eBay

habanera4ima · ‎06-28-2013

This "third party" Pitney Bowes is running a disgusting scam on eBay! How can customers make ebay aware that this is a fraud ? This third party does not represent official customs an does not give US or Canadian customs any money, they put it all in their pockets. By using fraudulously the term "custom fees", they are not only lying to ebay buyers, but also to official authorities who are not getting these extra "custom fees". Sellers! Why do you make business with these people? they are stealing money from you and from your customers! If ebay cannot or will not take action, this fraud issue will be taken directly to the federal governments of both countries to unveil the scam. Enough is enough!

melissasminis · ‎11-14-2013

I made an offer on an item last week, one that offers the GSP. The item was $19.95 buy it now plus $14.30 shipping, and I offered $14.50. When I made the offer of $14.50, the shipping cost went up to $17.72. So instead of getting a $5.45 discount with the offer, I was getting a $2.03 discount, kind of defeats the purpose of making an offer in the first place. It never used to be like this. Makes no sense to me!

chimera148 · ‎11-14-2013

At the 19.95 BIN price the item likely showed some import charges. When you paid the lower price, some of those import charges were most likely transferred to shipping.

It's sneaky and deceiving, to say the least.

barrettsmallengine · ‎11-15-2013

I was charged $27.18 USD as a "Import Fee" on a $100 purchase and they have not provided any proof or documentation to show this was payed to any government agency as a "Import Fee"

This fraudulent "Import Fee" is NOT being payed to any governement agency as a "Import Fee". This money is being pocketed as Pitney Bowes fraud. EBay should not allow this to be described as a "Import Fee" because it is really a Brokerage Fee. Brokerage fees are just profit for sneaky companies like Pitney Bowes. Import Fees are paid to government customs agencies.

We all need to start filing complaints with the F.B.I. and the RCMP about this Pitney Bowes scam or fraud.

We could also refuse to pay it and start giving negative feedback to any seller who chooses to participate in this Pitney Bowes Fraud.

$30 shipping and $27.18 "Import Fee" to get a $100 dollar item from Kentuckey to Ontario. Does EBay really expect us to accept this?

pierrelebel · ‎11-15-2013

"$27.18 USD as a "Import Fee""

I suspect the amount of $27.18 includes

1) duty (doll manufactured in China for Mattel)

2) and 13% HST (may vary depending on your province)

3) and a handling (brokerage fee) (usually about $4/$5).

It is impossible to guess how much would have been charged by Canada Customs and Canada Post but I suspect the amount would be about the same, possibly a bit more since Canada Post charges $9.95 handling fee whenever taxes are charged by Canada Customs.

pierrelebel · ‎11-15-2013

On the other hand, your post raises another question:

Why can't eBay force American sellers wishing to use GSP to indicate the country of origin in the listing?

This would minimize surprises about duty being applicable when goods are imported from the USA but are not manufactured in the USA.

tobyshitzu · ‎11-15-2013

there is no duty on dolls

pierrelebel · ‎11-15-2013

It depends how it is classified.

If "china - porcelain" it would attract 6.5% duty from China.

It is guesswork - That is always a problem when we do not have exact classification and/or country of origin

canadiansellerofstuff · ‎11-18-2013

As a Canadian I avoid bidding on items using this new shipping arrangement, unless I'm getting something at a ridiculous low price. I look for items shipped by US Post...couriers are expensive and you get dinged with custom fees.

toolsinbox · ‎11-19-2013

This has been an educational thread and I want to thank all the contributors.

I was stung by this scheme in the fullest sense of the e-bay and Pitney- Rain bow plan. I was completely taken in by the " all in price".

When the item arrived and there was no details on the taxes, duty and shipping charges, our auditor wasn't pleased and made a few calculations and discovered that I paid approximately 8 % to much. I contacted e-bay and they referred me to the line in their policy that buyers are not entitled to a refund if charges were higher than actual landed costs. I asked haw often this happens and they said they do not have stats relating to my question. I went further to ask if she ( e-bay agent) had taken any calls like this before mine? Her response was that she had ! She referred me to Pitney-rainbow and gave me the number.

I dialed the number and chose the options from the prompts and as I was waiting for someone to answer I thought of a few laws that I had studied at university. The first one is the " good faith" law and the other was something like" import contributions elected agent ". I hung up the phone and started a brief research campaign that took me to a levels beyond my education and experience but a few things were glaring at me so I sent it to our legal department. First was the protection of the Canadian Government to a citizen wronged through a corrupt scheme enabled by a government abroad. The second was the Canadian law that states the illegality to tariff and Canadian tax and collectively impose such charges on it citizens from entities abroad. This law is echoed in many Provincial statutes right across Canada!

