Seller used different Courier extra charges applied

[pansy19]

Hello  ,

This is First time I experienced C.O.D Charges , I don't understand why OR what is is.

I Ordered Item from USA , USPS First Class Mail and paid to Seller .

The Item is sent by UPS . I had to pay Online C.O.D as I'm not in situation to Pick up Item from UPS Office .

I don't know now should I pay Customs to ? OR is that it ? Is it Import charges ?

I contacted UPS CS , asking about , they told me Refuse Parcel to get C.O.D charges back, but not explain about Customs .

I'm wondering If I Refuse to take Parcel , do I need to pay Return Shipping , Will Seller Refund my Payment ?

I feel betrayed , the Seller declared value on Item higher than Item real cost , and  not send Item with Service stated .

I received Parcels from UPS for a years , never paid C.O.D 

Is anyone there experience similar ?

What is my Option ?

Thank you 

[fh991586]

You have to pay taxes on what you buy in Canada. When you buy from another country, the taxes must be paid too (only the first $20 CAD are exempt from taxes). Whatever company that make your package cross the border will have to declare the value of the item, and then taxes will be due on that amount. On top of that, you'll need to pay processing fees to the company for brokerage. Canada Post asks for $9.95 fee if I remember well, but FedEx UPS or any other third party will ask more (depending of declared amount). Most companies won't give you the package until you pay the amount due (taxes + fee), and will simply return it to the sender if it's not claimed/paid after a certain time. The sender will have to pay again for the shipping to get it...
Now you can dispute the declared value of an item using the eBay invoice, but there will be something due anyway...

[pansy19]

Thank you very much .
I'm OK with Customs .

The Seller declared higher value and used different Courier in case Item is lost to get more money from Postal Service.

I all ready pay to UPS amount of $CDN 48.97 online this is Import Taxes that we don't pay in Canada . They UPS CS told me Refuse to take Parcel to get this amount back from UPS .
Now I'm more confused what to do .
If I refuse , how I supposed to know when Seller get Item , when to expect Refund .
I never deal with that .

[reallynicestamps]

You have some bad advice there.

The $20 is a duty free allowance.

If you import anything valued at $20Cdn or more, you are supposed to pay the appropriate duty.

$20Cdn is about $15US.

If there is no duty you are still required to pay sales taxes (GST/PST/HST/QST). The percentage will vary by province and in some cases on the product.

UPS normally collects this on delivery.

UPS charges a  "customs brokerage fee"  of $25 + for this.

So on your doorstep you will be charged duty (if any) plus sales tax (certainly) and the UPS brokerage fee ($25 or more)>

And about that "duty-free" - in addition to the basic allowance, some products are covered by Free Trade agreements. You're probably familiar with NAFTA, but Canada is part of some 125+ free trade agreements.

The most important ones are with the European Union and the new Trans-Pacific Partnership.

We do NOT have any free trade agreements with China. So if the item was made in China you will pay duty.

If an item is manufactured by a Free Trade partner, there will probably be no duty.

There will still be Sales Taxes.

And the important word is manufactured.  Not purchased. If you buy an item from France that was made in Uzbekistan, you will pay duty.

If you refuse to accept the shipment from the courier, he will not charge you duty, sales tax and his fee.  So no problem with that.

But.

If you refuse the shipment, eBay will not allow you to open an Item Not Delivered dispute.

You have in effect opted out of the Money Back Guarantee.

Now you are at the mercy and good will of the seller, who shipped by the more expensive method in the first place.

Even then, she won't be interested in refunding until she gets her (unopened, refused) item back.

Which given the pandemic slowdown in shipping, and the normal low priority put on "return to sender" packages, could be a couple of months.

If at all.

[reallynicestamps]

Side note- CBSA has made it a practice not to bother assessing duty (or sales tax) on low value and/or small imported items through the postal system.

They figure that it costs the taxpayer more for them to do the assessment that they could possibly collect.

In turn, Canada Post does not bother to charge their $9.95 service fee, since they won't have the responsibility of collecting the import fees.

So if your seller had shipped First Class Package International, she would have the Confirmation of Delivery she wanted  and which is not available on First Class International  letters.

The cost of FCPI is in the $12US range.

https://postcalc.usps.com/Calculator/PostalCode?country=10054&ccode=CA&omil=False&dmil=False&mdt=6%2...

[pansy19]

Thank you for  Reply .

I'm told from USPS CS 

" Refuse to take Parcel. UPS will Refund your Payment. The Item will Return to Sender and Sender is responsible to Pay Return ."

I paid shipping as Seller stated USPS First Class $USD  28.95 .

The Seller sent Tracking #  by message  not update on Order.

This is not acceptable at all .

[reallynicestamps]

Are you confusing UPS and USPS?  I have constant problems with that- fat finger typos.

Why would you want to get advice from USPS about UPS business practices?

[pansy19]

It's my bad.

I mean UPS CS.

Sorry.

[pjcdn2005]

tyler@ebay 

If I understand the op correctly an item was advertised as being sent by usps but it was sent by ups instead.  The op has to pay extra charges to get their package so assuming that those are brokerage fees and COD fees for the ups paying the customs fees ahead of time, what are the buyers options as far as eBay is concerned?

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @pjcdn2005 - this is a good question. I've looked into this and where it stands now is this:

If an item arrives with postage due, C.O.D., brokerage fees, etc, a buyer is protected if they refuse the package and have it returned. They'll want to either get a statement from the courier that there are fees due (some couriers have an electronic scan for postage due, that would count as well). The item would be returned to the seller and the tracking should update in reverse. 

