eBay

mattthecomputergeek · ‎06-29-2013

eBay U.S. Global Shipping Program: Buyer And Seller Beware: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijmdVlQ36-w

PBI Shipping + eBay U.S. Global Shipping Program = FRAUD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZwZgcoc_zw

tote1010 · ‎06-29-2013

Wow, thanks for the heads up! In Canada, 9 times out of 10, the Cdn customs don't charge fees for used items, but the GSP always charges a customs fee. That ends up jacking up the price substantially. I will now only deal with E-Bay buyers who are willing to use the good ole'USPS parcel post. Thanks again!

marnotom! · ‎06-30-2013

I can't be bothered to waste 22 minutes of my life trying to figure out what's "FRAUD" about the GSP. Is there anybody else out there with a critical eye who's watched the second video with their skeptic's hat on?

john-john1 · ‎06-30-2013

I agree. This just another racket eBay has come up with, without understanding or caring how this shipping program would play out. I think the idea was to help sellers avoid paperwork for International shipments. The Import Fee - aka - Brokerage Fee, assessed by the Global Shipping Program(read the fine print on eBay site), you wouldn't pay using USPS. This does not include Customs Fees plus GST & PST in shipments to Canada if your item value is greater than $20. Gifts $60. Canada Post charges the recipient a $9.95 handling fee(NEW-used to be $5) for each package that has been assessed with import duties and/or taxes by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). If the item is duty-free and tax exempt, no extra fee is charged. That being said, I have not been assessed any Fees or Taxes by Canada Customs in the last 3 years at least. Most of my purchases were well in excess of $20. None were marked as Gifts. So I say to all out of U.S. Buyers to get the Seller to ship by USPS only. At least they don't repackage the item.

auvan · ‎07-04-2013

Hi,

As a long time Canadian ebay buyer (since 2000) I refuse to purchase from any seller using Global Shipping Program. The duties and taxes they add on amount to over 30% (close to 40% in some instances). Our national goods and service tax is 5%, my provincial tax is another 9.95%.(other provinces have the same or lower, no-one pays a higher tax in Canada than I do as a Quebec resident). I will gladly pay the legal taxes on all items I purchase (I never ask for items to be sent as gifts). Often if it is a used item, I am not required to pay either, it seems to be at the discretion of Canada Post. There is no reason GSP should be charging so much. Hope this helps.

pierrelebel · ‎07-04-2013

"The duties and taxes they add on amount to over 30% (close to 40% in some instances"

Yes, importing from outside Canada is getting more expensive all the time. While most agree the recently introduced Global Shipping Program is not meant for low priced items, it may be beneficial in some instances as reported by many buyers on these boards.

As far as percentages are concerned, if you purchase a $50 garment from the USA and it comes by regular mail, you would pay approximately $7.50 in taxes (GST and TVQ) and $9.95 Canada Post administration (brokerage) fee for a total of $17.45 or 35% of the purchase price.

That is the problem with percentages when dealing with low value items. The brokerage fee charged by Canada Post (or handling fee charged by Pitney Bowes) nake up a large percentage of the transaction.

One option of course is to buy locally where you only need to be concerned with taxes, not shipping charges and brokerage fees.

auvan · ‎07-05-2013

Actually I think it is worse with higher priced items. There is a flat $9.95 brokerage fee from Canada Post (when it does charge, and again I would say at least 50% of the time I have not had to pay any duties or taxes). As you mention, brokerage fees do not increase with purchase price of item, as opposed to taxes. For example an item (used) I was considering had a buy it now price of $649.00 : for this GSP was quoting $239.00 brokerage and taxes. There is no way I would have to pay this if the shipper just sent and allowed me to pay all taxes and brokerage fees upon receipt. The combined GST & PST would amount to $97.22, brokerage about $10.00 GSP is adding on an additional $140.00 handling fee. I therefore ask all sellers to just ship (declaring exactly the item and amount I paid, I am not looking to avoid any legal taxation) without GSP. I haven`t encountered a single situation where it has been any benefit to the buyer. I think any sellers using it should be aware that there are many Canadian buyers who won`t know what options are available and simply opt out of bidding or purchasing when they see these inflated import fees. Buying locally is super important (I have a small business so believe me I know) but in the case of all my ebay purchases,and this is the great thing about ebay, they were all unique items I could never have found otherwise.

