eBay

theoldestfart · ‎12-17-2023

This is a prime example of why I am sticking to what little purchasing I do these days on eBay to Canadian sellers. I was watching an item in San Antonio Tx. The seller put out an offer for $20 USD for the item that was listed for $28 USD. I turned down the offer. The reason was that by the time the item crossed the US border the $27 shipping charge would mean the item was $63 CDN plus the $10 brokerage fee via Canada Post plus the 12% PST & GST charged on it. It is no longer cost-effective to buy from US sellers.

electricalley · ‎07-01-2024

I'm totally in agreement with you. eBay will soon see Canadian buyers leaving ebay.com in droves and eBay will have deserved it. After 16+ years on eBay I cannot believe that eBay has deteriorated like this. Treating its customers with such obviou$ callou$ di$dain is how companies go out of busine$$.

theoldestfart · ‎07-01-2024

The last thing I bought on eBay was a year ago and it was an item from someone in Canada. I have bought thousands of dollars of stuff from China directly. It is not unusual to get items from China in 9 days to 2 weeks. The last eBay item from a US seller probably was 2+ years ago.

With eBay.ca and auction items, I have to constantly add current item price + shipping and take a guess at what total Import taxes will be (12% sales taxes + ?). I have to do this with every auction item to determine whether the item is worth it at the current bid price. eBay.ca it seems is incapable of displaying that in the door price in the item listing. They know where I live I am signed into my eBay account.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-01-2024

@theoldestfart wrote:
The last thing I bought on eBay was a year ago and it was an item from someone in Canada. I have bought thousands of dollars of stuff from China directly. It is not unusual to get items from China in 9 days to 2 weeks. The last eBay item from a US seller probably was 2+ years ago.

With eBay.ca and auction items, I have to constantly add current item price + shipping and take a guess at what total Import taxes will be (12% sales taxes + ?). I have to do this with every auction item to determine whether the item is worth it at the current bid price. eBay.ca it seems is incapable of displaying that in the door price in the item listing. They know where I live I am signed into my eBay account.

@theoldestfart

According to google and the eBay Calculator Tool for US sellers the cheapest method to ship to Canada is USPS First Class Standard. US sellers if they use eBay labels would have access to a small discount.

With rates starting at $14.11, First Class Package International Service® is the lowest cost option among all shipping carriers for packages weighing up to 4 pounds. Package delivery takes between 11 to 20 business days, and the low shipping rate makes this service an ideal option for products priced under $50.

On another part of the page it mentions 2 to 8 days but that seems overly optimistic. Unfortunately it does not include tracking and is why many of those "paranoid" US type sellers are afraid to use. According to the eBay tool delivery time is a nice round 0 days. There is an announcement on dot com that USPS rates are going up this month (July) which will not help but still better for anyone okay with no tracking and quicker service than eIS can provide. (The announcements seems to skip Intl Standard to Canada but it does display using the tool. )Then it would be the do you/don't you pay tax on delivery scenario with CP but atleast a buyer would have a better idea that their purchase will not walk away.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/July-2024-USPS-Rate-Changes/ba-p/34538677

-Lotz

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-01-2024

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@theoldestfart wrote:
The last thing I bought on eBay was a year ago and it was an item from someone in Canada. I have bought thousands of dollars of stuff from China directly. It is not unusual to get items from China in 9 days to 2 weeks. The last eBay item from a US seller probably was 2+ years ago.

With eBay.ca and auction items, I have to constantly add current item price + shipping and take a guess at what total Import taxes will be (12% sales taxes + ?). I have to do this with every auction item to determine whether the item is worth it at the current bid price. eBay.ca it seems is incapable of displaying that in the door price in the item listing. They know where I live I am signed into my eBay account.
@theoldestfart

According to google and the eBay Calculator Tool for US sellers the cheapest method to ship to Canada is USPS First Class Standard. US sellers if they use eBay labels would have access to a small discount.

With rates starting at $14.11, First Class Package International Service® is the lowest cost option among all shipping carriers for packages weighing up to 4 pounds. Package delivery takes between 11 to 20 business days, and the low shipping rate makes this service an ideal option for products priced under $50.

On another part of the page it mentions 2 to 8 days but that seems overly optimistic. Unfortunately it does not include tracking and is why many of those "paranoid" US type sellers are afraid to use. According to the eBay tool delivery time is a nice round 0 days. There is an announcement on dot com that USPS rates are going up this month (July) which will not help but still better for anyone okay with no tracking and quicker service than eIS can provide. (The announcements seems to skip Intl Standard to Canada but it does display using the tool. )Then it would be the do you/don't you pay tax on delivery scenario with CP but atleast a buyer would have a better idea that their purchase will not walk away.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/July-2024-USPS-Rate-Changes/ba-p/34538677

-Lotz

A couple of videos on how eIS is supposed to work. eBay's perspective.