If a buyer chooses to pay the brokerage fees that are requested, there is no recourse that eBay offers automatically short of opening a return request with the seller. 

Thanks!

[pansy19]

That's correct .

[pjcdn2005]

Thank you Tyler. 

@pansy19 

I would double check and confirm that ups really would refund you the fees that you’ve already paid them if you refuse the item.   To be honest it would surprise me if they did but I coukd be wrong.  If you decide to refuse it, you should be able to tell by the tracking numbing when the package arrives back with the seller. 

Have you contacted the seller and let them know his much extra the cost is because they changed to ups?  It’s possible that the two of you can work something out.  I doubt that the seller really wants to have to pay for the return shipping.

[pansy19]

Thank you ,

I was told from UPS CS If I refuse to take Parcel , UPS will Refund my Payment as I had to pay to them .They can't take money if they didn't delivery Item. This is not Related to EBay , as I paid Shipping cost to USPS on my Invoice when I bought Item .

Yes ,
I paid 2 times to two different Postal Services .
The First time Item Price & USPS First Class Shipping
The second time I paid to UPS Company as Item is sent by UPS

I did contact Seller Immediate as Seller sent me Tracking # , the Seller never responded .

[pjcdn2005]

I’m not sure what you mean by it not relating to eBay as it is for an eBay transaction.  The money you paid to the seller was for the item and shipping.  Instead of using USPS as they said they would, they paid ups to ship the item.  Couriers like UPS always have to charge for tax and duty.  They also charge brokerage fees and a COD fee as they had to prepay the duty and tax for the parcel.  You would have to look at the bill to confirm that was what the COD fee is for but I’m fairly sure that is what is was for, not for postage.

If the package had been sent by usps you may have had to pay tax and duty and a $10 handling fee  Or the package  have gone through without any duty or tax...it’s hard to know for sure.

As another poster said you normally can’t put  in a claim for item not received with eBay if you refuse the package but in this case, as Tyler confirmed, you would be able to do so if the seller used a different shipping method and it ended up costing you more because of that.   I don’t know much extra it is costing you but you will have to decide if you want to refuse it and put in a claim with eBay.  If you go that route you should probably talk to ebay first so that they know the whole story.

[pansy19]

The Seller's Listing shows Ship by USPS First Class , I paid for Item and USPS Shipping cost.

Then Seller decided to send Item by UPS without Inform me .
I had to Pay C.O.D to UPS on Official Site .

I have two more Orders from USA Sellers . I paid USPS First Class Mail .
They used EBay Standard Shipping instead . I got USUS Tracking # , USPS said we don't have it in our System .
The Items are Ordered on end of April , not arrived yet . eBay doesn't allow me to open case . Told me wait more Days .
In both cases I feel betrayed not ONLY by Sellers by eBay to .
EBay allows them to do that .

[pjcdn2005]

Yes I realize what happened. I've explained what you can do, other than that, I'm not sure what to suggest.  I hope that it works out for you.

The other sellers...Do you mean that they used the service International standard delivery?  They probably would have used first class for the first part of the journey to the hub in the US and then I think that they use DHL. From what I've read there have been a lot of problems with that service during the panademic.   There should be a link for tracking that number?

[pansy19]

Yes ,
Thank you very much.

Honest Sellers write that they use Int. eBay Standard Shipping , and we can see .

I spoke today with eBay CS and they told me that Seller can change Courier .
About not Inform Buyer ? They don't answered .

That's mean I have to Pay UPS all they ask for OR Lost my money even I paid for USPS Shipping .
For Int. eBay Standard Shipping I have to wait more because of situation .
Very Disappointed !
Thank you everyone .

That's Final answer .

[pjcdn2005]

Yes they can change the service that they use but not if is going to cost you more money. As Tyler from eBay confirmed in another post, a buyer can refuse a parcel when you end of paying more because of the choice of shipper.   It's not something that comes up a lot because it doesn't affect Americans as their duty minimum rate is higher so customer service is not aware of that.  Because of that, it may be more trouble than it is worth to win the claim..it's up to you how you proceed. It really depends on what services UPS is charging you for....if they are charging more than $9.95 for brokerage and other fees (not counting tax and duty because you may have been charged that anyway), which is what Canada Post would have charged, than that means you would be considered to pay more.

Good luck!

[femmefan1946]

I have two more Orders from USA Sellers . I paid USPS First Class Mail .
They used EBay Standard Shipping instead .

• Standard Shipping is a meaningless term that allows sellers to give a shipping fee without stating exactly what service they used.
• I use it when I am selling on dotCOM, but shipping from Canada.
  It's a useful workaround nothing particularly sneaky about it.

I got USUS Tracking # ,

• If you got a USPS tracking number , the seller used USPS to ship, no matter what he called it.

USPS said we don't have it in our System .

• Do you mean you looked on the USPS website and there is no information about the package? None zip nada nothing?
• Does the USPS website say it has been presented /accepted?

eBay doesn't allow me to open case .

• EBay won't allow you to open a Dispute until the last estimated date for arrival they gave you.
• What is that date? Is "end of April" April 21 or April 30?

If the USPS site does not say the shipment was "accepted" which will have a date and a place of acceptance, then it is possible the seller has not actually shipped (even though they did purchase a shipping label or you would not have a USPS tracking number).

Contact the seller and ask for the tracking number (again), the actual service used, and the date shipped.  This might help -- possibly he has not yet sent the parcel for some reason??

While eBay will not entertain a Dispute until the delivery window closes, you are also covered by Paypal's Buyer Protection for 180 days from payment,  and by the credit card you use to back your PP account. Card policies about chargebacks differ.