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,

[bruno2d2]

I have paid for Global Shipping Program from USA to Canada. The seller did not use that shipping method. My payment to Global Shipping, including transport, taxes and brokerage fees was unused. How can I get a refund from Global since they didn't transport and didn't pay customs and taxes?

[afantiques]

the GSP is a very questionable program that would not supply paper work to justify all those so-called custom duties and taxes collected from Canadian buyers when most of the time the purchases never went through Canadian Customs to be billed. 

All GSP items go through Canadian customs and are charged the appropriate taxes. It's the way the system works.

Since the buyer is not technically the importer (PB Inc. is the importer of record) the buyer is not entitled to any detailed breakdown of charges. They agree to this by buying, see the full buyer terms and conditions. They may not like this but the time to step back is before buying.

[afantiques]

I have paid for Global Shipping Program from USA to Canada. The seller did not use that shipping method. My payment to Global Shipping, including transport, taxes and brokerage fees was unused. How can I get a refund from Global since they didn't transport and didn't pay customs and taxes?

This is a pretty common situation and one to which there is no clear answer. Since the GSP charges are levied through Paypal, separate from the payment to the buyer, a PP claim for a refund of that specific part of your PP payment might work. The justification would be that the service was not supplied, so it would seem to be an 'Item not received' case'.

Worth a try.

[mater721]

"How are the fee's collected by Ebay transferred to the country the product is shipped to? If Ebay US collects IMPORT fee's then they must be paying the country of entry. Can you please explain how this is done?"

If you are talking Gobal Shipping Program (GSP) listings, Pitney Bowes (PB) collects and pays the import fees, not Ebay.

[mater721]

"If it is possible, how do I limit my search results to exclude items listed with GSP?"

I do not believe such a filter exists.

In details summary when searching you can see following text..."Customs services and international tracking provided".

That will help identify GSP listings, but they will not be removed from your search.

[pjcdn2005]

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@bobenis wrote:

PB and GSP are total jokes.

I have no clue why I keep supporting ebay and their idiocy. 

I bought a Sony Receiver via GSP this time and sure enough PB, instead of forwarding it to CP to have it delivered via Xpress Post since it comes from the US via USPS Priority as per the auction details, sent it via the cheaper route with CANPAR via 5 business day ground!?

So it left on the 15th from Toronto and I am still waiting for it to arrive.

Clearly this shows they are choosing whatever makes them the biggest profit and not following ebay nor the sellers' auction claim of specific shipping.

I should have had this on the 17th but instead I paid $60 for the priority shipping plus $40 in fees and it ships via ground???

What a joke...I wish Google would set up a proper awesome auction site with Google Checkout for payment, ebay & PP are crooks.

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The GSP uses private carriers from Kentucky to Canada, not USPS Priority.  If you look at the actual wording on the listing it says that they use "International Priority Shipping".

A listing that is using USPS Priority will state "USPS Priority Mail International".  They should change the wording as it can be misleading.

[00nevermind00]

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@afantiques wrote:

All GSP items go through Canadian customs and are charged the appropriate taxes. It's the way the system works.

Since the buyer is not technically the importer (PB Inc. is the importer of record) the buyer is not entitled to any detailed breakdown of charges. They agree to this by buying, see the full buyer terms and conditions. They may not like this but the time to step back is before buying.

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Please let me rephrase for you AF if you don't mind...

All GSP items go through Canadian customs and are charged the appropriate taxes as we see fit. It's the way the system works.

Never mind all the instances when duty charges are assessed on non-dutiable items because the seller omitted to enter the country of origin.  Have a look at the following screen shot.  This is a can of maple syrup:

62 bucks in "taxes" on a $20 item???  Whoever computed that tax rate should have flunked Math 101 in grade 2.

[pierrelebel]

"62 bucks in "taxes" on a $20 item???"

That same question on maple syrup was raised a year ago with Ben, the eBay.com representative who posted regularly on this board for a while, and he insisted that the calculations were correct and that maple syrup was taxable in Canada, despite the fact the Canadian government considers the product "tax exempt" as "basic groceries".  Do not take my word for it.  Go to any grocery store, buy a can, and you will notice the clerk will NOT charge you GST or HST as the product is tax exempt like all other "basic groceries".

He indicated quite clearly that the folks in San Jose had better Canadian tax knowledge than us in Canada!  That was the day I lost all confidence in his statements on this board and decided to ignore further comments.

[00nevermind00]

Ben was paid to repeat the party line.  I thought he was pretty brave to come over here and face all the hostility from Canadian buyers, but all we ever got from him were canned replies.

I buy my maple syrup at the market directly from the producer and was never charged taxes.  It makes sense that the product also isn't taxable in grocery stores.  But even if it was, how can this insane rate of taxation be justified?  Do the GSP people really think that Canada has a 300% taxation rate on any products???  Seriously???

[afantiques]

A listing that is using USPS Priority will state "USPS Priority Mail International".  They should change the wording as it can be misleading.

The wording has now been changed to 'Tracked international shipping'

[afantiques]

The famous maple syrup case does seem to have been some  anomaly that was never explained.

In general I think the tariffs are pretty much in accordance with the relevant laws but the problem is compounded by the general ignorance about what these laws are, starting with the way import sales taxes are charged, and with added confusion from misunderstanding of the term 'free trade'.