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/shipping/ebay-international-shipping

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-01-2024

@electricalley

Just to clarify something g that you wrote, Sellers do NOT ship free to the hub, they still have to pay for a label to ship it there. What the seller meant is that he doesn't charge buyers a separate shipping cost. He has free domestic shipping which means that he likely has ncluded the shipping cost on the item price.

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-01-2024

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@theoldestfart wrote:
The last thing I bought on eBay was a year ago and it was an item from someone in Canada. I have bought thousands of dollars of stuff from China directly. It is not unusual to get items from China in 9 days to 2 weeks. The last eBay item from a US seller probably was 2+ years ago.

With eBay.ca and auction items, I have to constantly add current item price + shipping and take a guess at what total Import taxes will be (12% sales taxes + ?). I have to do this with every auction item to determine whether the item is worth it at the current bid price. eBay.ca it seems is incapable of displaying that in the door price in the item listing. They know where I live I am signed into my eBay account.
@theoldestfart

According to google and the eBay Calculator Tool for US sellers the cheapest method to ship to Canada is USPS First Class Standard. US sellers if they use eBay labels would have access to a small discount.

With rates starting at $14.11, First Class Package International Service® is the lowest cost option among all shipping carriers for packages weighing up to 4 pounds. Package delivery takes between 11 to 20 business days, and the low shipping rate makes this service an ideal option for products priced under $50.

On another part of the page it mentions 2 to 8 days but that seems overly optimistic. Unfortunately it does not include tracking and is why many of those "paranoid" US type sellers are afraid to use. According to the eBay tool delivery time is a nice round 0 days. There is an announcement on dot com that USPS rates are going up this month (July) which will not help but still better for anyone okay with no tracking and quicker service than eIS can provide. (The announcements seems to skip Intl Standard to Canada but it does display using the tool. )Then it would be the do you/don't you pay tax on delivery scenario with CP but atleast a buyer would have a better idea that their purchase will not walk away.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/July-2024-USPS-Rate-Changes/ba-p/34538677

-Lotz

First class international package does include tracking to many countries, including Canada. The label does have to be purchased online,(including on eBay) not at the post office. Here is a list of countries that the service has tracking for.

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Electronic-USPS-Delivery-Confirmation-International

There is also a service callled First Class International that is just for small packages similar to our international letterpost. It does not have tracking and is not supposed to be used for goods.

reallynicestamps · ‎07-01-2024

First Class International Package does include tracking to Canada.

https://www.stamps.com/usps/international-package-tracking/

"FCPIS tracking available only to: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland."

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-01-2024

@reallynicestamps wrote:
First Class International Package does include tracking to Canada.
https://www.stamps.com/usps/international-package-tracking/

"FCPIS tracking available only to: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland."

Clarification. My search results inadvertently brought up First Class Mail Intl which does not have tracking. That service is not even included in eBays list. Correct service from the calculator should have been USPS First Class Package International. I was pretty sure it did include tracking. According to USPS that service quotes 2 to 8 business days. The names are very similar.

reallynicestamps · ‎07-01-2024

They are similar.

And two to eight business days is optimistic in my opinion.

marnotom! · ‎07-01-2024

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
Clarification. My search results inadvertently brought up First Class Mail Intl which does not have tracking. That service is not even included in eBays list.

First Class Mail International would be what Canada Post would call Letter-post - International or Letter-post - USA. None of these is "postal legal" for sending merchandise. If Letter-post is still an option on eBay Canada, it should be removed as well. Lettermail is a domestic service and is acceptable for merchandise. Thanks again for clearing up that distinction a few moons ago, @pjcdn20052!

reallynicestamps · ‎07-02-2024

You are right about the shipping charge raising the cost of the item from $20 to $47.

And that the service fee/customs brokerage fee from Canada Post is $9.95.

However, you would only be paying import fees on the $20USD/$25Cdn selling price- and we have a $150 duty free and $40 tax free exemption on imports from the USA.

This change happened in 2020 with the MUSCA (new NAFTA) agreement.

On your specific purchase there should be no import fees and no service fee.

marnotom! · ‎07-02-2024

@reallynicestamps wrote:

However, you would only be paying import fees on the $20USD/$25Cdn selling price- and we have a $150 duty free and $40 tax free exemption on imports from the USA.
This change happened in 2020 with the MUSCA (new NAFTA) agreement.

That's certainly true for items sent by courier. The old tax and duty-free exemption of C$20 is still officially in place for items sent by mail, however.