Comments about the Global Shipping Program

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Feel free to share your thoughts about the Global Shipping Program here. 

A few questions to get the ball rolling:

• What has worked well for you with the Global Shipping Program?
• Any ideas to help improve the experience for Canadian buyers?
• What has deterred you from buying items offered using the Global Shipping Program?
• How have you managed to search for items outside the program?

Please try & keep the comments constructive 🙂

If you have any questions about the program, please post them here.

[femmefan1946]

Canada don't charge Duty on used items less than $25

The maximum for duty-free is $20 not $25. And those are Canadian dollars, currently equivalent to about $18 US.

Used or new is irrelevant.

Canada/provinces do charge sales taxes on both new and used items, again over $20CDN. Whether or not there is duty.

The duty depends on the place of manufacture (USA or Mexico- duty free :  China/Italy/Brazil- dutiable)

If they do it's $5  for the handling charge .

Not for years. Canada Post's service fee is $9.95

[femmefan1946]

All GSP listing include this phrase

Customs services and international tracking provided

At the same time, the amount of the import fee covered by this "service" are stated.

[00nevermind00]

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@fire*salamander wrote:

I will start leaving neutral feedback for sellers who will charge me your IMPORT CHARGE. This charge is scam and cash grab for your company !

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If the seller asks for your neutral FB to be removed, it will be unless you word it in a way that is totally unrelated to the GSP. You will have to find another way to express your dissatisfaction. The best suggestion I have is to not buy from GSP sellers and to email the ones who have items you'd like to bid on/buy and tell them why you won't. Considering the way this program is "working" (there's a creative use of the word!) some of those sellers may not even be aware that they are enrolled.

[afantiques]

Taxes kick in at about US $19? Are you forgetting the free trade agreement?

NAFTA has nothing to do with import sales taxes which are the equivalent of PST/HST. all goods are subject to this, but postal imports usually escape. GSP imports are not postal.

[mwc1942]

"NAFTA has nothing to do with import sales taxes which are the equivalent of PST/HST. all goods are subject to this, but postal imports usually escape. GSP imports are not postal."

You lost me on this one.  First you say that "NAFTA has nothing to do with import sales tax", by "sale tax" do you mean duty?  If so then yes NAFTA has everything to do with import duty.  It's really immaterial if "GSP imports are not postal" or not, if an item 

is classified under NAFTA,  it's duty free.  At least that is my understanding.

Can you explain "GSP imports are not postal"

[marnotom!]

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@mwc1942 wrote:

"NAFTA has nothing to do with import sales taxes which are the equivalent of PST/HST. all goods are subject to this, but postal imports usually escape. GSP imports are not postal."

You lost me on this one.  First you say that "NAFTA has nothing to do with import sales tax", by "sale tax" do you mean duty?  If so then yes NAFTA has everything to do with import duty.  It's really immaterial if "GSP imports are not postal" or not, if an item 

is classified under NAFTA,  it's duty free.  At least that is my understanding.

Can you explain "GSP imports are not postal"

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I'll jump in here, if I may.

NAFTA has nothing to do with GST, HST, PST, QST, RST, and any other sales tax charged in Canada that you'd care to mention.  Otherwise, we wouldn't be charged tax on Mexican-made lawnmowers from Canadian Tire.  The bulk of a GSP item's "import charges" are generally some combination of those sales taxes (plus various clearance and classification fees and a cut for eBay), but there may be some duty there if the seller has listed the item improperly or the item is simply subject to a NAFTA reduction in duty and not an elimination of duty.

GSP shipments are not considered postal imports as they do not travel by mail between the Global Shipping Center in Kentucky and the Canadian delivery hub.  They travel as part of a container-load of freight from Kentucky to the hub, and only after they're received by an agent in Canada is there the possibility of them travelling as domestic mail to the final recipient.

[ralph01.2009]

Yes it does say that and I don't mind paying what is shown before I purchase. I don't mind paying duties and tax when it hasn't been included in the total at checkout. Why am I paying a brokerage  fee to UPS or others after the fact? It's not duties or taxes. Why is my package traveling an extra 3000 miles? It doesn't happen using USPS and Canada post.

[pjcdn2005]

GSP shipments are not considered postal imports as they do not travel by mail between the Global Shipping Center in Kentucky and the Canadian delivery hub.  They travel as part of a container-load of freight from Kentucky to the hub, and only after they're received by an agent in Canada is there the possibility of them travelling as domestic mail to the final recipient.

I don't understand the point of even mentioning this as it seems irrelevant and is just a red herring. As far as I know, there are not different rules in Canada regarding importing items by postal service versus importing items via a container load of freight. Are you saying that there is  a difference?

[pjcdn2005]

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@myllifealways wrote:
Hi Kalvin.
I was wondering, is there a way to refine my searches specifically to sellers who do not use the GSP program?
Any help would be immensely appreciated.

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There is no way to eliminate GSP sellers unless you want your search to show only Canadian sellers.

[mwc1942]

"NAFTA has nothing to do with GST, HST, PST, QST, RST, and any other sales tax charged in Canada that you'd care to mention. "

If the term "import charges" had be used it may not have been confusing.  That being said I was asking for clarification of the usage

"sales tax", if they had meant "duty" my response would stand.  

"GSP shipments are not considered postal imports"

Almost seen that one coming.  As you stated in another post, the $20 rule applies to items sent by mail.  Therefore could one not put forth the argument that Canadian bidders/buyers in effect longer qualify for that exemption by using the GSP? 

