Just bought a laptop on ebay and I'm a little confused about the extra fees , could someone explain?

[firguel_0]

So recently, I bought a refurbished tochiba laptop on ebay, from a UK seller/business. I live in canada, and I usually order stuff from the US, but since the uk listing was cheaper, I decided to grab one. Now the thing is that the seller sent me a message that I may have to pay some fees, if applicable. I usually order using GSP, but I already ordered stuff without GSP from the US, and I never had to pay a single fee on arrival (the sellers only charged me shipping on checkout, yet I got the items without paying any extra fees). Now what the hell are those {fees}, are they expensive and why are they applicable?

[kawartha-ephemera]

Does your province collect a fee to pay for electronic waste recycling, Ontario does. Canadian customs would probably want to see that sort of thing enforced. Being it's a Japanese product coming in to Canada from the UK I don't know whether there'd be duty on that or not. Even if it comes in duty free there may be a customs broker fee to pay to the shipping company.

[firguel_0]

To this day, I never paid any duties or customs fees on ebay, or in another website. It has never happened to me for some reason. In quebec, we don't have this fee for the electronic waste, however there might be some kind of tax to pay when buying the item online. I'm still not sure whether I'm gonna have to pay extra or not, but I hope that no fees will be applicable...

[marnotom!]

The "import charges" you've paid when purchasing items forwarded by the GSP are basically the same taxes and duty (if applicable) that you'd be paying if you purchased the same item shipped more directly to you.  The difference would be that the customs processing fees may be higher for an item that's not handled by the GSP.

You didn't pay "extra" fees for your items shipped without the GSP either because the item was cheap enough that it didn't attract tax and duty charges, or else customs didn't bother assessing it for tax and duty.  This second scenario only happens with items sent by mail, though.  Depending on how your seller ships the item, you may or may not end up having to pay taxes, duties, and customs processing fees (sometimes referred to as "brokerage fees") upon receipt of the item.  Your seller sounds as though they're giving you fair warning (even though the listing page should have this note, too) that your item may end up getting assessed for taxes and brokerage.  (Duty is unlikely on a laptop.)  

Any idea what shipping or mailing method is being used for the laptop?

[reallynicestamps]

If you have purchased from a seller using the GSP, you paid import fees.

This is part of the GSP Seller Protection.

You pay those "import fees" before the seller is even told to ship. Then GSP uses them to pay applicable duty and sales taxes.

If the purchase is from the USA, your duty-free allowance is $150 and the tax- free allowance is $40. After that the import fees come into play. There is also a ~$5USD service fee. And all of this is mixed in with the shipping cost.

The UK sellers can also use the GSP, but the import fees are going to be higher because our duty-free allowance from the UK is $20 Cdn as is the tax- free allowance. There is also a service fee.

This is a Seller Protection, just like the rest of the GSP.  There is a scam where sketchey buyers report items as Not Delivered, get a refund then drop into the customs office, pay the applicable import fees and trot off home with their cheap import.

All that being said, there is no unexpected, doorstep, demand for further payment when the seller uses the GSP, because, as I said, your duty and sales taxes were covered by the GSP when you paid for your item.

[reallynicestamps]

To this day, I never paid any duties or customs fees on ebay, or in another website.

This might be true if you rarely buy items that are imported. Many US companies warehouse their goods in Canada, so no import duty is required from their customers, since those were paid when the goods were originally brought into Canada at wholesale.

Paying the Internet (provincial and GST) Sales Tax is relatively new. The laws were updated as of July 2022, and the buyer now pays his own province's tax (QST for you,  GST+ BC sales tax for me) as part of the purchase price on goods purchased from Canadian sellers.

I've purchased clothing, a kitchen sink, a lot of books and ebooks, and some SF figures online in the past year, and the BC tax started being charged in July for the things purchased from Canadian companies. The figures came in from the States but there was no duty (value was $66Cdn) only sales taxes charged on purchase. The ebooks had no fees, but were also priced under $15. The sink had sales tax because it was from a Canadian based company.

[firguel_0]

Right now, I have no idea. Ebay says it uses (standard international shipping). However, since the item has not being shipped yet (the seller ordered a battery for my laptop before shipping), I don't know what service he's going to use tbh.

[firguel_0]

The value of the laptop is about 300$CAD, or 174£GBP. I've never bought anything from the UK, I always bought from china or the US, so tbh, I'm hoping there won't be any fees...

[marnotom! · Accepted solution]

You can certainly hope that you won't have to pay the taxes owing on the item, but you should never expect not to pay taxes.  I go by the philosophy that it's best to anticipate paying taxes (and duty, if applicable) and brokerage on an imported item--unless those charges are pre-paid--and be pleasantly surprised if it doesn't happen.

Many countries are now getting eBay to charge taxes due on an import right at the time of sale, sort of like how the Global Shipping Program handles it, but without all those processing fees.  I wouldn't be surprised if Canada starts following this example sometime in the course of the next year or two.

[firguel_0]

I don't think there are going duty fees, but I'm pretty sure that taxes may (or if I'm lucky, may not) occur. I can't tell for sure since the item still hasn't being shipped yet, but I know for sure that tommorow or next week, I'll be aware of what to expect. 

[femmefan1946]

Actually the battery might be a problem.

There are strict controls on shipping Lithium batteries which I don't understand. Apparently they explode or something.

But you can't ship perfume by Air Mail either, so who knows.

The type of battery shouldn't make any difference if the seller is using the GSP/UK.

How many FB does the seller have for Selling? (Buyers can only get positive FB.)

[firguel_0]

The seller has 1.5k followers, 100% feedback, 3649 positive feedbacks. I bought this from a business seller, not from a particular. They are Microsoft certified refurbishers.

[marnotom!]

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@firguel_0 wrote:

I don't think there are going duty fees, but I'm pretty sure that taxes may (or if I'm lucky, may not) occur. I can't tell for sure since the item still hasn't being shipped yet, but I know for sure that tommorow or next week, I'll be aware of what to expect. 

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An laptop valued at C$300 would be subject to taxes but not duty, as there's no duty on laptops.  Whether or not it gets assessed for taxes when it passes through customs is another matter entirely.  Why don't you just simply ask the seller what shipping method they're planning on using?  As they're using a flat-rate shipping option to describe the shipping method, I'm thinking they may be using a hybrid carrier, say where a courier handles the item initially and then hands it off to the destination country's postal system.

[firguel_0]

I've taken a look at the feedbacks from customers, apparently the seller uses UPS for international shipment. It's not even a surprise considering the shipping time, according to the seller, is 3-5 days for Canada. If I have some small taxes fees, it's not the end of the world for sure, but I'd prefer that there are going to be none. 

Just wondering: which items have duty fees and which items don't?

[marnotom!]

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@firguel_0 wrote:

Just wondering: which items have duty fees and which items don't?

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There's no easy answer to that.  You're probably best consulting one of the many duty and tax calculators available online.

[reallynicestamps]

Ebay says it uses (standard international shipping).

So the GSP is not in play here.

You can spot GSP users because their listings will have :

No additional import charges at delivery!
This item will be shipped through the Global Shipping Program and includes international tracking. Learn more
on the listing under the title.

This indicates that the seller has chosen to use the GSP, which is a Seller Protection.

"Standard International Shipping" is fuzzification that allows the seller to choose the shipping service without promising anything. The buyer should look at how long the delivery period is rather than at the name.

[mandicrafts]

In Canada our deminimus is only $20 Canadian for buying outside of Canada. Via regular mail it is entirely random whether customs charges apply (brokerage and taxes). Via courier it is guaranteed with high brokerage rates. If the seller is selling with a duty paid service like GSP, it is charged up front.
Also, you do know that the UK has different electricity of 220 vs 110 like we have in N. America so any connection to an electrical outlet you will have to purchase a converter.

[firguel_0]

I took a look at the feedbacks, apparently it ships with UPS, but I'm not sure until I'll get the tracking number. For now, I asked the seller if he recieved the battery so that he can ship the notebook to me...

[firguel_0]

Well, I have a canadian plug at home for the charger, so no worries. Also, just got the tracking number, it has been shipped with UPS worldwide express saver, which means that I might not have to pay customs after all... I think... uhh.... ahem....

Seriously though, if the charger won't work here, I'll go out and buy a Toshiba charger, no worries. I do already have a toshiba charger at home (dynabook), but I don't think it's the same plug for the PC...

[lucitabby]

UPS may charge you a brokerage fee which is different from duty and taxes.