Our legal department sent me a note that detailed the breach of the NAFTA agreement when an entity abroad adds fees and costs to Canadian taxes. They further stated that a suit could be brought against Pitney Bowes for unfair practice but would not be of value given the cost to benefit ratio. lastly, our legal department sent a letter to the Minister of Finance outlining this practice.

The end of the story is I faxed the information to Pitney rainbow and phoned them immediately following, and explained my position. They apologized and sent me a full refund for the entire cost of the grouping of items they processed. I received an e-mail from Pay pal while I was on the phone indicating the impending refund which was applied to my credit card at some point later.

What they are doing is not only unfair but against the law. I did not take it laying down and nor should anyone else.

toolsinbox · ‎11-19-2013

Cont...

As an important note; our company no longer deals with e-bay at all ! I personally use e-bay but will not deal with a seller using that system.

Lesson learned!

chimera148 · ‎11-19-2013

Thank you for sharing your experience.

konamicode · ‎11-19-2013

Pitney Bowes is a stupid sounding name. Screw the GSP. I'm never buying from any one who uses it.

SHAME ON FEEBAY!

men2mat · ‎11-19-2013

I Agree.

GSP is a bogus program.

Packages for US to Canada hardly get taxed.

For me I am a workpermit in Canada and I don't have to pay taxes, because I am expected to leave thi Country.

I just had to pay 10 bucks extra no where there is an option provided to NOT to USE this "SERVICE".

marnotom! · ‎11-20-2013

@toolsinbox wrote:

This has been an educational thread and I want to thank all the contributors.
I was stung by this scheme in the fullest sense of the e-bay and Pitney- Rain bow plan. I was completely taken in by the " all in price".
When the item arrived and there was no details on the taxes, duty and shipping charges, our auditor wasn't pleased and made a few calculations and discovered that I paid approximately 8 % to much. I contacted e-bay and they referred me to the line in their policy that buyers are not entitled to a refund if charges were higher than actual landed costs...

etc.

Why did an auditor review this purchase? This is sounding to me as though this was intended as a commercial transaction, and according to the terms and conditions, the GSP isn't set up for that.

Note that I'm not trying to to justify what PitneyBowes is doing otherwise. I'm merely musing out loud about this transaction possibly being a square peg in a round hole.

marnotom! · ‎11-20-2013

I'm also curious as to how this auditor concluded there was an overpayment of 8% when there's no clues given as to how much is being charged for the various import/export processing fees. We don't even know what specific "services" were rendered!

chimera148 · ‎11-20-2013

@marnotom! wrote:

This is sounding to me as though this was intended as a commercial transaction, and according to the terms and conditions, the GSP isn't set up for that.

Are you thinking the item was for resale ?

I think a business can buy GSP items for their own use, but not resale.

http://pages.ebay.com/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html

grovecycles · ‎11-22-2013

The global shipping program is far from the cheapest alternative for any sale. I've been buying from the USA for years and items shipped USPS rarely ever arrive with duties or taxes owing unless the value is over 100. Now, I just looked at an item I would like to buy, it's $149 an the estimated duties throgh eBay are $60.52 that's 40%. The duties and taxes should be 15% or $22.50. ... So where does the other $38 go ?. This is a total scam, I feel bad for the people who signed up for this program because I will never buy from them, same way I won't use UPS because of the high brokerage rates, about the same price as the GSP.

tobyshitzu · ‎11-22-2013

What is the item? If its clothes then +18% duty + Hst is indeed close to 40%

reallynicestamps · ‎11-23-2013

Pitney Bowes is a stupid sounding name.

Yep that's a good reason for not wanting to use the program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitney_Bowes

For me I am a workpermit in Canada and I don't have to pay taxes,

As an Ottawa resident, I am familiar with diplomats who are not required to pay taxes, even consumption taxes. However, most of them do and at the end of the fiscal year, reclaim all the monies spent from Revenue Canada (and through them, the provincial revenue departments.) There is a special form available.
But on a day to day basis, the taxes are paid. I have told a customer that she was no longer welcome in my shop because of her insistence that I remove the taxes on the cash register sale on the basis of showing her diplomatic service card. (She was a spouse, not a diplomat.) Since it was a quiet day, I made sure that I took up well over half an hour with many errors and slow arithmetic removing the disputed tax while she became more and more frustrated. For a $25 sale.