[mwc1942]

 "Are you saying that there is  a difference?"

If you go by the letter of the law, marnotom! is right.  The CBSA states "If the goods you import by mail are worth $20 or less they may be duty -and/or tax-free"  

[afantiques]

I don't understand the point of even mentioning this as it seems irrelevant and is just a red herring. As far as I know, there are not different rules in Canada regarding importing items by postal service versus importing items via a container load of freight. Are you saying that there is  a difference?

There is no formal  difference, but postal items are simply ignored, in most cases of sub-$100 imports, but the GSP items have no such leeway, the rules are applied to the letter of the law. So yes, there is a very important difference, but the nature and reasons for this difference is usually outside the experience of the average buyer.

[pjcdn2005]

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@mwc1942 wrote:

 "Are you saying that there is  a difference?"

If you go by the letter of the law, marnotom! is right.  The CBSA states "If the goods you import by mail are worth $20 or less they may be duty -and/or tax-free"  

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I realize that but it does not say that there are different standards if the item is sent by courier or freight and yet the same standards are used by couriers so I suspect the same is true for freight.

As Af points out postal imports are often not assessed but that other methods do not have the same leeway. But that doesn't mean that the same rules do not apply for all methods of 'shipped' items.  If that's true..why even mention that the gsp items aren't coming by mail? It just confuses the issue imo.

[marnotom!]

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pjcdn2005 wrote:

As Af points out postal imports are often not assessed but that other methods do not have the same leeway. But that doesn't mean that the same rules do not apply for all methods of 'shipped' items.  If that's true..why even mention that the gsp items aren't coming by mail? It just confuses the issue imo.

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What do you feel is a better (read: non-confusing) explanation for why GSP shipments are subject to charges that go toward tax and duty owing while postal imports are randomly charged for those amounts, even when they're both subject to those charges?

[afantiques]

But that doesn't mean that the same rules do not apply for all methods of 'shipped' items.  If that's true..why even mention that the gsp items aren't coming by mail? It just confuses the issue imo.

The idea was to give an explanation of the perceived results which seem to indicate GSP items get 'extra' taxes, while the truth is postal items get less taxes, not by law but by  common practice.

[ralph01.2009]

No. The biggest issue here has nothing to do with taxes or duties. It's the fact that you are paying for an item to be shipped an extra 1500 miles on average (which can't be cheaper than direct shipping) and a border brokerage fee that is not incurred using USPS/ Canada post.. All anyone, I think most, would ask for is a choice instead of none. Until it changes, I'm done with eBay global shipping sellers period (followed by a period):catsurprised:.

I will add that although the GSP is not a dishonest fee, it is an added fee that can be avoided if you don't use the program and the overall shipping cost may be less due to the distance the package needs to travel. Duties and taxes are expected costs for items not covered in NAFTA..

[zimmynan]

Like all the other Canadians that have responded, I have dramatically decreased my eBay purchases due to the Global Shipping Program.  I will not purchase items that use it.  It is frustrating that there is no way to search for items that only ship USPS.  I am getting close to giving up on eBay altogether.   It is a ridiculous waste of time to sift through searches trying to weed out the sellers that only ship via USPS and don't us the Global Shipping Program.   

[pjcdn2005]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

As Af points out postal imports are often not assessed but that other methods do not have the same leeway. But that doesn't mean that the same rules do not apply for all methods of 'shipped' items.  If that's true..why even mention that the gsp items aren't coming by mail? It just confuses the issue imo.

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What do you feel is a better (read: non-confusing) explanation for why GSP shipments are subject to charges that go toward tax and duty owing while postal imports are randomly charged for those amounts, even when they're both subject to those charges?

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I haven't really thought about a better explanation being needed so didn't understand your point. But as you have said before, Canada Customs chooses not to assess many items sent through the postal system. But a courier or a program such as a gsp uses a broker and is obligated to go by the letter of the law...they don't have the leeway that Canada customs has.

[femmefan1946]

Why is my package traveling an extra 3000 miles? It doesn't happen using USPS and Canada post.

Actually it does. Most shippers nowadays use the hub and spoke method of distribution and from time to time an item shipped from Toronto (or Atlanta) and intended for Vancouver will spend a pleasant evening in Halifax before going on its way. And yes, it really is cheaper to do that.

If you ship by FedEx in the USA, practically everything goes through a central shipping facility, no matter where it starts or ends. That was even a plot point in that Tom Hanks movie 'Castaway'.

and a border brokerage fee that is not incurred using USPS/ Canada post.

Basically as I see it this is your public service deciding to save the taxpayer money. While technically/legally CBSA is supposted to assess and charge duty on every item valued over $20Cdn/$18USD, they have decided that is costs more to do so than could ever be collected, and ignore those parcels valued somewhere under $100.

But the couriers do not have this luxury. They must obey the law. (Also they underpay their workers, which makes it cheaper to collect the duty and taxes,  but let's not get into that.)

[emerald1947]

I will no longer buy from anyone who uses the global shipping

to me, it is just a big rip off. shipping & handling is a large enough expense but to add on extra shipping & handling...just not right. I hope the US sellers catch on that their Canadian sales are suffering due to the shipping. Very rarely do I ever pay customs duty on any purchase and if I do, I pay it directly to the Canadian authorities and don't quibble because I get a lot that comes to me free of duty. A very poor program that serves no useful purpose to my mind. And like some of the others, I would like assurance that the duty and taxes actually make it into the Canadian governments pocket.