First time buying with GSP

[fergua3]

I live in Canada and for the first time I am thinking of buying an item from the US via GSP.  The reason why I am considering it now is that it originally stated $20 in import duties  (on a US$29 item) but now says import duties will be $0.

So is this some new trick by the GSP?  Am I going to get nailed with import fees when my package gets delivered now?   In the past they've tried hard to hide the import fees,  i'm wondering if this is another attempt.

It is my understanding that Canada Post will deliver the package?

appreciate any info.

[pjcdn2005]

You won’t have to pay anything when the package is delivered.  If you want to double check that the fees are definitely 0, put the item in your cart and then view cart to see the total.  You won’t be committing to anything by doing that.

Canada Post often delivers gsp packages but based on what I’ve read on the boards, that isn’t always the case.  Just as a FYI..  In the past few months there have been reports of gsp shipments taking longer than usual and of inconsistent tracking so you might need to be patient and not stress over tracking.

[marnotom!]

The Canadian dollar has been hovering around US$0.76 for the past couple of weeks or so, so that US$29 selling price has been converting to amounts above and below the new tax-free limit of C$40 for personal imports shipped into Canada by courier. (GSP items bound for Canada travel from a central hub in Kentucky to a Canadian receiving hub—usually Mississauga—as parcel freight via the likes of Canpar.)

While your item may be tax-free, there are still processing fees that are part of the “import charges.” I’m betting those have been added to the shipping charge, which is now probably US$5-6 higher than when you first viewed the item with “import charges.”

As far as the issue of delivery to you from the Canadian receiving hub, there’s really no knowing anymore who will be handling your item within Canada. COVID and the volume of personal imports flooding shipping channels has really cranked up the pressures on the mail and courier systems.

If you live in a rural or remote area, I’d say odds are good that Canada Post will be handling your item, at least some of the way. If you live closer to a major urban centre and/or transportation hub, alternatives to CPC are more likely.

[femmefan1946]

The GSP is a Seller Protection program, set up to encourage nervous/paranoid UK and US sellers to sell outside their borders.

A lot of the past anger about the GSP was based on Canada's $20 duty-free allowance. Many buyers had never paid any duty (or Sales Tax*) either because the import had a lower value or because of CBSA's informal policy of ignoring low value imports entering Canada by mail.

The GSP like UPS and FedEX, is a private company and their imports were not ignored.

That changed on July first, when our duty-free allowance was raised to $150Cdn (~$112.50 U$)  and our sales tax free allowance to $40($30. U$).

Your $29U$ (~$21.75 Cdn) item should have neither duty nor sales taxes charged. While there is a ~$5U$ service charge, GSP usually waives this if there would be no duty or tax to be paid.

GSP has been erratic about a lot of things, shipping time, carriers used, layout of billing, but if at the time of payment you are not charged any import fees, you will not get any surprises on the doorstep either.

* Most of the import fees have been sales taxes because: Free Trade with over 100 countries

[femmefan1946]

In the past they've tried hard to hide the import fees,

How?

They don't care if there are going to be duty and sales taxes , because the customer will be paying those.

In fact, they make their money on the service fee (brokerage fee) they charge which is based on the amount of duty and tax the customer pays.

Hiding the amount has no benefit for them.

Are you thinking of FedEX which has the nasty practice of handing the parcel over  without charges and then billing later, with a service charge in excess of $25.

To my knowledge FedEX is the only company that does that.

And sometimes a Seller will ship directly to the customer, bypassing the GSP which has already charged import fees to the customer, and the carrier then charges the customer again on delivery.

[marnotom!]

Psst, @femmefan1946, your conversion is going the wrong way. US$29 converts to about C$38-39 at current mid-market exchange rates.

[fergua3]

thank you for the responses everyone.  Very helpful.  I wasn't aware of the new $40 threshold so that probably explains why the import fees suddenly disappeared.  The item is not a bad deal, now that those fees are gone.  I hope it's delivered by Canada Post as I live within 20 miles of Gateway Mississauga.  I reeeally hate dealing with couriers.

As for GSP import fees being hidden.  The most recent trick is that they don't show the import fees until you buy.  This is true on ebay.com.  If you look at a GSP item on ebay.com, it will show the item price and shipping charge and that's it.  It's not until you commit to buy (with buy it now) or put it in your cart and start checking out that you will see the, often sizable, import fees.

If you look at the same listing on ebay.ca it still shows the import fees in the listing, below the shipping charges,  where they used to be shown on ebay.com.

thanks again for the help.  Much appreciated.

[marnotom!]

Thanks for the additional information, @fergua3. I just want to add a postscript of sorts.

US$20 in import charges on a $US29 item is pretty wack, given that Ontario HST would add less than US$4 to those charges.

Without knowing any details of this listing, I’m going to have to chalk up that US$20 charge to a glitch.