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.

[chimera148]

Looking at a GSP listed pair of shorts with a 5.00 bid on them.

The shipping charges to Canada are shown at 17.57 and additional import charges at 9.87.

The seller likely believes the GSP will help his international sales.

Item # 261224673726

[donnaanddavid]

Global Shipping program= sucks

I now boycott any seller that is using this program.Years and years of buying from USA sellers with USPS and taking my chance with customs.I rarely buy anything too expensive and out of hundreds of transactions have only been stung by customs a few times.

I have had a few conversations and these poor sellers dont even see the charges. It looks like the shipping is 12 dollars and when I tell them its actually 45 dollars they are livid.

Totally innappropriate and EBAY making it sound like a good thing. Not cool EBAY.you will lose me as a customer after all these years.At least show the sellers what you are expecting us Canadian buyers to pay for shipping.  SHAME ON YOU !!!   you will lose business and is that what you really want this day and age.?

[chimera148]

Yes, it would be interesting to hear how buyers make out with recovering all their GSP charges if an item has to be returned. The GSP sellers I've noticed usually don't offer returns, not that I need one, but it's usually a selling point when considering a purchase.

[jfboothash]

I certainly am boycotting any sellers that use the global shipping program.  

It's just a scam to charge much more money than the actual duty I am required to pay...  Just like UPS scams people with their 'brokerage fees'. 

[marnotom!]

I certainly am boycotting any sellers that use the global shipping program.  

It's just a scam to charge much more money than the actual duty I am required to pay...  Just like UPS scams people with their 'brokerage fees'. 

I think I've only had to pay duty once on an eBay purchase, and that was a CD set from the UK.  The rest of the time I've been assessed anything from CBSA it's been the GST and PST owing on the item.

The GSP isn't all evil.  I think it's a viable alternative for sellers who find the postal service unsuitable and would otherwise use FedEx and UPS ground to send stuff to Canada, but those items have to be larger than what First Class Mail International (US version of small packet) would allow.

Don't forget that even items sent by mail have a ten dollar service fee slapped on them if CBSA assesses them for taxes.

[jedr05]

I paid 78 dollars in shipping and import on a 126 dollar item. The order was cancelled with the seller, and very quickly I might add. However, the 78 dollars was not yet refunded! And I can't get anyone to tell me why!!!

[patrick_the_loner]

Well if this new import fee and the double shipping costs to Canada ARE NOT TAKEN AWAY for an item we will see the E Bay buyers  Sellers will just have to leave E Bay and go elsewhere. E Bay   WAKE UP YOUR ABOUT TO LOOSE YOUR SITE  NO ONE CAN AFFORD TO BUY OR SELL ON HERE ANYMORE:::::::::::::::::::::::::

[anguscoinshop]

I no longer buy on this site, it has become extremely problematic. When my store subscription is up for renewal all resources from this will be diverted towards other venture.

I hope everyone can see what going on with this site.

It is time to switch to futuristic sites.   

[patrick_the_loner]

JUST BUY ON SELLERS WHO DON'T INDORSE THIS IMPORT CHARGE   I WON'T  WITH ANY E BAY SELLER WHO HAS THIS IMPORT CHARGE ON THEIR PROFILE. MAYBE THEN E BAY--- PITNEY BOWES AS WELL AS GLOBAL SHIPPING AND IT'S ROBBER THE US POST OFFICE...

[patrick_the_loner]

WILL SMARTEN UP AND REDUCE IT'S FEES TO WERE THEY WERE IN THE FIRST PLACE

[marnotom!]

I hope everyone can see what going on with this site.

It is time to switch to futuristic sites.   

I hate to tell you this, but I think this is leading to the future.

Many U.S.-based eCommerce sites already have something like this in place, such as Oriental Trading, L.L. Bean and "A".  eBay.com has noticed that its domestic (i.e. U.S) market is stagnating and the only way to further growth is to encourage more international sales, something that a lot of online sellers in the land of the brave and free are reluctant to embrace without the "protections" and "securities" they perceive they have with their domestic sales.

I suspect the suits at Pitney-Bowes who pushed this idea on eBay did it by emphasizing high-ticket, high-tech items like Smartphones and tablet computers, items that many if not most U.S. sellers wouldn't sell internationally because the shipping costs involved in sending them "protected" would be cost-prohibitive.

In a nutshell, as is the case with many eBay initiatives it's a case of "be careful what you wish for, you might just get it."

Keep in mind that 40-odd U.S. states charge "use tax" on out of state purchases.  It's essentially state sales tax with a different name.  The problem is that, unlike what we face with international purchases, paying this use tax is effectively voluntary and as you can imagine most Americans either don't realize they have to pay it on their purchases from out of state, or simply don't care and don't pay it.  As state and federal laws stand right now, there's no other way for states to collect it, but the future being the future, that might change as well.

[chimera148]

I paid 78 dollars in shipping and import on a 126 dollar item. The order was cancelled with the seller, and very quickly I might add. However, the 78 dollars was not yet refunded! And I can't get anyone to tell me why!!!

Was it a GSP listed item ?

[chimera148]

Was it a GSP listed item ?

If it was a GSP item, you may find some help here

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum/International-Trading/31 

I was advised that I could apply to Canada Customs to have taxes returned by a poster there, but hopefully there is a simpler way. It's possible you may have to open a case with ebay or paypal to recover your funds, if I remember right. Good luck.

[nocht1981]

I sent an email to http://www.nationalclassactions.ca 

Some of you should do the same (with that law firm or an other one of your choosing)

Hoping there is some legal actions to be taken.

I purchased a product made in USA, under the NAFTA I do not have to pay any duty fees but I'm now forced to pay absurdly high fees. Hoping a Class action lawsuit is possible as when reading eBay policies, it does not look as if they intend to reverse that decision.

As Canadians, we already pay higher prices for everything we buy in Canada, we pay premium shipping when we send stuff here or abroad and it's getting very frustrating.

Regards

[nocht1981]

Oh. I tried to call CBSA on that issue. Apart from waiting for an eternity... not much you can do but filling a form and sending it to them, hoping one day they will process your document...

[pierrelebel]

"under the NAFTA I do not have to pay any duty fees"

Maybe you should read the NAFTA.

http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/en/view.aspx?x=343

It has nothing to do with paying GST/HST/PST or brokerage or other handling fees.

[chimera148]

 It's possible you may have to open a case with ebay or paypal to recover your funds, if I remember right. Good luck.

Meaning eBay Buyer Protection or PayPal Purchase Protection depending if the transaction was made on the .com or the .ca site respectively.

[miggs.2008]

The CSBA has the status of a godlike entity and thus have no interest or time (between their doughnut breaks, wine lunches and paid vacations) to grant us petty humans the time of day.

The CSBA tax remittance form is just that, a form (for the formality)

3 TIMES I sent them (registered mail with signature confirmation) my proof of purchase and copies of their own documents stipulating that pure precious metals, (in this case .999 silver) IS NOT TAXABLE....   I didn't even get a response on none of the 3 times.   .

[rainbow71113]

I have also found they don't respond, however if the office is close enough I do go directly to them and those times I have gotten my taxes back or at least reduced.  My problem was a seller putting what she thought the retail value was ( $350) instead of the actual auction amount which was $25 BIG difference, so I printed out the ebay sales and got them to redo the taxes.  I also get annoyed when they put the value plus shipping....since lots of my purchases are heavy that's usually adding a value of $75 or more.

[grandogranto]

After buying from US sellers over 275 times I hereby refuse to do any more transactions with those steelers who are imposing userous rates for shipping.

I'm walking...

If you use Global theft I'm not buying.