Ebay international shipping no duties? am I gonna get screwed?

[leaky-bucket-labs]

It say 0.00 even when I go to checkout.....something seems fishy, is ebay and gsp the same ?

thanks

[marnotom!]

Canada has free trade with a lot of countries now, so that calculation is probably correct: no duties.

On the other hand, you're likely going to be charged taxes upon receipt of a C$500-plus item.

And a charge for brokerage or processing on top of that.

[reallynicestamps]

Duty is much less important that sales taxes.

Many products can be imported with no duty.

Under the current form of NAFTA (CUSMA) we have a duty-free allowance of $150 on imports from the USA but a tax free allowance of only $40.

Canada has FreeTrade or similar trade agreements with over 100 nations with the most important being the CPTPP with 13 Pacific Rim countries and CETA with the EU.

We also have a free trade agreement with Mali. You learn something new every day, whether you want to or not.

The rule is that, without an agreement, our duty and tax free allowances are only $20Cdn.

BUT

CBSA and Canada Post tend to ignore imports valued under $100. A Canada Post executive told the Globe and Mail a few years ago that some 93% of such packages pass without assessment.

BUT

If the carrier is private (UPS, FedEx, DHL etc) the charges must be assessed and paid.

And all carriers do charge a service fee (customs brokerage) for this, with Canada Post being the lowest at $9.95.

The new eIS/eISD programs, unlike the soon to be obsolete GSP, do not charge import fees upfront. While this makes the cost of purchase seem lower, the import fees will be due when your receive the purchase.

[reallynicestamps]

is ebay and gsp the same ?

EBay is the advertising site that hosts the seller you purchased from.

It provides other services, including some shipping services.

The GSP (Global Shipping Program) is/was a shipping service which provided Seller Protections including ending the Seller's responsibility for delivery at the GSP plant in Erlanger KY.

The eIS/eISD programs are relatively new and are replacing the GSP.  They are also Seller Protection programs and again the Seller's responsibility for delivery ends at the eIS plant in Glendale IL.

Neither was designed to have any particular value for buyers.