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.

[zg77vics]

I hear you brother thats exactly how I feel!

[happymealtoys]

this makes no sense, your force the buyers to pay double for shipping when there is no need.I can understand paying taxes and customs when needed but why force the seller to send to a 3rd party and force the buyer to pay for shipping TWICE!

Ebay has been around for over a decade without any problems and without giving a flying F--- about collecting taxes to the gov't and now, that's the best defense you guys come up with?

[rainbow71113]

one thing I've noticed since all the backlash is on .com there used to be a banner across the top encouraging sellers to use GSP....."to simplify shipping" that is no longer on there...interesting...

[happymealtoys]

This GSP is billed as one on Paypal But Visa is charging me twice the fees for my item and the GSP.

5/31/2013FE Foreign Transaction Fee$4.32

5/31/2013FE Foreign Transaction Fee$1.35

5/30/2013VS PAYPAL *EYEWEARSTEA 4029357733 NYUS$127.48

5/30/2013VS PAYPAL *PITNEYBOWES 4029357733 NEUS$28.21

at this stage it's simple robbery.

[happymealtoys]

*pre-paid Visa CC.

[hapayzwei]

The shipping costs are ridiculous

[maggiep40]

This happened to me awhile back! Purchased a coach purse and went to check out and was charged a additional 58.00 approx. The extra charges didn't appear till checkout and then sell got nasty.

[crafty_cat_lady]

The shipping costs are ridiculous

You can report sellers who quote exhorbitant shipping costs. And if they say they have no choice, they may not realize they actually do. Ebay's shipping estimates are sometimes so insanely off, you might think the shipping was between Earth and the Moon, not on the same continent. It's crazy, I'm in Canada and I get better postal service from the UK than the US and sometimes my own country.

[dobidy]

Amazing! Now one more reason to seek other sites to purchase my goods. I rarely buy from US sellers since the advent of UPS illegal brokerage fees. I believe it is also illegal to charge import fees whilst shipping to Canada. eBay should notice an even greater drop in activity now that the ridiculous import fee is in place. I wil not pay import or brokerage fees so it looks like I will not be using ebay.

[grandogranto]

I too object to these forced fees. The additional fees almost double the shipping costs. The sellers need to know that Canadian purchasers are now being chased from the market.

There is no way I should pay over $40.00 in combined fees to get a shirt that I bought for $30.00 and used to pay $9.99 to ship. It still costs $9.99 if they use the right shipping.

In the past month I have declined 5 items I had wanted to buy because of unfair "Priority" fees and Global Fees being added to a item that used to come for less than $15.00

The sales I declined where over $300.00 in value that eBays sellers never will receive.

Why would someone shop in the USA if they can pay more here and still save money now?

Shoes for $50.00 in extra fees...I have bought over 200 items and have never had a lost package from USPS or Canada Post.and by the way that shipping is still $16.00. one company continues to ask for $60.00 when on the same list 5 others ship for less that $20.00 ..is that realistic.?

The only thing I am loosing here is my money to Pitney Bows and Priority Shipping scammers.

Some sellers see this as a scam and still ship USPS Int'l and keep their customers.

Stop this silliness now.

[grandogranto]

This is a slanted poll. Both suggestions are wrong. Neither options are best.

Old Import fees COD...never happened there never was import fees unless necessary.

New Import Fees First...what option is that?

Who is valuing the transaction, Pitney Bowes...money to run it through their scanners or is it scammers...

Does the seller know about foreign customs needs (like  no duties on some items,  some on others, do the call my country to ask? not likely

[grandogranto]

Ditto

[grandogranto]

This Pitney Bowes charges should ALL be reported to Revenue Canada and the IRS.

Tax Departments should be very interested in these arbitrary fees.

Items under $20.00 enter Canada free. Other items get exemptions under the Free Trade Agreement and Canadian Law.

Maybe asking Tax auditors to look at the books is appropriate here.

[grandogranto]

Change the Poll.

[grandogranto]

I tell every seller I will not be buying from them because of the unfair 'Global' FEES.

Eventually they will realize they are hurting themselves.

[crafty_cat_lady]

I got dinged $23.79 customs fees for a box of Star Trek fanzines yesterday. FANZINES! Those are BOOKS. Since when are books subject to fees?! The seller is not opted in to Global Shipping, but did send them Priority. Any advice on how I should go about asking Canada Customs (whatever it's called now) what happened? I've NEVER had to pay duties on printed material before!

[pierrelebel]

"Since when are books subject to fees?!"

Always. Please read the rules carefully.  Books are NOT eligible to the $20 tax exemption. For example, back in the "good old days" (15-20 years ago) Book of the Month Club remitted GST to the Canadian government on books being shipped from the USA to Canada. The rules have not changed.

In most provinces, most books (not all) are generally exempt from the PST portion of HST.

From the federal government website:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/duty-droits-eng.html#c1 

Items that do not qualify for the CAN$20 exemption include the following:

tobacco; books; periodicals; magazines;

Please do not shoot the messenger because you do not like the message..

[crafty_cat_lady]

So basically, even though I've been buying books from the US for years and this is the first time I've ever had to pay duties, I just got lucky all those years? So in future, I won't be safe if buying anything costing more than $19.99... well, that lets out a lot of fanzine-buying, then, at least here.

This is ridiculous. Of course most books cost more than $20 - at least the kind that aren't available via amazon.ca or locally.

The only stuff I've ever had to pay duties on have been things from ThinkGeek (because it was a very large order), a couple of pillows, a game (many years ago), and maybe one or two other things. This is the very first time it was for anything bought on eBay.

[pjcdn2005]

How much were the books valued at? I find that items sent priority are often taxed, especially if they are over $100. I don't think that getting taxes on 1 order means that from now on you are going to get taxed on every order over $20.

[crafty_cat_lady]

They were over $200. I see I was charged $13.84 Goats & Swine Tax, + $9.95 "handling". The thing is, I've done other orders of similar cost or higher over the years, and this is the ONLY time I have ever been charged GST on a cross-border book order. Since I have a couple of other large fanzine orders planned, this naturally has me rather antsy.

And I did look up the rules - the ungodly confusing rules with all their "exceptions" and "exemptions"... did I just get unlucky with one Canada Post employee and all the others, all these years, have simply ignored my purchasing books from out of the country?

I'm used to Amazon charging GST, and learned the expensive way that Annie's Attic orders over $80 get dinged customs fees (it's a craft company that sells art & craft supplies, including pattern books), so I make sure my orders from them don't get near that amount. I've ordered from the U.S. Amazon on a few occasions and never had any trouble with customs or taxes. And dealing with UK booksellers is a breeze (and they must send the items via TARDIS, because I get them a LOT faster than I get most things from the U.S. and even from Canada). But if I'm going to have to be this paranoid when buying from fanzine sellers - very few of whom run large businesses or maintain large inventories - this is going to put a screaming halt to my collecting activities.