eBay

*aurora-*-borealis* · ‎03-22-2013

I bought a pair of earrings from a US seller for $0.99. That's 99 CENTS not dollars! When I went to pay via PayPal, it showed the cost of the item plus shipping fees as usual, but then they added a duties/tax or whatever fee for more than $3.00 to the total. Uh... why do I have to pay this fee when the product in question is only 99 cents? Not to mention a fee that's over 300% of the cost of the item itself!??!?? Even including the cost of shipping, it's still below the no tax allowance of $20.00 for products imported to Canada. So again, what's with this added fee??? Is anyone else experiencing something similar?

nuvistors · ‎03-22-2013

Since ebay introduced their global shipping you must be very carefull when buying from a foreign country. Items that would normally not be charged any duty or taxes are being charged , with ebay and Pitney Bowes sharing the profit.

*aurora-*-borealis* · ‎03-22-2013

I'm learning. If I see a section that says "import charges", I'm going to pass. First the shipping fee hike and now this. *sigh*

rose-dee · ‎03-22-2013

I'm learning. If I see a section that says "import charges", I'm going to pass. First the shipping fee hike and now this. *sigh*

Yep, eBay and Pitney-Bowes have thought up a new scheme for making money. Check some of the other strings posted here lately. U.S. sellers are apparently often unaware of what the buyer really pays.

If enough buyers become educated, and enough sellers opt out, hopefully this middleman rip-off will die. It seems many sellers aren't fully aware of what they're getting into when they press the button to accept the Global Shipping Programme - it's sold to them by eBay as protecting their ratings, which is complete and utter nonsense.

It's bad for buyers and for sellers. Hopefully word is getting out.

Anonymous · ‎03-23-2013

Lets hope that eBay have to "retire" the Global Shipping Program like they did "retired" with the eBucks for the Canadian buyers just because it didn't met their expectations!! ]:)