Why are shipping cost to Canada so high ? eBay is loosing a lot of customers including me

[vlady1945]

I will cancel my account because the buying cost is extravagant due you non justified shipping charges set by eBay

[pinetreecottage]

Try to contact  sellers for the cost of shipping to your location.  Most sellers will be happy to give you an exact quote.  Unfortunately, shipping is expensive within Canada.  That has nothing to do with ebay.

[femmefan1946]

Within Canada most sellers ship by Canada Post.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

From the USA most sellers choose either USPS

https://ircalc.usps.com/

or the Global Shipping Program.

You can spot the GSP sellers because in Search /List View on your laptop or desktop, these words appear:

Customs services and international tracking provided

The GSP  is a Seller Protection Program.

The most important things to understand about it are:

• It is NOT designed to help the buyer. It protects the Seller
• You are being charged Canadian duty and sales taxes (as well as a ~$5 service charge) in addition to the charge the seller collects for shipping.
• Once you have bid, the seller is pretty well required to ship through the program
• The GSP does not allow sellers to combine and discount shipping.

You can write your MP about the cost of shipping within Canada at

House of Commons

OTTAWA ON K1S 0A6

There is no need to stamp the envelope.

[aubreyclay56]

i do not go by shipping charges set by ebay never have never will,ebay charges the seller 10 percent to stat with,in canada the govt charges 15 per cent,the seller has no control over this,im in bc so the cost to ship to anywhere east of quebec is unreal,i can ship cheaper to new york air mail,all my items are tracked and insured,in some cases i will offer cheap shipping depending on the buyer must have awesome fb before i will ship w/0 tracking due to a few misguided buyers,things dont seem to get to there destination otherwise,

[femmefan1946]

Aubrey

EBay does not set any shipping charges.

The seller does that after considering her actual costs for shipping and packaging.

EBay does charge 10% on the seller's shipping fee.

Sometimes a seller has lower FVF on a particular category or because she has TRS status. In that case it makes sense to move part or all of the shipping cost to the asking price to reduce eBay fees.

This means using either Free Shipping or a massaged Flat Rate.

I have no idea how the government charges 15% on eBay shipping.

There is GST (5%) on shipping labels and on postage stamps. I don't use couriers, but I suppose there is at least GST on their charges too.

This is only true of items being shipped within Canada. Neither GST nor any form of provincial taxes are charged on exported shipments.

Regional rates for BC residents are for BC, AB and SK  only. National rates apply once you hit the MB border. 

The rates for the USA are more standardized at least for Small Packet, which I use fairly often.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s5

I prefer to use Cookie Jar Insurance, and put the pennies I charge as premiums and the money I don't pay for tracking into a virtual Cookie Jar for the occasional problem with an unhappy buyer.  Most people are honest, even when we disagree.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

... I have no idea how the government charges 15% on eBay shipping.

There is GST (5%) on shipping labels and on postage stamps.

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HST rate is charged by Canada Post for shipping to provinces that have it, so 15% for the 4 maritime provinces, 13% for Ontario.

[femmefan1946]

But BC went back to a separate PST  (7%) and GST(5%).

[pocomocomputing]

GST and HST Sales tax rate is charged on the destination of the package, not the location of the shipper.

[ypdc_dennis]

Which raise the interesting little question...

if you buy stamps where the local tax rate is 5% GST and use the stamps on package going to a province with 15% HST what does Canada Post collect for tax on the parcel?

Is it parcel cost before tax minus face value of stamps = amount still owing (with HST only applied to that amount)?

Which would be a savings advantage for discounted stamps for GST province sellers when mailing to HST provinces.

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