Questions about the Global Shipping Program

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Do you have questions about the Global Shipping Program? Please post here & I'll do my best to track those answers down for you!

If you have any comments about the program, use this forum instead.

Thanks,

[reallynicestamps]

and been forced to pay for GSP.

You can avoid GSP-enabled transactions by looking for these words on the listing.

Customs services and international tracking provided

If you are Searching on a mobile device they will not appear.

If you are Searching in Gallery View they will not appear.

But even on a mobile, you will find that you are told the GSP fees BEFORE you complete payment.

And even at that late point, you can back out of the deal.

You might also want to contact the seller and let her know that you were going to buy, but refuse to pay $XX.xx in GSP import fees*.

If you ask politely she may set up a private listing for you that does not use the GSP.

Some sellers are shocked to learn that they were enrolled in the GSP without their knowledge.

*as noted above these are mostly Canadian sales tax and sometimes Canadian duty plus a ~$5 service fee.

[jordadobriki-0]

Please start  trace on this Item/Package.

I live in a Senior Citizen Apartment with a Desk Clerk on duty 24/7 and they did not receive the package

The shipping inf does not state who the Canadian shipper so the tracking # is virtually useless.

Home > My eBay > Order details
Sales order
Sold by turboaz13 ( 887 )
Delivery package 1 of 1
Delivered on Monday, Jul 11, 2016
✓ Shipping info received
✓ In transit
✓ Delivered
Time and date Place Message
Monday, Jul 11, 2016 5:52 PM BURNABY , BC Delivered
Monday, Jul 11, 2016 2:50 PM BURNABY , BC Out for Delivery
Monday, Jul 11, 2016 1:19 PM BURNABY , BC In Transit with Destination Carrier
Friday, Jul 8, 2016 11:21 PM RICHMOND , BC In Transit with Destination Carrier
Friday, Jul 8, 2016 11:21 PM RICHMOND , BC In Transit with Destination Carrier
Wednesday, Jul 6, 2016 3:12 AM MISSISSAUGA , ON In Transit with Destination Carrier
Wednesday, Jul 6, 2016 12:35 AM MISSISSAUGA , ON In Transit with Destination Carrier
Tuesday, Jul 5, 2016 5:07 PM MISSISSAUGA , ON In Transit with Destination Carrier
Tuesday, Jul 5, 2016 4:31 PM MISSISSAUGA , ON Customs Cleared
Saturday, Jul 2, 2016 7:13 PM Erlanger , Kentucky Shipped from the Global Shipping Center to International Destination
Saturday, Jul 2, 2016 12:14 PM Erlanger , Kentucky Customs Documentation and Labeling
Friday, Jul 1, 2016 1:43 AM Erlanger , Kentucky Delay at Global Shipping Center - Special Handling Review
Friday, Jul 1, 2016 12:24 AM Erlanger , Kentucky Processing at Global Shipping Center
Thursday, Jun 30, 2016 10:27 AM ERLANGER , KY Arrived at Global Shipping Center
Thursday, Jun 30, 2016 7:56 AM ERLANGER , KY In Transit-Arrived at Post Office
Thursday, Jun 30, 2016 7:56 AM ERLANGER , KY ARRIVAL AT UNIT
Wednesday, Jun 29, 2016 2:52 AM CINCINNATI , OH In Transit-Departed USPS Facility
Wednesday, Jun 29, 2016 2:52 AM CINCINNATI , OH Departed USPS Facility
Tuesday, Jun 28, 2016 9:25 PM CINCINNATI , OH In Transit-Arrived at USPS Facility
Tuesday, Jun 28, 2016 9:25 PM CINCINNATI , OH Arrived at USPS Facility
Monday, Jun 27, 2016 9:17 PM TUCSON , AZ In Transit-Departed USPS Facility
Monday, Jun 27, 2016 9:17 PM TUCSON , AZ Departed USPS Facility
Monday, Jun 27, 2016 8:17 PM TUCSON , AZ In Transit-Arrived at USPS Facility
Monday, Jun 27, 2016 8:17 PM TUCSON , AZ Arrived at USPS Facility
VINTAGE REALISTIC 200 CHANNEL PRO-2021 SCANNER AUTOPORTABLE SCANNING RECEIVER CB
VINTAGE REALISTIC 200 CHANNEL PRO-2021 SCANNER AUTOPORTABLE SCANNING RECEIVER CB
Item price $12.50
Quantity 1
Item number 112029030479
Shipping service International Priority Shipping

$12.50
Import charges $0.00
Total
$42.43
Order placed on
Saturday, Jun 25, 2016
Payment method
PayPal
Payment date
Saturday, Jun 25, 2016

[marnotom!]

