New compulsory "Import Fees" from USA to Canada

[what-a-guy-2002]

Member since 2010 (632 100% feedback). I have been experiencing the new compulsory "import fees" policy on items from USA. Surprising! I am disappointed with this policy. It is a negative one on many levels notwithstanding for USA and eBay revenues, as many like myself will now be sure to be motivated to resource items outside of USA, and outside of eBay.

Also disappointing is a story I was told that USPS recently (January 28, 2013) redefined Canada from being an 'intermediary' to an 'international' country, and therefore shipping fees from the USA to Canada have risen 80%!

Must be people in rooms in the USA racking their brains on how to support the USA economy versus just printing money.

[pierrelebel]

" It allows only that the value of a gift be $60 or less before duty and taxes are levied."

Parcels marked as "gifts" from a business are fully taxable from the first penny - no exemption

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/duty-droits-eng.html 

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/gifts-cadeaux-eng.html 

Items that do not qualify for the CAN$60 gift exemption include the following:

 items sent by a business.

[rainbow71113]

yes, 23 back and forth describing what a variation listing is, how to chose a particular book, that each book can be a different price, shipping is for EACH book not all 10, that someone else bought one of the others that's why there is no longer 10 available, how much the shipping would have cost if it HAD been all 10, etc. all this AFTER the negative was placed on my account.  Oh I have blocked the person but the damage is done.  All the Ebay reps are sympathetic that the feedback is wrong but can't find a policy to remove it.  I think Ebay should be revising it's policy on stupidity.  If it says Book in the title and someone leaves a negative saying I thought it was a dvd-since a title can never be changed after a listing sells -the negative should be removed because the seller can't control what the buyer reads.  It isn't the seller's fault that the buyer is negligent yet currently we are being penalized for just that.  I have actually phoned someone in the States and had them read my description to me and guess what ...they couldn't find it because they didn't scroll down...then lo and behold it's exactly what they put in the negative feedback as flaws....duh....so they agreed to remove the feedback.  But I'm certainly not calling India.

By the way femmefan....under that gruff exterior you are really a nice person...but it will be our secret

[canuckcurtis]

I hate these import fees! Since when did Canada become a third-world nation?

[cumos55]

Many US sellers that opted into the GSP  are working hard to "Opt-Out"

Evidently  opting out involved a major amount of revision ... based on one seller's comment...

Looked good...initially....  But sellers are losing sales after the sale has been made...

Buyers are choosing not to pay the extra... and high... fees.

[rainbow71113]

if you do a search on .ca and you see this under the title

"Customs services and international tracking provided"

this is a listing with the GSP shipping

so I avoid any listings that say this- saves me a lot of time going into listings.

[renfrewite]

I won't vote on that, because I don't like either of the options.  I have never paid an import fee when buying from the USA, so the COD option is not one I would pick either. 

This is the first I heard about an 80% increase in shipping cost from USA to Canada, but if it is true, I guess a lot of Canadians will start buying only from us Canadian sellers, so in my opinion this would be a good thing for Canadian sellers.

[rainbow71113]

what they meant by cod option is to take your chance with customs and pay if they charge you.  I'm pretty sure sellers on ebay do not send anything cod, or at least none that I've ever seen.

[northernsurplus50]

I know of a number of drop off locations in the Niagara / Buffalo NY area . These businesses in NY have 500 - 1000  Canadians , who purchase from the  USA , and have their items shipped to the NY address.   The Canadian buyer then drives to the NY border city where they had the item shipped to , pay the receiver $3 , fill their gas tank up and save $20 then return to Canada . When the item purchased is made in the US or Mex. all the buyer pays is the HST . 

[mayotrucklive]

Ebay has to gwt rid of these HIDDEN charges I have purchased a few things. Then seen the huge import "add on" right on the paypal screen after I agreed by contract to pay the guy.. I was mad to say the least. Ebay has to make these FEES visible prior to checkout.... otherwise I will just take my online shopping to ebid.

[pierrelebel]

"Ebay has to make these FEES visible prior to checkout...."

The "import charges" are visible on eBay.com, not on eBay.ca.

eBay is aware of the problem. When will it be corrected?  Who knows?  eBay does not a reputation to fix such problems quickly. 😞

In the meantime, Canadian buyers interested in purchasing an item from the USA should check the listing on eBay.com to get the complete information.

[mayotrucklive]

"Ebay has to make these FEES visible prior to checkout...."

