Can a Canadian prepay for a US Postal Serv. shipping label?

[burge.ca2015]

Is there any way for a Canadian to prepay for a shipping label from the US Post. Serv.?  I would like to send (email) the seller a prepaid US Post. Serv. shipping label instead of using the GSP. The seller has agreed to this but after going through the USPS web site, it seems that a Canadian can't prepay for a package that is being sent from the US to Canada. Is this correct, or am I not doing something correctly when I try to do this? I would like to use either Priority Mail Inter. or First-Class Package Inter. It wouldn't save me a huge amount, but it is still a savings and I wouldn't have to pay ebay/Pitney Bowes the import fees.

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

"...and I wouldn't have to pay ebay/Pitney Bowes the import fees...."

Careful here.

If you made a purchase on eBay where the listing showed GSP was being used ("import charges', etc...) then PayPal will automatically charge your account for these "import fees".

If you are trying to have a seller ship to you directly, DO NOT purchase the listing on eBay if it indicates it is coming through GSP (Global Shipping Service).

Ask the seller to prepare a new listing with direct shipment to you (using USPS) - NOT using GSP.

There is no need to send prepaid postage to the seller.  He should simply add it to your invoice and buy the postage at the post office or through PayPal.

KISS

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

BTW- Every purchase valued at $20 ($16USD)  imported into Canada is supposed to be assessed for applicable duty and SALES TAX and the shipping company will charge a service fee for this.

However, Canadian Border Services has tended to ignore items that are valued so low that the cost of processing the duty and TAX is going to be higher than the money collected. Good common sense on the part of the bureaucrats.

BUT, commercial services like UPS and PitneyBowes/GSP must legally collect this money.

What this means for you is:

If your purchase is under $100, it is probably best to ask your seller to make your special listing and ship via USPS/Canada Post.

Note that many sellers will react with fear and bid cancellation to such a request.

BUT--over $100 you may as well ship through the GSP and save money on the lower GSP service fee compared to the Canada Post service fee.

[pjcdn2005 · Accepted solution]

When I explored the USPS recently I got the  impression that if you signed up for a USPS account you could do that but didn't actually go as far as trying to set one up so I could be wrong. However, I don't really understand why it's necessary for you to prepay for the label. If the listing was an auction set up with the gsp and you haven't paid yet,  the seller can figure out what the postage will be (or you can figure it out for them) and then they can go to paypal, and set up an invoice using the ebay item number as a reference and send you an invoice for the item plus shipping. If they don't already have your paypal email address they will need that.

If you haven't purchased the item yet and it is a buy it now item, it may still be possible to put the item in a cart and then click on 'ask seller for an invoice'.

[bookstotheborder · Accepted solution]

It can be difficult for a Canadian to print postage on the USPS site.  Some are successful.  But you need a US return address---and a US bank credit card

Where are you located?

[burge.ca2015]

I'll try to answer everybody's questions in one post. I'm in Saskatoon. It was an auction and I did win. I just reviewed the communication I had with the seller when I asked about shipping direct and not using the GSP (I asked my questions before making any bids). When he said that he would agree to that and if I send a shipping label to them, I thought that meant a prepaid label. Seemed to make sense at the time. 

I subsequently ended up just going with the GSP as originally listed. The potential cost savings if I had been able to have it shipped direct would have been about $21 US (or $26 CDN), which is what the import charges were. The shipping itself would have been roughly the same amount as the GSP or maybe a few dollars more. Taking that into account, the overall savings would have been a bit less than the $21 ($26) mentioned, but still a savings nonetheless.

Now, I know that I may not have been able to avoid paying the applicable taxes/fees/duty anyway, but since I so far have not had to pay them on my purchases when the GSP was not used, I figured what have I got to lose by trying? For example, one of my recent purchases was for a $335-350 CDN item from overseas and I did not have to pay these. If I have to pay them so be it. But if I don't have to pay, even better. That's the way I look at it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained - as the saying goes. Besides, I always factor in the taxes/duty/fees that I may have to pay when deciding what to bid on or buy. If it turns out that I don't have to pay them, well, that's just a bonus.

Also, with the confusion that some US sellers still have over the GSP and their knowing (or unknowing as the case may be) of the GSP being used/listed as the shipping method for their ad or auction, it was just simpler for me this time around.  I'm amazed that there are still sellers that don't know how their listing appears to those viewing it. Don't they ever look at their own listings to see how it appears and to make sure everything is accurate and looks right?

Thanks for the replies, now I have a better idea of what can be done on the seller's end of things

[pocomocomputing]

A seller or buyer default shipping location is their country in their eBay profile. In order for the USA seller to see GSP charges, they would have to view their listings, go to the Shipping and Payments tab, change the country from the USA to another country (like Canada), click on "Get Rates", and then the listings would show the the GSP import charges. (This is for a desktop computer, for mobile smartphones, I do not know how they would proceed. Most likely something similar.)

If the USA seller was not aware that they were in the GSP program and even selling international, they would have no reason to do the steps above. So a USA seller would never have a hint that they are in the GSP just by looking at their listings, either the main description page nor the Shipping and Payments page, since it would show shipping to the USA (no GSP to themselves).

[burge.ca2015]

Thanks for the info. For me, this is yet another strike against the GSP. What ebay should be doing is clearly explaining to the seller what their listing page will appear like when a buyer, who is in a different country, is viewing it and what shipping methods will be added or offered to that prospective foreign buyer (ie. the GSP) if different from what the seller had specified. They should also clearly explain to the seller what the implications are for the foreign buyer if they choose the GSP. I've come across both informed and uninformed  US sellers regarding the GSP and it's implications and it often being unnecessary, so I'm not sure what to make of it when the seller is unaware of it being used for their ad. How is it that one is knowledgeable and the next one is not? Especially when you're looking at items that are the same (or similar) and the "ship to" countries are the same and the shipping options, etc. Basically the ads are the same except one seller is aware and the other is not. What is the unaware seller not doing that the aware one is? Is it just laziness on the unaware sellers part by not reading the relevant info when they make their listing?  With every month that goes by my dislike of the GSP gets stronger and my refusal to buy from sellers that use it (or that won't accommodate my request to not use it) also strengthens.

[reallynicestamps]

How is it that one is knowledgeable and the next one is not?

You realize that is one of the great philosophical questions of all time?

The average !Q is 100. Which means half of those are under 100.

And some people are too lazy to pay attention to what is happening until it all blows up and then they are looking around saying 'What?'