marnotom! · ‎07-05-2013

@auvan wrote:
Actually I think it is worse with higher priced items. There is a flat $9.95 brokerage fee from Canada Post (when it does charge, and again I would say at least 50% of the time I have not had to pay any duties or taxes). As you mention, brokerage fees do not increase with purchase price of item, as opposed to taxes. For example an item (used) I was considering had a buy it now price of $649.00 : for this GSP was quoting $239.00 brokerage and taxes. There is no way I would have to pay this if the shipper just sent and allowed me to pay all taxes and brokerage fees upon receipt. The combined GST & PST would amount to $97.22, brokerage about $10.00 GSP is adding on an additional $140.00 handling fee. I therefore ask all sellers to just ship (declaring exactly the item and amount I paid, I am not looking to avoid any legal taxation) without GSP. I haven`t encountered a single situation where it has been any benefit to the buyer. I think any sellers using it should be aware that there are many Canadian buyers who won`t know what options are available and simply opt out of bidding or purchasing when they see these inflated import fees. Buying locally is super important (I have a small business so believe me I know) but in the case of all my ebay purchases,and this is the great thing about ebay, they were all unique items I could never have found otherwise.

None of what you say mentions anything about the shipping cost, though.

What my (admittedly not extensive) research has shown is that if the seller is using a reasonably priced domestic shipping option, the shipping price through the GSP is lower than what the post office offers. When you combine the shipping price with the import charges (i.e. taxes and various customs-related charges), one can still come out ahead using the GSP.

kumatenshi · ‎07-06-2013

marnotom - I'm not sure if you're blind or illiterate, but auvan stated that using GSP would cost 140 dollars MORE than paying brokerage and taxes and what not himself.

There is no situation where paying MORE than you rightly have to would ever have you coming out ahead. Ever. Shipping cost matters not, that's shipping.

As to your earlier statement about not wanting to waste 22 minutes of your life to inform yourself, here you go -

GSP will take your products that you ship to them, open them, inspect them, and then just throw it in whatever the hell they want. The guy in question received two packages, bent and broken, with but a few crumpled up bits of newspaper and apparently one small piece of padding, from two different sellers.

GSP flat out said this was because of them, without admitting any fault, and simply suggest that if it's not working for you, to find sellers that do NOT use GSP.

That's a scam if ever I've heard one.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-06-2013

@kumatenshi wrote:
marnotom - I'm not sure if you're blind or illiterate, but auvan stated that using GSP would cost 140 dollars MORE than paying brokerage and taxes and what not himself.

There is no situation where paying MORE than you rightly have to would ever have you coming out ahead. Ever. Shipping cost matters not, that's shipping.

As to your earlier statement about not wanting to waste 22 minutes of your life to inform yourself, here you go -

GSP will take your products that you ship to them, open them, inspect them, and then just throw it in whatever the hell they want. The guy in question received two packages, bent and broken, with but a few crumpled up bits of newspaper and apparently one small piece of padding, from two different sellers.

GSP flat out said this was because of them, without admitting any fault, and simply suggest that if it's not working for you, to find sellers that do NOT use GSP.

That's a scam if ever I've heard one.

PB can often offer less expensive shipping because of the amount that they ship. So a seller may charge $40 for shipping an item and PB may charge $20. If their import charges for that item are $10 you are still ahead by $10 so yes...shipping does matter in some cases. I can't comment on auvan's situation because without an item number, there isn't enough information.

As far as the video goes...I watched part of each one...although the information in both seemed to be the same. and the guy was very long winded. Anyway...when an item goes through customs the customs broker has a right to inspect the package. I've had one or two items opened by customs and/or customs brokers out of dozens and dozens of package so I find it difficult to believe that every package is opened, inspected and repackaged by PB.

It's also difficult for me to believe that ebay or paypal closed the case for the reasons that the video stated.

Obviously I don't know what is the real story but I do know that there are always 2 sides to every story.

Personally, I think that ebay/PB has done a poor job setting up and handling the gsp and I do think that it is causing many problems. But for some people and for some items, it can be beneficial.

marnotom! · ‎07-06-2013

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

PB can often offer less expensive shipping because of the amount that they ship. So a seller may charge $40 for shipping an item and PB may charge $20. If their import charges for that item are $10 you are still ahead by $10 so yes...shipping does matter in some cases. I can't comment on auvan's situation because without an item number, there isn't enough information.

My hypothesis is that this was one of those cases where the .ca site was quoting a wildly different amount for import charges than the .com site. I hope that glitch has been resolved by now.