eBay

moker999 · ‎11-14-2019

Hello there. I found a very reputable seller for an expensive, but not rare item in the U.S. and found that they accepted a lot of offers in their feedback. I made what I felt was a fairly reasonable offer but when I was reviewing the offer I saw that the estimated import charge doubled and would have made the item more expensive after the offer!

I have only made offers a few times but, if memory serves, they were all in Canada and thus no import charges. I messaged the seller the other day about this anomaly but got nothing. I decided to pull the trigger and attempted an offer that would both cover the added import charge and still save me some coin while being around 75-80% of the items value. I added a message explaining what was going on. After submitting my offer it was declined about fifteen minutes later, no explanation.

I am not trying to imply that they owe me anything. Just that I have never encountered this behavior from the site in the 12 years I have been using it and am wondering if it is a glitch that will sort itself out at the checkout or if I am boned. I made a second offer, as high as I am willing to go for the item otherwise if I make the same incremental jump up in my offer I would be breaking even and would literally be saving nothing and rendering the whole process useless.

Go figure.

At the same time I am worried that they might think that I am am making this all up and see no reason to reply to what they may think is me trying to scam/low-ball them.

It has been about 30 minutes since I made my second offer so I know that it is not automated but if they reject it too then oh well. I just want to know if anyone else has experienced the import charge doubling, no matter what they enter, and can explain what the heck is going on?

Thank you!

reallynicestamps · ‎11-14-2019

Location location location.

Unless the seller had posted a Flat Shipping Fee for Canada, the cost of shipping will vary with your location.

Until you enter it, the cost of shipping is (for want of a better word) generic.

In addition, if the seller is using the Global Shipping Program, the shipping will include the costs of your provincial version of GST/PST, even if there is no duty.

Oh and duty if based on place of manufacture, not place of purchase.

So if the item you see is priced at $100 with Free Shipping to the USA and Calculated Shipping to Canada.

The price will rise if you are farther away from the seller in Canada.

If the seller is using GSP it will also vary if there is

duty,
how much will be PST/HST /GST,
and the ~$5USD service charge varies slightly depending on the current exchange rate.

The usual problem comes from the GSP, which eBay sometimes includes in shipping and sometimes makes it a separate item. This seems to be an ongoing survey on which is most acceptable to the buyer.

After submitting my offer it was declined about fifteen minutes later, no explanation.

That does sound like an automatic refusal, although those usually have some sort of canned polite remarks.

Still, that seller does not appear to be communicative.

A lot of sellers use the GSP because they are terrified of selling outside the USA or even the lower 48. And often refuse to ship to military addresses.

moker999 · ‎11-14-2019

Gotcha. Thanks for the explanation and I will give them the benefit of the doubt as the holiday season is upon us and they may be swamped and thus why they did not get back to me though I may simply be hasty.

Thanks again!

marnotom! · ‎11-14-2019

This thread on the same subject is a little over six months old, but I think it's still useful.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Inconsistent-Import-Charges-with-GSP/m-p/420150

The OP was helpful enough to let us know that the import charges on their Best Offer got sorted out at Checkout.

Keep in mind that the seller of an item forwarded through the GSP has no control over the program's charges, so your message to the seller may have left them flummoxed, particularly if they have no idea they're using the program. (It happens.)

moker999 · ‎11-15-2019

Nice find. I tried searching for just such a pre-existing thread but never stumbled upon one. If that is the case then I feel that I might just be able to make a more reasonable offer.

I will let you guys know how it goes if I end up getting the item.

moker999 · ‎11-19-2019

Unfortunately I did not get the item as I found a much better deal after they declined my 2% final discount offer; Thus I am not sure as to what the final import charge would have been.

C'est la vie.

Thank you everyone for the help you provided nonetheless.

tlflutterby · ‎05-26-2022

Hi there, I know this thread is old but....

I am also from Canada and have noticed the same thing happening when I'm sent an Offer for an item I'm watching with a Seller that uses the Global Shipping Program. It doesn't seem to matter how much the discount is either. I received an offer for 30% off and the Import Charges doubled which doesn't make sense because the value of the item is lower. The duty should go down not up!

There isn't really any benefit for Canadians with the GSP. Shipping takes twice as long and they deliver using a courier once the item arrives in my City (I live in a condo, so it's not convenient) and they charge import charges, which I would prefer to be responsible myself for applicable duty charges if there are any. Although, I did have a package that got lost at the warehouse with the Courier Company GSP uses and they reumburesd me, but I have never had a package lost when sent USPS First Class Mail International First Class Package International Service and tracking is provided.

marnotom! · ‎05-26-2022

@tlflutterby wrote:

Hi there, I know this thread is old but....

I am also from Canada and have noticed the same thing happening when I'm sent an Offer for an item I'm watching with a Seller that uses the Global Shipping Program. It doesn't seem to matter how much the discount is either. I received an offer for 30% off and the Import Charges doubled which doesn't make sense because the value of the item is lower. The duty should go down not up!

The information in thread that's linked to this one suggests that what's happening is that the "offer bot" doesn't have access to the postal code you use for your location when getting shipping charges on the listing page. It calculates the import charges on the worst case scenario, which is based on 15% HST plus whatever other worst possible charges it can throw into the mix and makes those charges part of the offer and calls it an "estimate to be confirmed at checkout".

At checkout, once your postal code is confirmed, import charges appropriate to your location can be charged instead of the worst case scenario estimate.

@tlflutterby wrote:

There isn't really any benefit for Canadians with the GSP. Shipping takes twice as long and they deliver using a courier once the item arrives in my City (I live in a condo, so it's not convenient) and they charge import charges, which I would prefer to be responsible myself for applicable duty charges if there are any. Although, I did have a package that got lost at the warehouse with the Courier Company GSP uses and they reumburesd me, but I have never had a package lost when sent USPS First Class Mail International First Class Package International Service and tracking is provided.

The GSP was designed more with sellers in mind than buyers, but I guess the benefit to buyers is that they don't have to figure out a way to get the item from the US to their Canadian (or wherever) location themselves as the seller is not likely going to ship the item directly themselves. There's a lot of distaste for or at least discomfort with for international shipping on the .com site.

Also consider that the program serves about 100 other countries and some people in some countries actually don't mind the program because it bypasses their customs offices and/or postal systems which may not operate as well as ours.

Sellers can exempt Canada from the Global Shipping Program and ship to us directly, but I suspect that most choose not to do so because it's not worth going to the trouble for what's usually a very small proportion of their sales.