eBay

aerslan111 · ‎09-13-2015

Hi,

I live in Toronto, my question is how can I buy items from US sellers that don't ship to Canada, and pay them using Paypal.I want to use border PO Box service(kinek).Do I have to open a US bank account for Paypal address verification? or just add the US postal box address as a secondary address.Would I need a US dollar credit card? I would really appreciate any suggestion, because I have read a few posts and I am still unclear of how this would work.

Thank you

reid4311 · ‎09-13-2015

I buy compact discs from U.S. sellers who list as U.S. only shipping all the time. Here's what you can try. Contact the seller and politely tell him you live in Ontario Canada and would like to purchase whatever it is you want. Then ask if he'd consider granting you an exemption so you could buy / bid on the article and if so what the postage rate might be. You might be surprised. I've been turned down very rarely. If he agrees you by it like anything else and when the automated invoice comes and there's no postage you simply send a request for invoice which he'll send. You pay it and he'll post it to your home here.

pinetreecottage · ‎09-13-2015

That may not be allowed, however, there's nothing to prevent it. If the postage does not appear on the original invoice, your seller avoids the 10% fee on shipping. That's probably why they agree to this.

pinetreecottage · ‎09-13-2015

You can get your purchases sent to a US mailbox, if the address appears on your Paypal acct., and the seller will ship to a PO box (some won't). No need for a US bank acct. However, keep in mind, you now have to clear customs, just like any other time you cross the border.

femmefan1946 · ‎09-13-2015

Keep in mind that many US sellers use couriers like UPS rather than USPS for deliveries.

Couriers usually will not deliver to PO addresses because the postal staff will not sign for the delivered item.

You can get a US bank account through RBC and TD banks here in Canada, without the necessity for a US address which most US owned banks will want.

The cost of the account may be higher than your budget. We used it for our business, a store with about 10 employees and both Real Life and online divisions.

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-13-2015

You can add the U.S. address to your ebay account and make sure you choose that address when you pay. You might have to make it your primary address if the seller has certain type of blocks set up to prevent someone with a Canadian address from purchasing.

I could be wrong but I thought that it was now more difficult to get a post office box in the U.S. unless you had a physical U.S. address.

hmmm...maybe I"m thinking of a U.S. bank account which you won't need.

roadie16 · ‎09-13-2015

I use a US parcel pick-up store (SCC) all the time without any issues. I have never had a seller tell me that they would not ship to this address. A PO Box has scared away some sellers so I will not use a PO Box.

As others have stated, ensure that when you are ready to bid or BIN that your primary shipping address is shown as your parcel pick-up in the US.

You can easily change your address back and forth as you wish. Just make sure that if you want items shipped to Canada that you have made the change back before you bid or BIN.

Neither of these changes have anything to do with your invoice charges unless of course you have your item shipped to Canada from the USA, England, etc., where mailing costs could be very expensive.

aerslan111 · ‎09-16-2015

Thank you for your reply,Can you please give some more details about the parcel pickup store that you mentioned, is it a service like Kinek or a courier (UPS,Fedex) store.

Thank you

aerslan111 · ‎09-16-2015

@femmefan1946 wrote:
Keep in mind that many US sellers use couriers like UPS rather than USPS for deliveries.
Couriers usually will not deliver to PO addresses because the postal staff will not sign for the delivered item.

You can get a US bank account through RBC and TD banks here in Canada, without the necessity for a US address which most US owned banks will want.
The cost of the account may be higher than your budget. We used it for our business, a store with about 10 employees and both Real Life and online divisions.

Thank you for your reply, so if the courier won't deliver to a PO BOX what other options do I have and also if I get a RBC or a TD bank US dollar account does it make a transaction of this kind easier to and what kind of benefits do I get from this sort of US dollar account when buying on ebay.

Thank you

aerslan111 · ‎09-16-2015

Thank you to everyone for the great info .

marnotom! · ‎09-16-2015

@aerslan111 wrote:
So if the courier won't deliver to a PO BOX what other options do I have?

Forgive me if I'm letting this subject go sideways, but have you ever investigated forwarding services such as Shipito.com? Many of them have an office/warehouse address as their shipping destination.

femmefan1946 · ‎09-16-2015

also if I get a RBC or a TD bank US dollar account does it make a transaction of this kind easier to and what kind of benefits do I get from this sort of US dollar account when buying on ebay.