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@jordadobriki-0 wrote:

Please start  trace on this Item/Package.

I live in a Senior Citizen Apartment with a Desk Clerk on duty 24/7 and they did not receive the package

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There is nobody on this discussion board who can start a trace for you.  I suggest calling Pitney Bowes' customer service:

1 (888) 727-0781

[jimboat63]

why am I charged  a Shipping cost of C $12.72 PLUS another charge for "Import charges C $16.59".  I am certain that there are NO duties payable on my ($49) item.  the global shipping program seems to 1) take longer and 2) cost +150% more for shipping costs than normal USPS.  Do I not have a choice of how I want my item shipped?

[marnotom!]

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@jimboat63 wrote:

why am I charged  a Shipping cost of C $12.72 PLUS another charge for "Import charges C $16.59".  I am certain that there are NO duties payable on my ($49) item.  

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Okay, let's assume that there are no duties owing on your item.  It's still subject to Ontario HST, which doesn't always get assessed by CBSA and collected by Canada Post for something sent by mail.  That would come to US$6.37 for your item, which converts to roughly C$8.36.  The other eight bucks or so would be for processing and other things related to customs clearance.  A bit steep by Pitney Bowes' standards, but still less than what you'd pay with any other carrier, including Canada Post.

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@jimboat63 wrote:

the global shipping program seems to 1) take longer and 2) cost +150% more for shipping costs than normal USPS. 

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By "normal USPS" you're probably referring to letter mail (First Class International/Small Packet).  Unfortunately, the Global Shipping Program isn't really set up to be competitive with letter mail, particularly as the most expensive portion of the item's journey is the Canadian leg.

You're lucky enough to live near the import mecca of Mississauga, so you're probably pretty used to items arriving from the US pretty quickly.  I'm on Vancouver Island and oversize letters and regular parcels tend to take a couple of weeks to reach me, sometimes up to three weeks.

I've purchased two cell phones from sellers using the GSP and cases for those phones at the same time as those phones from sellers using the mail.  In both cases the phones reached me sooner than the cases, although in fairness one of those probably wasn't shipped from the US, despite what the listing said.

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@jimboat63 wrote:

Do I not have a choice of how I want my item shipped?

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If your seller offered USPS shipping to Canada in their listing, there shouldn't be any sign of the GSP on it unless they've done something seriously wrong.  Either your seller doesn't really care what their non-US buyers are paying in shipping and import charges for a GSP item, or else they haven't set up their listing for Canadian sales in the first place and the GSP has been automatically applied to it by eBay.

[tonnyezeh1]

Global Shipping program uses multiple carrier .for Canadian bound package PBI prepares your shipping label which they hands over to Canada post

[ypdc_dennis]

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@jimboat63 wrote:

Do I not have a choice of how I want my item shipped?

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Most sellers only give you one shipping choice. You get to choose to buy or not.

You can ask the seller if they are willing to use another shipping method for Canada, but you have to do that before you buy.  Once you buy the seller can not make changes.

GSP can be customized for a listing by the seller to NOT include specified countries (like Canada). The details on how-to-do-this (since most sellers don't know how) are in the amazon.com help files:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/shipping-globally.html#offering

-..-

[pjcdn2005]

The Amazon help files?

[kenk101]

What am I getting From the GSP on a item no taxes or duty will be owing and I was Charged 10% $58.80  the item are Tax free ( 2 different ways so it should be a no brainer) in this province and under NAFTA there is no duty?

This importing fee is on top of the shipping cost that I paid and I have not found any value in this extra charge that none of the couriers company charges on no tax owing items .

[pierrelebel]

"none of the couriers company charges on no tax owing items ."

Pitney Bowes (GSP) is NOT a courier nor is it the postal system.

PB is a consolidator using both couriers and/or the postal system.  There is no point trying to compare how they charge for their service to how other systems charge for theirs.

The benefits of using consolidators (instead of shipping directly to customers) is strictly for sellers while buyers pay for the privilege.

[afantiques]

What am I getting From the GSP on a item no taxes or duty will be owing and I was Charged 10% $58.80  the item are Tax free ( 2 different ways so it should be a no brainer) in this province and under NAFTA there is no duty?Could you explain this abit more.

