eBay

rawx4u · ‎08-23-2021

I bought a used pair of shoes from Virginia (Not very far from where I am, Quebec) I paid 15$ in the end of the listing and there was no mention of Fedex in the invoice. I received a bill from Fedex asking to pay 87$ to receive my parcell. What shpould I do, I don't want to pay this and I want to be refunded for the shoes at this point I donKLt want them anymore this seller is abusing me I don't want nothing from him anymore. Can I refuse the shoes and ask the seller a refund?

tyler@ebay · ‎08-25-2021

@femmefan1946 wrote:

The "customs brokerage/service fees" of FedEx and UPS are notorious.

There is an archived thread of screams, howls and complaints about these that is some 5000 posts long.

It's one of the reasons eBay started its own freight forwarding service called the Global Shipping Program, which also has its faults but only charges a service fee of ~$5USD.

You paid Canadian duty on the value of the sneakers over $150 and sales tax on an import over $40 (Cdn).

As pj says, it is the duty of the importer to know that duty and sales taxes will be due on delivery.

Refusing the parcel is taken by eBay to mean that the shipment was Undeliverable and the seller is not required to refund.

Which puts you between a rock and a hard place.

He should do so on return if he is an ethical seller. Message him about the problem.

This does not appear to be the seller's fault, since he did not choose the last mile shipping service.

EBay should be smart enough to choose a more reasonably priced shipping service. tyler@ebay could this be brought to the attention of the Authentication Program? I'm a little surprised the Program doesn't use either eBay's own International Shipping or the GSP. At a guess, eBay does not trust it's own shipping services.

Thanks for the tag @femmefan1946 - I wasn't aware of this particular quirk of the Authentication program. I've gotten this sent on for feedback and will let you know if I hear back from that team!

Tyler,

View solution in original post

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-23-2021

It depends...did the listing specify the shipping service that was being used...USPS, Fedex...??

Were the shoes first sent to ebays authenticity program or were they sent direct to you?

It might help if you don't mind giving the item number.

rawx4u · ‎08-23-2021

Hi, Item is 133844096563

Seller did not specified Fedex as shipping carrier+ there was an authenticity check

There was no posting carrier specification at all in the description
I called Fedex and asked to not come here anymore that I had never bought this item (eBay rep. told me that if I refuse the item I could ask for a refund) I want a refund since the seller has completely abused me

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-23-2021

No the seller did not abuse you. The money that Fedex is asking for is not for shipping, it is for gst/hst, duty and a brokerage fee. Other than the brokerage...which is an expensive service fee, they have to pay the Canadian government those fees. The seller did not choose to send them that way, the Authenticate program did. Even if they had been sent via USPS/Canada Post, you may have had to pay gst/hst and duty as well as a $9.95 service fee.

Normally if you refuse an item because you don't want to pay tax and duty then the seller is not obligated to refund as they will not receive the shipping back that it cost to send the item to you. They will also have to pay for shipping back to them. It's your responsibility to know that you will have some fees to pay when buying from another country. The exception is if the seller specifies that they are sending through the postal system and then sends with a courier but if this case, there is no service specified so I don't know how it will play out. Plus, I am guessing that the package will go back to the Authenticate program, not to the seller so I'm not sure if the seller will ever receive the item back. I don't know if that ebay rep gave you good advice or not but I do hope it works out for you. If you can ask Fedex to hold the parcel for a bit you might want to do so and then contact customer service by sending a message through Facebook or Twitter. They may have a different perspective.

tyler@ebay

I know that you can't speak to an individual case but since the Authenticate listings don't mention that a courier will be used, is a buyer required to accept the package and pay the fees even though the fees may be quite a more than had the package been sent through the post office?

Any suggestions for this buyer?

femmefan1946 · ‎08-23-2021

The "customs brokerage/service fees" of FedEx and UPS are notorious.

There is an archived thread of screams, howls and complaints about these that is some 5000 posts long.

It's one of the reasons eBay started its own freight forwarding service called the Global Shipping Program, which also has its faults but only charges a service fee of ~$5USD.

You paid Canadian duty on the value of the sneakers over $150 and sales tax on an import over $40 (Cdn).

As pj says, it is the duty of the importer to know that duty and sales taxes will be due on delivery.

Refusing the parcel is taken by eBay to mean that the shipment was Undeliverable and the seller is not required to refund.

Which puts you between a rock and a hard place.

He should do so on return if he is an ethical seller. Message him about the problem.

This does not appear to be the seller's fault, since he did not choose the last mile shipping service.

EBay should be smart enough to choose a more reasonably priced shipping service. tyler@ebay could this be brought to the attention of the Authentication Program? I'm a little surprised the Program doesn't use either eBay's own International Shipping or the GSP. At a guess, eBay does not trust it's own shipping services.

marnotom! · ‎08-24-2021

@femmefan1946 wrote:

eBay should be smart enough to choose a more reasonably priced shipping service.