The "import charges" are visible on eBay.com, not on eBay.ca.

eBay is aware of the problem. When will it be corrected?  Who knows?  eBay does not a reputation to fix such problems quickly. 😞

In the meantime, Canadian buyers interested in purchasing an item from the USA should check the listing on eBay.com to get the complete information.

Well thanks about ebay.com tip but its annoying as hell to have to do that... I never felt so ripped off from buying online since these "hidden fees" have poped up on ebay.ca

[rainbow71113]

as I stated in an earlier post

if you do a search on .ca and you see this under the title

"Customs services and international tracking provided"

this is a listing with the GSP shipping

so I avoid any listings that say this- saves me a lot of time going into listings

[pierrelebel]

"so I avoid any listings that say this"

Some relatively low value listings from the USA may offer lower fees with GSP than the $9.95 charged by Canada Post if taxes are levied.

[mayotrucklive]

Thanks i will exclude that from my searchs

[cwr47theatre]

To my good and valued sellers/suppliers in the good old US of A, please, please opt OUT of the eBay Global Shipping option.  It only antagonizes us poor buyers and will eventually drive paying bidders from your auctions.  I know that I check this now and no longer bid on items that use the Global Shipping Option (except when I screw up and forget to look).

I too have just been hit with this.  It is, in fact, eBay abdicating any responsibility for customer service and shipping questions to a third party, that being Pitney Bows.  The outcome is a HUGE increase in shipping costs for virtually no service.

Example - I buy and sell scale models and parts  Under the unified Duty agreement between Canada and the US this comes under tariff # 9503.10.xx and the duty is zero, nothing, zip, no money.  Scale model parts can be shipped using Canada Post or USPS for postage only.

With Pitney Bowes involved, they charge the buyer a fee, essentially a filling-out-the-paper tax when this is not required.  Canada Border Services (the duty and tax collectors at the border) are charged to fill in the requisite forms and collect any duty (none for scale models) and tax - GST.  THEY choose which pieces to inspect and charge.  We, the buyer, then get the bill at the time of delivery.  

By and large, I do not see any request for payment forms from the CBS except when the package is large or happens to be the one they randomly select.

So, if you are interested in selling to the highest bidder and that bidder is in Canada, you will be penalizing the winner.  Eventually we poor Canadians will get the point and no longer bid on items listed with the Global Shipping option.  Or, you will end up with a stalled sale and have to do all the paper/e-work to move the product.  Not the best business model.

CWR

[razmintaz]

An item I have been looking to get for months finally came up for sale today and I was so very excited..... until I saw that for a $200 item, the shipping was going to be $15 (reasonable) + a mandatory $87 in import charges!!! That is the most obscene thing I have seen on eBay in a while, Canadian customs are only 13% plus a 9.99 handling fee (and that is if it even gets put through customs, I find that 80% of items I order from the US don't even get charged customs wether they be 5 or 500$)... so had the seller just shipped normally, I would have paid $36 in Import fees... that means that eBay/shipping co. are making $51 on that sale!!!! I will not buy anything that is using this program unless the seller agrees to take on part of the cost.  eBay must think there are a lot of stupid people out there.... the sad thing is that there are.  Don't fall prey to eBay greed and boycot any seller using this feature.

[pierrelebel]

"unless the seller agrees to take on part of the cost."

Have you contacted the seller and ask if he would ship directly instead of shipping to Pitney Bowes for reshipment to you?

[rainbow71113]

Pierre,

my seller called Ebay and they said it was against policy to sidestep Pitney once the sale has been completed.  I had asked if I could pay directly through paypal money request for just the shipping and the only option Ebay offered to the seller was to cancel the transaction.  Since it was only for around $3.00 I just paid it.

[pierrelebel]

"they said it was against policy to sidestep Pitney...."

That sounds very much like eBay. 😞

I would love to see if that policy is available in writing on the site!

[rainbow71113]

I just went through the policies and other than this "Unpaid Items and Payment Failure. Your Buyer’s purchases of GSP Items under the Program are subject to eBay’s unpaid item policy. " I don't see any mention of what to do if the seller wants to change the terms after a sale.

on another note I noticed this in the announcements As previously announced, Tracked Packet - USA and Tracked Packet - International are now available on P...

I do see it is an option but so far, as of today, it still says not available.  Anyone know when paypal is going to get it up and running?