Was there an import charge showing on the item page? The reason I ask is that recently some items that should have import taxes payable have been showing up as 'Import Charges = $0' . In other words, were you not shown the import charges at time of purchase. Or before?

It is unlikely that no taxes would be owing although the item may well be duty free. Most import  taxes are the equivalent of your provincial sales tax. What was the item number?

On an item of that value, presumably about $600, you would have been charged about the same tax if the item had been sent by post if the value was declared as the sale price. Lower value items often pass untaxed, even if well over the Can$20 threshold for taxes, but I'd expect a high value item to be caught for tax. If the item were sent by courier, you'd have been stung for a bit more, as they add undefined brokerage charges.

[pjcdn2005]

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@afantiques wrote:

What am I getting From the GSP on a item no taxes or duty will be owing and I was Charged 10% $58.80  the item are Tax free ( 2 different ways so it should be a no brainer) in this province and under NAFTA there is no duty?Could you explain this abit more.

Was there an import charge showing on the item page? The reason I ask is that recently some items that should have import taxes payable have been showing up as 'Import Charges = $0' . In other words, were you not shown the import charges at time of purchase. Or before?

It is unlikely that no taxes would be owing although the item may well be duty free. Most import  taxes are the equivalent of your provincial sales tax. What was the item number?

On an item of that value, presumably about $600, you would have been charged about the same tax if the item had been sent by post if the value was declared as the sale price. Lower value items often pass untaxed, even if well over the Can$20 threshold for taxes, but I'd expect a high value item to be caught for tax. If the item were sent by courier, you'd have been stung for a bit more, as they add undefined brokerage charges.

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It looks like the poster buys coins so I'm going to guess that they are referring to silver coins which are definitely not taxable.  However, I've often seen the gsp charge tax on them. 

[pierrelebel]

"silver coins which are definitely not taxable"

It is not that black and white.  Taxability (GST) depends on the bullion content.  Silver coins with less than 99.9% silver content are taxable in Canada.

[pjcdn2005]

You're right so I will rephrase. I have seen coins with a silver content of 99.9% with import taxes being charged by the gsp. There doesn't seem to be a requirement for the seller to specify the silver content in item details....perhaps if they did they would be able to charge correctly for taxes.

[pierrelebel]

"with import taxes being charged by the gsp"

It may be related to the category where the item is listed.

This is a tricky area and I do not expect the system at PB to have the answer unless the seller clearly specify if the item sold is a "coin" in the "coins" category or "bullion" (not taxable).

It reminds me of the "good old days" in Ontario when purchasing mint Canadian postage stamp collections or accumulations at or below face value.  As such the collection would be exempt of PST.  After HST came into effect, the same stamps became taxable provincially!

Taxes can be tricky sometimes.

One donut = GST/HST taxable;  one dozen donuts = tax free (considered "basic grocery")

PS - I should add that if you buy a coffee (or two) with a dozen donuts at the same time, on the same bill, the donuts may become taxable as part of a "meal".

[xenotime]

Wasn't there a time when the GSP's import charges didn't kick in until an item was over $20? Now I'm seeing import charges for over $15. Maybe it was always that way.

[femmefan1946]

In which currency?

The maximum value you can import into Canada without being assessed for duty and Sales Taxes is $20CDN.

That has not changed.

Today the value of the loonie is 76 cents US.

So that $20CDN is $15.20 USD.

[marnotom!]

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@xenotime wrote:

Wasn't there a time when the GSP's import charges didn't kick in until an item was over $20? Now I'm seeing import charges for over $15. Maybe it was always that way.

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All GSP sales have "import charges" added to them, Jepcik.  What Pitney Bowes calls "import charges" isn't just tax(es) and duty. That's because part of what makes up the import charges is the various processing and clearance charges the item picks up along the way.

When the GSP was first introduced, those charges showed up on items of less than C$20 with an amount of three bucks and change.  When too many people started wondering why those items were subject to "Import charges." Pitney Bowes started lumping them in with the shipping charge instead.

So either Pitney Bowes is experimenting with reverting to this way of accounting for its processing charges, or as Femmefan notes, it may be the exchange rate at play here.

There's also the possibility that the items you're seeing are in a category not subject to the C$20 tax/duty-free exemption, such as books.

[electronicsguru-ca]

I have a CBSA importer number, can I register that with the Global Shipping Program so that I can be charged only the GST portion of the HST, as CBSA would do directly?

[pierrelebel]

No. 

Please read the terms and condition of the program.  It specifically states it is for use by individuals for personal use only.  No business.