Inconsistent Import Charges with GSP

[dachdoggie]

I was going to buy something from the US.  Import charges were listed at US $11.30.  After making an offer and reviewing it before pulling the trigger the import charges were now US $21.95.  What's with that?  I understand that these are estimates but how can there be this much of a discrepancy?  

[marnotom!]

What was your offer versus the posted price of the item?

[femmefan1946]

What province are you in?

The import fees are made up of Canadian duty, a ~$5US service fee and Canadian and provincial sales taxes.

An Albertan would pay less for import fees than a Nova Scotian , but until you buy, the GSP doesn't know which tax rate to use.

Also if this was an Auction, the winning bid would change the import fees since both duty and sales taxes are percentages of value.

I will be so glad when Parliament changes the duty-free allowance from $20 to $180.  (Although the plan is to have the sales tax portion to kick in at $40).

[dachdoggie]

Asking US $130.  My offer was US $110.   

[dachdoggie]

I live in BC.  Just a little miffed here because the estimated import charges pretty much doubled and then there is shipping on top of that.  Add it all up and it's a deal breaker for me.  

[marnotom! · Accepted solution]

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@dachdoggie wrote:

I live in BC.  Just a little miffed here because the estimated import charges pretty much doubled and then there is shipping on top of that.  Add it all up and it's a deal breaker for me.  

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That is weird.  I'm in BC as well, and I've only been able to calculate the equivalent of GST and a handling charge on the three GSP-forwarded purchases I've made.  Your import charges seem to be based on 15% HST and a handling charge.

I've never made a "Best Offer" purchase for a GSP-forwarded item, however.  I'm going to have to chalk this up to a glitch associated with the use of Best Offer with the GSP that has yet to be ironed out.

Any thoughts, tyler@ebay ?

[dachdoggie]

" I'm going to have to chalk this up to a glitch associated with the use of Best Offer with the GSP that has yet to be ironed out."

You are correct marnotom.    I decided to go ahead with my best offer regardless of the inflated estimated import charges.  The seller accepted my offer and when I proceeded to checkout the original import charges were there.  Weird!  

Something eBay might want to look into. 

[marnotom!]

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@dachdoggie wrote:

" I'm going to have to chalk this up to a glitch associated with the use of Best Offer with the GSP that has yet to be ironed out."

You are correct marnotom.    I decided to go ahead with my best offer regardless of the inflated estimated import charges.  The seller accepted my offer and when I proceeded to checkout the original import charges were there.  Weird!  

Something eBay might want to look into. 

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Thanks for reporting back to us, @dachdoggie .  This is very useful information.

In fairness, eBay does state that import charges aren't finalized until Checkout, but I can see that if you're reviewing an offer, a set of questionable import charges isn't going to make your decision any easier.

[bpl521_sell]

Same here, item had a price of $21.99 US  ~$29.00 CDN with import charges of $5.11. I entered a offer of $14.00 which brought the value down to just over $19.00 CDN and it stated I would have to pay $6..14 import charges??. There shouldn't be any import charges if the items value is under $20.00 CDN unless it's including the shipping charges?

[reallynicestamps]

Hmm - PB/GSP does have a ~$5USD service charge, but it isn't usually added when there are no Canadian import fees being charged.

[marnotom!]

Those import charges will likely go away at checkout, with Pitney Bowes' processing fees being added to the shipping charge instead.

"Import charges" on a GSP-forwarded item aren't just taxes and duties. They're anything related to the process of importing the item.

[bpl521_sell]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

Hmm - PB/GSP does have a ~$5USD service charge, but it isn't usually added when there are no Canadian import fees being charged.

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That was my thought as well. Not going to complain to much as I find the PB shipping charges considerably less that USPS. In this case half even with the extra $6.00 for import processing fees etc.

[tyler@ebay]

Hi everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began I have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread!