Global Shipping Program Scam!

[joeyarrows]

This GSP is getting super annoying and I refuse to buy from US sellers that opt for this program. The issue here is that Ebay forces you to use the GSP and charges duties and taxes on your item, even when it's low value. According to the Canadian legislation a buyer has the right to self-clear goods at the nearest CBSA office! The shipping company has the obligation to send the self-clear documents to the buyer within a reasonable timeframe! 

With Ebay they force you into the GSP (with no other option) and that is illegal! 

DHL has already been in the news for charging COD fees to customers on items that are low in value and I've been in that situation as well. I told them that I wanted to self-clear my goods and that I refuse to pay any COD fees since I didn't consent to have them act as my broker. Reluctantly they sent me the documents and I went to my nearest CBSA office and guess what? I had to pay sweet Fudge all for import/duties/taxes!!!

I wish ebay would give a buyer the option for the GSP program because I wouldn't use it at all! With the GSP my good from the US will take 3 weeks average to get here in Canada. With USPS it takes about 1 week. Heck, goods from China arrive here within 2 weeks and there's an ocean between us! 

Sorry US sellers but if you're using the GSP then you won't have my business anymore!

BTW, I contacted Ebay customer service and the only thing they can say about it is that they're sorry for the inconvenience! LMFAO! 

[fh991586]

Are you happy now that you have ranted?
By buying something on eBay that uses the GSP option for international shipping, you forfeit your right to self clear customs.  That's it.
Not happy by the seller's choice?  Send him a message, or go see elsewhere.  Nothing else to do...

Also, your rant about DHL isn't related to GSP at all, so irrelevant.

If you want to let China profit from your clientele, then go ahead and buy from them.  But don't come back later ranting about their customer service or quality of goods...

[mrdutch1001]

and just what did you expect eBay to do for you?? > it was YOUR choice to purchase from a seller who uses the GSP ...NOT all USA sellers do so don't know where and /or why you think all USA sellers are "forced" to use it. What you purchase & from whom you purchase is YOUR choice...This is not on eBay, this is on you!

[femmefan1946]

The GSP is a Seller Protection program.

You as buyer don't have the option not to use it.

It protects the Seller several ways.

All import fees (including a ~$5 GSP service fee) are paid before the seller ships.

• This means a scamming buyer cannot leave the purchase at the customs office, claim non-delivery, and get a refund, then pickup the parcel for only the minimal cost of import.

The seller is only responsible for shipping to the GSP plant.

• This means a scamming buyer cannot claim non-delivery on a slow shipment.

The only advantage to the buyer is that sellers who use it may not ship outside the lower 48 states without such protection.

• Did you know that US sellers can refuse to ship to Hawaii or Alaska?

[femmefan1946]

You will be happy to know that the GSP is being replaced by a service that drops the import fees part of the service and in future you will be paying import fees on delivery, saving that ~$5 and picking up at the nearest PO or at the UPS office out by the airport.

Around here the minimum wage is 25c  minute.

[brettjet38]

@joeyarrows "This GSP is getting super annoying and I refuse to buy from US sellers that opt for this program." 

OK?! As a Buyer that is your choice, eBay has nothing to do with that...

@joeyarrows "taxes"

You will pay taxes on anything you purchase online, except bullion... 

@joeyarrows GSP the program is being retired was announced months ago...

As for the rest of your post...

[marnotom!]

I find that generally people who complain about import charges on "low value" items don't realize just how low the duty/tax-free limit is for personal imports of items sent by mail or courier and that the reason they often get mailed items delivered without import charges is because CBSA doesn't think it's worth dinging the buyer, not because they're actually supposed to be tax or duty-free.

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/courier/menu-eng.html

For what it's worth, I found one CBC news piece online on DHL charging import charges to buyers and from what I could see, DHL was perfectly within its rights to do so.  If the buyers had purchased the items on eBay and had them shipped through the GSP, those import charges would likely have been considerably less.

[joeyarrows]

Actually ebay has involvement in it since it offers the GSP to sellers. Sellers that opt for the program are not customer minded imo.

Most items of low value are not being taxed in Canada so why pay import/duties/taxes?

So Brettjet, you pay your extra/illegal fees and be happy but don't reply with stupidities.

[joeyarrows]

Dhl charged $20 plus dollars on a $25 dollar item. That is not ok and CBSA won't charge you any duties/taxes on such items.

And a shipping company should give the buyer the option to self clear items!

So go act smart somewhere else and keep paying all these extras!

[joeyarrows]

Looks like most of you here like to pay all the extras! Probably you all work for ebay

[mrdutch1001]

Whenever a disgruntled member does not like the answer /comment provided by fellow eBay members, said members are always accused of  "you all work for ebay"  > NO we do do not! we are fellow eBay members/sellers...

Perhaps it's just time for you to move on and go do whatever it is you feel you must do and not engage in your illegal tax theories, conspiracy theories,etc,etc...here in the forums...

[avidhiker-33]

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

The GSP is a Seller Protection program.

...

The only advantage to the buyer is that sellers who use it may not ship outside the lower 48 states without such protection.

---

The GSP also does provide some buyer protection in terms of knowing full costs upfront.

