Stag Handled Knives will not ship to Canada with GSP

[15westcoast]

First of all, I no longer buy any item from a seller subscribes to the Global Shipping

Program.  The added fees sometimes make the item no longer a bargain and with

the item being shipped across the USA, instead of direct to Canada, add to a longer

wait time.  A few months ago I had bought two stag handled knives within a week of one 

another from Ebay USA for my collection (nothing illegal).  Both knives went with the

GSP to their depot in Kentucky.  Both knives were held up for about ten days before I

received an e-mail stating that the knives would not be shipped to Canada because of

the stag handles.  Yes, I applied for and received a refund after quite a delay and many calls

to Ebay, who blamed Pitney Bowes and Pitney Bowes referring me back to Ebay.  The GSP

have "buzz" words that they don't like in the knife field like  "bowie" and "stag".  The GSP

were saying that stag is a prohibited item.  Fallen stag has been used for decades to handle

knives and I have ordered many through Ebay and received them but not on the GSP.  I

was very disappointed to say the least at loosing these items that I assume were sent back to

the seller, but I never did hear anything further.

So, thus endeth my lesson for today !

[maximus7001]

They were not sent back to the seller. The gsp is a one way trip. Real sad.

[reallynicestamps]

There are restrictions on some kinds of knives /weapons entering Canada.

Bowie knives may come under those restrictions, or may require a special permit.

The stag-horn handles sounds like an excess of caution on the part of PitneyBowes/GSP.  You could check the CBSA website for restrictions on bone and antlers.

It is the responsibility of the importer /buyer/you to know what can be imported, not the seller.

Glad you got the refund anyway. What was the holdup on it? GSP is usually pretty fast with that. Did you get your entire payment, including the import fees back?

The import fees cover any duty applicable on imports over $20Cdn (~$15US).

CBSA/ Canada Post have decided not to process small and /or inexpensive imports, on the sensible basis that it costs the taxpayer more in labour than could be collected.

However, private companies like PB/GSP (and UPS and FedEx) must legally collect any applicable import fees on items valued over $20. They do not have a choice.

Whether there is duty applicable or not, sales taxes will be charged. Most of the import fees are going to be sales taxes.

And PB/GSP also charge a ~$5 service fee, which is better than Canada Post ($9.95) or UPS ($25 and up).

The "direct" to Canada is an urban myth. Both USPS and Canada Post use the same type of hub-and-spoke delivery system used by GSP and UPS and FedEx.  I often refer to the opening of the movie Castaway, which is set in the mid-America hub for FedEx.

It can be annoying.  For those of us on Vancouver Island our hub is Richmond/Vancouver.
I was too late to stop a local shop from shipping a purchase which I could have picked up the next day. As a result, it arrived six days later, after two ferry rides.

[reallynicestamps]

Painfully true.

However, the payment to the seller stays with her.  The refund comes from GSP/PB.

[15westcoast]

Please read what I have written !   I have ordered dozens, yes dozens of stag handled

knives on Ebay that were posted directly by the seller and never once had a problem.

These were knives of all sizes and shapes.  There is no restriction on stag or bowie knives

here in Canada.  Just switchblades, gravity and bali-song knives.   All of the knives I purchased

arrived with no problem and cleared Canada Customs with no problem.  Just a big problem with

the Global Shipping Program. You don't have your facts correct about restricted items.

[reallynicestamps]

I'm not questioning that.

If the shipment is moving by USPS/Canada Post, it doesn't spend much time being scrutinized and as mentioned, low value (under $100 or so) and smallish (like a hardcover book) parcels, just don't get any scrutiny.

CBSA officers are well-paid.  Spending even 15 minutes in assessing whether a shipment of knives with horn handles is dutiable, working out the duty and then applying the appropriate sales tax, cost about $8.75 in labour alone (based on a wage of $35 an hour, and since I gather you are a businessman, you know that on top of wages the employer is paying taxes, CPP, UI, health premium, etc.)

So the whole business becomes moot.

But the private courier is not allowed to ignore any dutiable item. And the minimum wage workers in the Kentucky plant are making hundreds of decisions an hour.

They notoriously reject guitars for example-- because they "might" be made with rare woods that fall under CITES regulation.

It's not right.

But it happens for a reason. Perhaps not a good reason, but....

[reallynicestamps]

First of all, I no longer buy any item from a seller subscribes to the Global Shipping

Program.

That's a sensible move.

It's a Seller Protection program that offers nothing useful to the buyer, except possibly a few more sellers willing to ship internationally who are too paranoid or xenophobic without it.  (And a good chance the same sellers would not ship to Hawai'i , Puerto Rico or military addresses either.)

[15westcoast]

Thank you !  I see we are both in Victoria.

[15westcoast]

I have at one point communicated with some of the Ebay GSP sellers and some have

changed the shipping to USPS, as I really wanted the item.  Many others were not even aware

that they were on the GSP and had no idea how to change or leave that status.  They were also

not aware that there was a fee charged by Pitney Bowes for buyers outside the USA, like us here

in Canada.  Most Ebayers that I know have had a negative experience with the GSP and will not

buy from sellers that are on the program.  It is to say the least a very flawed and inefficient service.

[marnotom!]

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@15westcoast wrote:

Most Ebayers that I know have had a negative experience with the GSP and will not

buy from sellers that are on the program.  It is to say the least a very flawed and inefficient service.

---

Inefficient if you're a Canadian buyer, I guess.  The GSP serves about 100 other countries in addition to ours.  Because of our geographical proximity to the US, our close trade ties to that country, and the fact that it's relatively economical to ship between our two countries compared to shipping from the US to other countries, the GSP doesn't make a lot of sense on the surface for modestly-priced, smaller items.

If you're in one of the other countries, however, particularly ones with dodgy postal services or customs bureaux, it may make more sense.  There's no such thing as a shipping method that's perfect for every single circumstance.  If you found a listing where a seller was shipping single $2 postcards by US Priority International parcel at $36 a crack, would you conclude that parcel post sucked or would you just be thinking that the shipping method was inappropriate?

Another way of bypassing the GSP for listings where the seller refuses or can't wrap their heads around shipping directly to Canada is to get the item sent to and forwarded from a US address of your own choice, just like in the old days before the GSP was devised.

Agree that it's annoying that some items that are relatively innocuous may not be handled by the GSP, but the GSP doesn't have the staff or expertise to make detailed judgement calls on the thousands of items it handles each day.  Besides, these are Pitney Bowes' own restrictions, which may or may not have any basis in international trade restrictions.  It's the same with items sent by mail.  There's no trade barriers associated with mailing perfume internationally.  However, there may be safety concerns, so that's why you can't ship perfume by mail.