[00nevermind00]

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@afantiques wrote:

A listing that is using USPS Priority will state "USPS Priority Mail International".  They should change the wording as it can be misleading.

The wording has now been changed to 'Tracked international shipping'

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The screen shot I posted above still shows "International Priority Shipping".

Which is GSP-speak for "the cheapest carrier we could find". But in view of the high fees paid, it is understandable for buyers to expect some kind of "priority". Was this done on purpose? This wouldn't come as much of a surprise. Nothing surprises me anymore with the GSP.

[00nevermind00]

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@afantiques wrote:

The famous maple syrup case does seem to have been some  anomaly that was never explained.

In general I think the tariffs are pretty much in accordance with the relevant laws but the problem is compounded by the general ignorance about what these laws are, starting with the way import sales taxes are charged, and with added confusion from misunderstanding of the term 'free trade'.

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Who knows if there are other "out of whack" tariffs in other countries... Besides, the GSP team's flat refusal to even consider that they could be wrong is troubling. They never even said, "We'll investigate this." What they said was, "We know best." Or words to that effect.

With that in mind, is it any wonder the GSP remains so buyer-unfriendly, even many months after its implementation?

[afantiques]

It is in fact more than two years since the introduction, and in that time some small improvements have been implemented.

It is still a basically flawed concept, since no consideration at all was given to buyers, but some trivial alterations have been made. The older wording may appear on listings that have been active for some time. More recent listings go up with the revised wording.

The concept of priority in international shipping is pretty meaningless, since it was used to designate air rather than sea/land transport, and when the USPS abandoned surface mail, the old 'Priority' became the new 'Standard' but of course no one changed the name. Why not, it still fools the punters.

[pierrelebel]

In the meantime, contrary to what many posters predicted, the cross border trade has increased very substantially on eBay:

cross border trade volume ($14B) up 27%

While we all know GSP does not work well for most Canadian buyers in most transactions, reality is that eBay Inc has been experiencing a huge growth in cross border transactions.  Since Canada accounts for such a microscopic percentage of the total, our complaints are largely irrelevant to eBay.

For more information:

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ebay/3363425137x0x786727/23148f94-0e6c-4fa7-ba9e-d9a994ee311f...

[Anonymous]

Received notification, addressing error on original item (parcel).  According to message sent through Ebay for Global Shipping Program....

"We'll hold your item for 7 days while we wait for your updated address. If we haven't heard from you by then, we'll dispose of your item. We don't return undeliverable items to sellers. Once you've received your item, please contact your seller for instructions if you'd like to return it."

If a buyer is not able to access a computer sytem to be able to correct address or has no access to email account for whatever reason (accident, illness  etc)...it means Global Shipping WILL NOT return item to seller....question....who gets to keep the item that both the buyer or the seller will not get.......

Global Shipping should be returning all items to sellers if items cannot be delivered to buyers, much like USPS and Canada Post return items to senders if parcel is undeliverable.   Global Shipping has mailing address of seller, why can't Global SHipping print a label with seller's address????????????? AND RETURN ITEM TO THEM????????????????

THIS SOUNDS LIKE ANOTHER GOOD REASON NOT TO USE GLOBAL SHIPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[femmefan1946]

It does but on the financial side, the buyer is reimbursed his payment and the seller does not lose his payment.

Once the seller has delivered the item to Pitney Bowes /GSP , he is free of  all responsibility. To get back the item, PB would also have to reclaim the money the seller received.

And since the seller wanted money more than the item......

As I understand it, undeliverable items are sold by PB to cover their costs in processing unsuccessful deliveries.

[netspuz]

Although 999+ purity bullion (Silver: HS 7106.91.00.11 and Gold HS: 7108.12.00.11) are completely tax exempt in Canada, the Global Shipping Program charges double digit amounts for 'import charges'. This is a rip-off.... Should be illegal.

[gil.tar]

I purchased a saree from India which is being shipped to Canada (Free Economy International Shipping) and I want to know if I will be hit with any fees aside from paying for duties. Is there any hidden costs I should be made aware of? Also, are the duties automatically charged to my credit card that I used to purchase the item? I paid $64.00 USD which is around $71.76 and according to that value duties should be about $23.92 according to the Canada Customs Duty Calculator. Will the duties be taxed according to the amount I paid for the item or some other value? I just need to know if I'm going to be hit with any type of fees I'm not aware of. If I am going to be paying fees, please tell me what they're for.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Captivating-Maroon-Ethnic-Saree-Designer-Zari-Fancy-Work-Indian-Net-Sari-/17...

Thank you in advance : )

[pierrelebel]

"I want to know if I will be hit with any fees aside from paying for duties"

It is impossible to answer that question without knowledge of the carrier used by the shipper in India.

If shipping by mail, the parcel may be assessed for duty and taxes at time of Customs clearance. The rate for taxes varies from 5% GST to 15% HST depending on your province of residence. Canada Post will add a $9.95 handling fee at time of delivery or pick up at the post office.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/duty-droits-eng.html

If delivered by couriers such as UPS or Fed-Ex, duty and taxes will be charged at the same rate but the handling (brokerage) fee will be closer to $30 (including COD and disbursement fees).

For example: http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipping/cost/zones/customs_clearance.html