In one of my early online purchases w-a-a-a-y back in '04 the US seller sent the US$200 item via the lowest-cost tracked option (for the seller):  UP$ $tandard.  On that one I got hit with CAD$95 in "fees" and sales taxes, and had to make a 60 km round-trip across the city to pick up the package during hours convenient for UP$, but inconvenient for anyone with a life.

Have only made one GSP purchase in the ~ 2.5 years I've been active on ebay, and in that case the price + GSP shipping of a new item was less than local Kijiji sellers were asking for used.

[fh991586]

Everything you purchase from a store is taxed in Canada, except some food items or other very specific things.  The value of the item is irrelevant to it being taxed or not...
Like someone else said here, it's not because you didn't pay taxes on previous orders that it wasn't taxable!  You were lucky, that's all.
You sound exactly like the Old Man Yells At Cloud meme...

[brettjet38]

Information for buyers on eBay.ca

• All listing prices on eBay.ca are exclusive of GST/HST/QST/PST, where applicable. Applicable taxes may be added at checkout
• If you've bought an item and you need a tax invoice showing the GST/HST/QST component, for sales prior to July 1, 2022, please contact the seller. As of July 1, 2022, such taxes will be charged directly by eBay Canada and we can provide that tax invoice to you

https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/selling-policies/tax-policy?id=4348&st=3&pos=1&query=Tax%20policy&...

No matter what anyone says to you, you are evidently in deep denial...

NO ONE FORCES YOU TO PURCHASE FROM ANYONE USING THE (SOON-TO-BE RETIRED) GSP which has been in place for years, and yes you pay local taxes on any purchase you make on a marketplace facilitator (eBay, Amazon, Etsy, etc, etc) since July 1 2022.

[marnotom!]

---

@joeyarrows wrote:

Dhl charged $20 plus dollars on a $25 dollar item. That is not ok and CBSA won't charge you any duties/taxes on such items.

And a shipping company should give the buyer the option to self clear items!

So go act smart somewhere else and keep paying all these extras!

---

In a province with 13% HST, a $25 item would attract $3.25 in taxes.  The remaining $16.75 would be DHL's charges for brokerage, customs clearance, processing, whatever you want to call it.  Not cheap if compared to the price of the item, but not as unreasonable as some carriers.  A thread about UPS charges made back in 2006 attracted over 900 other posts.  You may want to skim it:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/50-UPS-Brokerage-fee/m-p/60899

Most of the customs clearance work on an item forwarded by the GSP is done in Kentucky.  Would it be worth your while to go down to Kentucky to self-clear your item in order to save less than US$5?

As for CBSA not assessing and charging taxes/duties and Canada Post charging you C$9.95 for collecting them on CBSA's behalf, CBSA wasn't always this lax.  When my wife and I started buying online in the late 90s, we could count on about half our items being stopped by CBSA and assessed taxes (and duty, if applicable).  Two thirds of the way through the next decade, those assessments became a very rare event.  For what it's worth, one time my wife bought me an antique pocket watch on eBay that was reassessed for taxes because whoever looked at the customs form didn't believe the declared value on it and instead used "market value" for the declared value.

[femmefan1946]

If DHL charged you then your seller did not use the GSP.

The GSP is a Seller Protection program and is only available to US and UK sellers.

All your import fees are paid before the seller even ships and there are no further charges.

Further, the duty free limit for US purchases is $150 Cdn and the tax-free limit is $40, so your item was not coming from the USA.

Couriers like DHL don't get waved through Customs like USPS shipments.

The duty and tax free allowance for overseas imports is $20Cdn, and has been since the mid-80s.

I wonder if your "US" seller is really in China,  and your $25 (Cdn or U$) item was charged duty and sales taxes by CBSA, and DHL's customs brokerage fees.

[marnotom!]

Thanks for posting that, @femmefan1946.  Now I'm also wondering if the OP isn't complaining about a recent purchase that was forwarded through the GSP, but rather one of eBay's more recent international forwarding schemes, particularly "eBay International Shipping."  DHL does have a mail consolidation service--maybe more--that requires Canada Post to collect taxes and duties and DHL's processing/brokerage charges at the time of delivery.

I'm thinking back to that post from a few weeks ago from a user who bought an item that was supposed to be handled by the GSP--they even paid import charges at the same time as they paid for the item--but it was handled as an EIS item instead, and the buyer found that the import charges were a lot higher through EIS than they were through the GSP.  I wonder if the OP is complaining about an EIS item that was handled through a DHL mail consolidation service or if they're just using DHL as an example of a carrier that's received bad press due to consumer unawareness of how taxes and duties are supposed to be applied to personal imports sent by mail or courier?

[joeyarrows]

Ok, I'll rephrase... not working for ebay...just stupid! I absolutely do not understand how you can agree with the GSP. Do all of you really like to pay more for items?

[joeyarrows]

Looks like you have nothing else to do but to act smart. Probably your only excitement in your pathetic life while living in your mom's basement.

Actually it's super funny to see how many of you are passed off with my comment. And them you call me the old man yelling?! Lmfao

Just keep paying the extras!

[joeyarrows]

Ebay seems to be the only thing in life that excites you... you made that clear.

And the way you support the GSP and try to belittle me is amazing....I wish you'd put the same amount of dedication in your personal life. Maybe then you don't have to wait on your computer for a post to show up you don't like.