Shipping fee paid by buyer vs shipping fee received by seller

[handsome-prince]

Just wondering if someone could explain the discrepancy between the shipping cost charged to the buyer and the shipping cost received by the seller? I'm located in Canada and paid $18.06 US in shipping for an item. However the seller only received $5.20 US for the shipping charge (less fees). I inquired about this and the eBay representative said the shipping "overpayment" of $12.86 US was "kept" by the shipping company not eBay. Just wondering why the shipping cost isn't calculated a little better in the listing and if anyone had any explanation and/or suggestions. I paid $23.06 US total for the order, the seller received $10.20 US (less listing fees), and the shipping company apparently received $12.86 US in (seemingly) overpaid shipping. The item was shipped through the Global Shipping Program, perhaps that's the explanation for the missing $12.86 US?

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

The item was shipped through the Global Shipping Program, perhaps that's the explanation for the missing $12.86 US?

Yep.

This is a Seller Protection program in which the seller only has to ship to the GSP plant in Erlanger KY (which will show on the tracking).

And she only paid $5.20US for that service.

Then the GSP carries your purchase into Canada and to you. The GSP also has an import charge that covers duty (if the item were over $150Cdn) and sales tax (if the item were over $40Cdn) as well as a small (~$5) service fee.

The advantage to you is that the GSP is slightly cheaper than USPS/Canada Post shipping.

While the duty and sales taxes are the same, Canada Post charges $9.95 for collecting import fees on delivery.

[handsome-prince]

Very informative, thank you. In this case it was a child's Hot Wheel die cast car. I expected the shipping to be $12 US and found the $18 US shipping charge high, but the fact the item is essentially shipped twice explains that. If the seller wished, I guess she could have instead chose a flat rate shipping of $12 US. Maybe next time I can run that idea by the seller before purchasing. But I may run the risk of getting hit with duty/taxes like you mentioned.

[femmefan1946]

No.

Again, duty for item purchased from the USA is duty free if under $150 value. And tax-free if under $40 value.

This is part of the new NAFTA agreement of July 1, 2020.

Overseas imports retain the old $20 duty free and tax free allowances that have been in place since the 1980s.

And one advantage GSP has (for GSP) is that while Canada Post is among the 'last mile' carriers, most of their shipments are travelling on a manifest of hundreds of items in a single truck or container. This reduces the cost of shipping, along with the normal discounts large customers get from carriers.

So the shipping you paid on the $12 item does seem high.

This may help.

A lot of Americans choose Priority Shipping instead of First Class International Package because USPS puts the most expensive service at the top. But both provide the Delivery Confirmation the seller wants and are about equally fast.

https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440

TL/DR-- Shipping is complicated. International shipping is expensive.

[deeeight]

The difference is the majority of the time Canada customs doesn't actually bother to assess ANY duty/taxes at all on shipments into Canada coming via Canada Post and thus, as a buyer you're guaranteed to pay more for slower service if the seller uses the GSP.