International sales, Canada to the US
Summary: lovebomb asked for advice on avoiding brokerage and handling fees when shipping internationally, as they are considering selling on eBay from Canada. recped and byto253 explained that shipments to the US usually won’t have extra fees if the value is below $800 USD, especially if using Canada Post. marnotom! added that US buyers pay sales tax at checkout, and pjcdn2005 explained that eBay only collects tax for Canadian buyers purchasing from within Canada. femmefan1946 highlighted that the buyer must know their importing rules, stressing challenges with European countries due to VAT. The discussion provided multiple perspectives on the implications of taxes and fees in international selling.
My last two posts were about getting dinged with a brokerage fee from Canada Post when buying from the US. My next question is about trying to avoid similar issues when sending orders internationally.
So, for the Canadian eBay sellers selling internationally, do you ever hear of situations where buyers get dinged with excessive fees, such as handling or brokerage fees nearly ten dollars or even more than that (when picking up their order)? Because thats going to really cause problems at some point, such as the unwillingness of a buyer to pay the fees/pick up an order.
Opinions please. I am getting cold feet on selling internationally at this point and need to know more.
femmefan1946
·2 years agoThe buyer is always responsible for knowing what can and cannot be imported to their country and what duty or sales taxes they are responsible for paying.
And if an eBay purchase is returned to you as Undeliverable (because the importer/buyer would not pay import fees or if the item was banned) you are not required by eBay to refund anything. Nada.Zip. Rien du tout.
This rarely happens with US customers because their duty-free is so high and because eBay already collected their applicable sales taxes.
Where we see it is with Europe, where VAT runs 15-20% and there is often a national culture of tax dodging. I have a $100 item refused by an Icelandic customer on my desk right now.
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoDeleted my post as I misread the op
marnotom!
·2 years agolovebomb
OP2 years agoCan you or anyone tell me why I am not shown an option to pay GST or PST when importing?
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoThe Canadian govt requires that Canadians buying from Canadians are charged tax, They don't require eBay to collect tax for Canadians who buy from US sellers so eBay doesn't usually collect it. But EIS does collect on some listings. You will be able to tell as those listings will show import fees. EBay has said that the EIS will eventually give buyers a choice of paying import fees up front but I doubt that they will ever give that choice when a seller ships directly unless they are mandated to do so.
byto253
·2 years agoAs @recped indicated under $800US is no issue at all, and if sending by Canada Post you are very safe within that parameter. I sent 2 items with UPS bought through eBay labels and there was no issue - the sales value were around $90US and $135US for those.
List away!!!
recped
·2 years agoShipments sent from Canada ro the US will absolutely have no duty, tax or fees if the declared value is below US$800 (roughly CA$1100).
In practice shipments sent using Canada Post will not require a formal customs entry unless the value exceeds US$2500.
If you use UPS or Fedex, brokerage fees WILL apply if the value exceeds US$800.
ignatia
·2 years agoGood info to have.