Ebay collecting Tax from Canadian buyer from non Canadian seller

[pansy19]

Hello everyone,

Can someone tell me since ebay collecting GST/HST from Canadian buyers buying from  non Canada's sellers .

I wanted to buy some Items from USA .

Each Item has Tax and Import charges  on checkout 

The same apply for ebay shipping OR Global shipping.

[mrdutch1001]

buyers' location determines the amount of tax whether that be Prov. Sales Tax, HST, GST. and it matters not where the seller is located. When Goods are being inported into Canada those goods are subject to any applicable taxes as per their category and value, as per CBSA rules governing such goods:

"Any item mailed to Canada may be subject to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and/or duty. Unless specifically exempted, you must pay the 5% GST on items you import into Canada by mail. The CBSA calculates any duties owing based on the value of the goods in Canadian funds."

[pansy19]

If is that truth , why there is no Tax on USPS Shipping on ebay ?

And this Tax are not calculated by CSBA , this is ebay taking in USD on Checkout .

I can't accept that Canada Border charge Canadian Residents in USD$ , and Tax is no determoned by Province .

The Tax on $ USD 500 to ON is how you see on pictures , this is not right.

My question is:

Why ebay charge Canada Residents HST/GST & Import charges in USD $ on Checkout  for items not listed on Global Shipping, not from Canadian sellers  ?

We Pay that in Canada once Item arrived to final destination OR to Mail Man at door not to ebay NOT in USD $ .

[marnotom!]

@pansy19  wrote:

Why ebay charge Canada Residents HST/GST & Import charges in USD $ on Checkout  for items not listed on Global Shipping, not from Canadian sellers  ?

We Pay that in Canada once Item arrived to final destination OR to Mail Man at door not to ebay NOT in USD $ .

---

Possibly because eBay Canada is well aware that items delivered to your door by a carrier other than Canada Post may be subject to some pretty ugly customs processing charges.  The Global Shipping Program and eBay International Shipping don't always use the postal system to get the item to your door.

This is an example of one of the many threads in the archives about the brokerage fees charged by some couriers:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/50-UPS-Brokerage-fee/m-p/60899

[reallynicestamps]

@pansy19 

My question is:

Why ebay charge Canada Residents HST/GST & Import charges in USD $ on Checkout  for items not listed on Global Shipping, not from Canadian sellers  ?

Because you purchased from a US seller listing on the US site in US dollars.

EBay processed the entire transaction in US dollars.

If you purchased from a Belgian seller listing on the Irish site, the transaction would be in euros*.

EBay would process the entire transaction in euros.

If you see the item in loonies that is an approximation to allow you to judge whether the transaction is a good deal, since most people work better in their own currency than in that of another nation.

It's not unusual for  company which operates internationally to have  sub-contract with the customs bureaus of other nations to handle import fees (duty and sales taxes) before the purchase gets to the border. This saves the taxpayer and the buyer time and money.

For imports from the USA with CUSMA (Nafta) the duty free allowance for Canadians is $150 Cdn (~$120USD)  and the tax free allowance is $40.

Most of what you are charged will be Canadian sales taxes.

*Both are members of the European Union and both nations use euros as their common currency.

[marnotom!]

Imports by individuals in Canada are just as subject to taxes as purchases from Canadian sellers.  The difference is that the Canada Border Services Agency  (or an agent of CBSA) is responsible for collecting on imports, where as the Canada Revenue Agency is responsible for domestic sales.

Items sent by mail are assessed by CBSA, although there seems to be some recognition by the Agency that it's not cost-effective to assess low value items, even though there's officially a C$20 tax-free limit for mailed items on the books.  Taxes on mailed items are generally collected by Canada Post at the time delivery is made.

Items sent by other means (e.g. couriers) have a C$40 tax-free limit if sent from the US, and the carrier or an agent of the carrier is responsible for seeing that those taxes get paid.  Quite often, the strategy is that the carrier or agent will advance the taxes on the buyer's behalf and the buyer pays the carrier or agent back.  This theoretically helps the item get through the customs process faster.

The GSP has been around since 2013 and is poised to die a quiet death this year as eBay International Shipping is replacing it.  There was a lot of hew and cry about the GSP's handling of taxes and duty when it was first unleashed on unsuspecting eBay buyers, as it was quite a different method of handling taxes than buyers were used to with items sent by mail, but it was a imperfectly legitimate way of doing so.  eBay International Shipping seems to be heading in that direction, too, after starting out as service that left the handling of taxes and duty to the Canadian shipper to collect at the time of delivery.

[brettjet38]

Zombie Thread From ‎07-15-2023 10:16 PM

[wildmustangs]

I'm hesitant to shop on eBay now, considering I'm being charged GST/HST as a Canadian consumer, being forced to pay Canadian taxes in a higher currency such as USD. The checkout designers of eBay seriously flawed that one up, if they are required to Collect for the Canadians, than charge it in Canadian dollars. That's upscaling and over shopping. 

[pansy19]

Sorry I don't pay Tax to France, Australia  OR  USA Sellers .

We pay Tax to Canadien   Sellers  on ebay .

I bought Item on ebay.com  from USA seller and charged Tax .

I bought Item from  another seller from USA and I'm not charged Tax .

Non of them are  business .

This is why I'm asking .How is possible you pay Tax to some  sellers , you don't to others from the same ground on the same site ?

Thank you

[marnotom!]

The sellers aren't collecting (and remitting) the taxes you're charged on an eBay transaction, and you're not paying the tax to the sellers. eBay charges taxes and remits them to the Canada Revenue Agency. If you don't want to pay taxes on your purchases, do your buying in person from sellers who aren't registered to collect and remit taxes. The laws for sales made through digital marketplaces are different than the laws covering person-to-person sales.

The reasons why some of your purchases from non-Canadian eBay sellers aren't taxed are that either your item's value was within the tax-free limit for casual imports ($20 or $40 depending on shipping method) or else it was sent directly by mail and left to chance when Canada Border Services inspected it.

[theoldestfart]

Items are subject to PST/GST or HST once they cross the Canadian border. It does not matter where they are purchased from since the purchaser is the one that has to pay the tax. If the item is being delivered by Canada Post there is also a $9.95 service fee also included. If you are dealing with a courier their brokerage fee aka service fee will probably be higher.