Frankly very little unless, like our business did, you have many thousands of US dollars coming into your various businesses weekly.

That's why I mentioned that we had around 10 employees on payroll when we retired. We opened the RBC/Centaura account when we had only five employees.

If your business is big enough to make having a merchant credit card account, then the US Bank account if probably worth it.

pierrelebel · ‎09-16-2015

"what kind of benefits do I get from this sort of US dollar account when buying on ebay."

NONE whatsoever for Canadian buyers.

Having a US dollar account at a US based bank can be useful to Canadian sellers with substantial volume, I had such account from 2000 until I retired a few years ago.

roadie16 · ‎09-16-2015

Here is a link to the parcel pick-up that I use. It will give you an idea of what might be available for you in your area.

http://www.usparcelpickup.com/

aerslan111 · ‎09-18-2015

Thank you and I asked the seller, he said he will ship to the US address if it appears on PayPal, I have read that paypal would not let me add a US address if I have an account on ebay.ca or have they changed their policy and would the seller charge me import fees even when the seller and the delivery address are in US.

Thank you

aerslan111 · ‎09-18-2015

@femmefan1946 wrote:
also if I get a RBC or a TD bank US dollar account does it make a transaction of this kind easier to and what kind of benefits do I get from this sort of US dollar account when buying on ebay.

Frankly very little unless, like our business did, you have many thousands of US dollars coming into your various businesses weekly.
That's why I mentioned that we had around 10 employees on payroll when we retired. We opened the RBC/Centaura account when we had only five employees.
If your business is big enough to make having a merchant credit card account, then the US Bank account if probably worth it.

Thank you would I be able to add a US address to my Canadian Paypal account without any issue, as the buyer can only ship to paypal verified address, and do I have to pay import fees when buying on ebay or when I bring it across from US to Canada.

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-18-2015

@aerslan111 wrote:
@femmefan1946 wrote:
also if I get a RBC or a TD bank US dollar account does it make a transaction of this kind easier to and what kind of benefits do I get from this sort of US dollar account when buying on ebay.

Frankly very little unless, like our business did, you have many thousands of US dollars coming into your various businesses weekly.
That's why I mentioned that we had around 10 employees on payroll when we retired. We opened the RBC/Centaura account when we had only five employees.
If your business is big enough to make having a merchant credit card account, then the US Bank account if probably worth it.
Thank you would I be able to add a US address to my Canadian Paypal account without any issue, as the buyer can only ship to paypal verified address, and do I have to pay import fees when buying on ebay or when I bring it across from US to Canada.

You can't add an U.S. address to your Canadian PP account but as mentioned in my other post, you can add it to your ebay account.

When you pay, you chose that address and that is the one that paypal will tell the seller to ship to.

You can import items up to $200 duty free if you are in the U.S. for more than 24 hours. According to the government info there are no exemptions if you are there for less than that but I have no idea how stringent they are as I've never crossed for that short of a time.

Less than 24 hours24 hours or more

Personal exemptions do not apply to same-day cross-border shoppers.

Up to CAN$200 – Alcohol and tobacco cannot be claimed. Goods must be in your possession at time of entry to Canada. If the value of the goods you have purchased abroad exceeds $200 after a 24 hour absence, duty and taxes are applicable on the entire amount of the imported goods.

femmefan1946 · ‎09-18-2015

It's my understanding that a US seller whose customer's Paypal account is not backed by a US bank pays a (small) premium to PP to accept the customer's payment.

Or more simply, US sellers pay more to PP for 'foreign' payments. No matter where the item is delivered.

I'm thinking of those trans-shippers so beloved of Japanese and South Korean buyers.

And we are talking about pennies here. A seller who would give up a $50 sale because he pays PP an extra dime? Cutting off his nose to spite his face.

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-19-2015

It's a 1 percent cross border fee. U.S. sellers have to pay it anytime a buyer pays with a non U.S. paypal account. Canadians have to pay it if someone pays with a non U.S. or non Canadian paypal account. I've never heard that it has anything to do with which bank the buyer deals with.