In this day and age, US$15 to ship a pair of shoes from Texas to Quebec with a carrier other than USPS is pretty darned reasonable. The problem is the brokerage and other customs charges, which work out to somewhere between C$35 and C$40. You can't have both a cheap trackable (and supposedly "secure") shipping service and cheap brokerage fees. I suspect the eBay shipping team didn't even take the customs processing charges into consideration when deciding on a shipping method for the Authentication Program, or else they somehow figured that Canadian buyers were pretty savvy when it came to customs charges for unknown shipping methods.

reallynicestamps · ‎08-24-2021

I'm less sanguine than you about that.

I really doubt they thought about non-US customers at all and were happy with the service (and price) FedEx promised them.

I agree that most of the cost the OP was told to pay were Canadian import fees, and that he would have to pay those to any shipper.

The part I am concerned about is just that Customs Brokerage fee.

Canada Post brokers for $9.95Cdn. GSP/Pitney Bowes for ~$5USD.

FedEx and UPS have much much higher service charges.

And since neither the seller nor the buyer has any control or choice, eBay should have done more research.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zoë : Sanguine. Hopeful. Plus, point of interest, it also means "bloody".

Mal : Well, that pretty much covers all the options, don't it?

theoldestfart · ‎08-24-2021

I refuse to use UPS for cross-border shipments from the USA. They have screwed me over far too many times even on shipments where the shipper was to pay all fees for a shipment. They email you when the item is about to be delivered telling you to pay online otherwise additional fees will be charged if the driver has to collect the duties/GST/PST at the door upon delivery.

marnotom! · ‎08-24-2021

@theoldestfart wrote:

I refuse to use UPS for cross-border shipments from the USA. They have screwed me over far too many times even on shipments where the shipper was to pay all fees for a shipment.

I respectfully submit that no eBay seller in their right mind would agree to such an arrangement.

theoldestfart · ‎08-25-2021

Sorry meant to say that the receiver (not the shipper) had to pay for all fees for the shipment normally the same day that the item is out for delivery.

One such delivery via UPS was for an RMA from Seagate where Seagate had sent the replacement item up to Canada via UPS all fees included and UPS tried to collect charges from me upon delivery. This fiasco occurred to multiple people. Seagate advised me to refuse delivery of the item and I had to wait 3 additional weeks to get a replacement item sent again without any additional fees.

tyler@ebay · ‎08-25-2021

@femmefan1946 wrote:

The "customs brokerage/service fees" of FedEx and UPS are notorious.

There is an archived thread of screams, howls and complaints about these that is some 5000 posts long.

It's one of the reasons eBay started its own freight forwarding service called the Global Shipping Program, which also has its faults but only charges a service fee of ~$5USD.

You paid Canadian duty on the value of the sneakers over $150 and sales tax on an import over $40 (Cdn).

As pj says, it is the duty of the importer to know that duty and sales taxes will be due on delivery.

Refusing the parcel is taken by eBay to mean that the shipment was Undeliverable and the seller is not required to refund.

Which puts you between a rock and a hard place.

He should do so on return if he is an ethical seller. Message him about the problem.

This does not appear to be the seller's fault, since he did not choose the last mile shipping service.

EBay should be smart enough to choose a more reasonably priced shipping service. tyler@ebay could this be brought to the attention of the Authentication Program? I'm a little surprised the Program doesn't use either eBay's own International Shipping or the GSP. At a guess, eBay does not trust it's own shipping services.

Thanks for the tag @femmefan1946 - I wasn't aware of this particular quirk of the Authentication program. I've gotten this sent on for feedback and will let you know if I hear back from that team!

Tyler,

marnotom! · ‎08-25-2021

@theoldestfart wrote:

One such delivery via UPS was for an RMA from Seagate where Seagate had sent the replacement item up to Canada via UPS all fees included and UPS tried to collect charges from me upon delivery. This fiasco occurred to multiple people.

To me, it sounds as though the screw-up was on Seagate's end as the documentation UPS has for the shipment should indicate who pays the import-related charges, but since I can't see the paperwork, all I can do is wildly speculate.

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-25-2021

I'm not familiar with shippers paying ALL import charges although when an item is sent with a courier express service, brokerage fees are included in the price so the seller would be paying those. But the buyer would still be responsible for duty and tax.

I'm not saying that it's not possible that the shipper agreed to pay taxes and duty, just saying that definitely isn't the usual scenario.

retroman_studios · ‎08-26-2021

Most carriers do have options for the sender to bear the burden of any costs. DHL is among those. If you have a UPS or FedEx account I think you can do it that way too. It's a huge pile of red tape but it does exist.

clemowbooks · ‎08-27-2021

I'm not familiar with shippers paying ALL import charges although when an item is sent with a courier express service, brokerage fees are included in the price so the seller would be paying those.

That's pretty much how the GSP works.
GSP charges an amount for "import fees" uses that to pay duty and tax, and keeps any leftover as their service fee.

Then the GSP is the importer of record, and the buyer/importer has to get those fees refunded by GSP (not the CSBA or the seller) if there is a Dispute.