel]

I suggest you check with the seller to confirm where exactly he sent the parcel:

1) to Pitney-Bowes

or

2) to your friend's address in Alberta

Since you had prepaid the "import fees" (taxes - GST in this case) it should have been mailed by the seller to Pitney-Bowes for redistribution to you (without any more Customs clearance and fees)

Is your friend working in Lloydminster by any chance?  Is this where the parcel was picked up? I vaguely recall some strange tax rules since the municipality overlaps Alberta amd Saskatchewan.  Is it possible the added tax  paid at the Post Office had to do with the difference between PST chargeable in Sk but not in AB since there is no PST in AB ?  What does the receipt from the Post Office state exactly?

[pierrelebel]

Take a look at: http://www.qp.gov.sk.ca/documents/english/Regulations/Regulations/F13-4R23.PDF

[pjcdn2005]

I had already typed this when I saw Pierre's response so some of this imformation will be the same as what he gave you.

The important thing is to figure out why it happened so that you can possibly get some of your fees back.

You were charged the import fees at the time of purchase because the seller was part of the Global Shipping Program. So that seller should have sent the package to the Pitney Bowes shipping center in Kentucky and they would have indicated that import fees had already been paid. From there, the the package should have been sent to you. Since you had already paid import fees, no more should have been paid.

It sounds like the seller sent the package directly to you rather than to the shipping center.Because of that, when customs saw your package, they didn't know that you had already payed the import fees.

Talk to your seller and ask if they did send the package direct to you rather than through the Kentucky shipping center. If they did send it directly to you, then I would ask Pitney Bowes for the import fees back since they did not handle the package and may not have submitted the import fees to the government. You would have to talk to ebay to do this, the seller can't do anything about that at this point. If you have no luck with customer service, try writing one of the reps from ebay Canada kalvin@ebay.com

If you don't get the fees back from PB, you can submit a claim to Canada customs for the taxes paid at the time the package was picked up. On the back of the customs form on the box, there should be information on how to file that claim.

[sketchratner]

Ok. I see. Sounds like the seller didnt send to pitney than. Which is why this happened. Ok. Thank you guys. That cleared up why this occured. Illknow next time so to check to make sure it doesnt happen again. Ill contact pitney then to see what can be done. If not ill just have to bite the bullet on this one.

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

"If not ill just have to bite the bullet on this one."

No.  Not your fault.

Go to your PayPal account and file a claim against Pitney Bowes for the charge made by Pitney Bowes for "import charges" - service not provided.

PayPal will take care of it and credit your account - eventually.

[sketchratner]

Spoiler

I'll do that..thanks a lot.

[mr.daveyboy]

The global shipping program is terrible sellers should never sign up for it.I,be bought over 60 things from the states and only charges an import fee once and they usually only charge a fee for purchases over a 150 dollars and that's only if there not too lazy to fill out the paperwork.Please sellers never sign up for the global shipping program.

[rob_1976]

How do I file a claim against Pitney Bowes without opening up a dispute for a purchased item?   I don't have a problem with the item, just the Pitney Bowes charge.

[marnotom!]

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@rob_1976 wrote:

How do I file a claim against Pitney Bowes without opening up a dispute for a purchased item?   I don't have a problem with the item, just the Pitney Bowes charge.

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What's the issue with the charge, exactly?  There's clauses in the terms and conditions you agreed to that state that you won't request nor will you receive a refund in the event you were overcharged, blah blah, etc...

http://pages.ebay.ca/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html