eBay charged $70 duties fee plus GST/PST. Sports cards.

[premiumcards2]

Hi,

I collect sports cards. I am in Canada and this purchase like most of mine is from a US seller. On my latest purchase I won the auction and went to pay, it then had added GST/PST and $70 for duties. I have no problem paying GST/HST. Every single one of my purchases over $100 goes thru Canada post and they collect the GST/PST and they levy a $9.95 processing fee for clearing the package. On a few previous purchases ebay has charged the GST/PST upfront and then I am not charged anything additional upon delivery.

I have zero issue with paying GST/PST and the $9.95 fee that Canada post charges.

My issue is what eBay did on this order. They levied the GST/PST plus they charged what appears to me, a $70 fee instead of $9.95.

The $70 charge is more than the combined total of the GST/PST as well.
It makes no sense to me. eBay customer support is not helpful and I have contacted the global shipping center to only receive an email back with a link to basically the FAQ which doesn’t explain a whole lot in detail.

[fh991586]

We are missing information to be able to help you.  What is the exact breakdown of your invoice?  There would not be any duties on such a purchase, only sale taxes.

[marnotom!]

I agree with @fh991586: we need to see a fee breakdown in order to provide some useful assistance.

From what I've seen, if taxes are charged on an item forwarded through eBay International Shipping, they apply to the shipping charges as well as the item price.  Does that help at all, @premiumcards2?

[premiumcards2]

Hi,

Apologies for posting this twice. I had to upload an image and I couldn’t edit the first one to include it.

I collect sports cards. I am in Canada and this purchase like most of mine is from a US seller. On my latest purchase I won the auction and went to pay, it then had added GST/PST and $70 for duties. I have no problem paying GST/HST. Every single one of my purchases over $100 goes thru Canada post and they collect the GST/PST and they levy a $9.95 processing fee for clearing the package. On a few previous purchases ebay has charged the GST/PST upfront and then I am not charged anything additional upon delivery.

My issue is what eBay did on this order. They levied the GST/PST plus they charged what appears to me, a $70 fee instead of $9.95 if Canada post clears it. I was not given any option to pay the GST/pst/etc upon delivery like usual.

The $70 charge is more than the combined total of the GST/PST as well.
It makes no sense to me. eBay customer support is not helpful and I have contacted the global shipping center to only receive an email back with a link to basically the FAQ which doesn’t explain a whole lot in detail.

[premiumcards2]

Hi, I had to make another post to include the image…

[premiumcards2]

I had to make another post to include the image.

[marnotom!]

What category was the item listed in?  Where was it made?

Right now, it's looking as though that charge was for what it says on the invoice: duty, but that amount seems pretty high for duty.

P.S.  I prefer to insert an image rather than attach one.  It's easier for people using mobile devices to view them as embedded into the message rather than as an attachment.

[premiumcards2]

It was listed in:

Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop > Sports Trading Cards > Trading Card Singles

As far as I know these trading cards are printed in the States.

It’s item # 115911527861

Thank you for the help

[marnotom!]

Yeah, sorry, @premiumcards2, I'm mystified here.  All I can think is that the card is being sent by a courier rather than the postal system and these are actually the carrier's various and sundry charges relating to tax handling and customs clearance.

How were you contacting eBay customer service?  The chat options (X, Facebook, the eBay site) seem to have a better reputation than the telephone option.

EDITED TO ADD:  It looks as though this item is shipping through the Authentication Program.  I vaguely recall seeing a post or two when this program first became a "thing" to the effect that that program used a FedEx international ground service to ship to Canada, and that service charges some pretty hefty customs and tax processing fees.

[flipistics]

Yeah, that's weird. Try contacting them through their social media contacts. I can't come up with any scenario that causes that duty to make sense unless the item was somehow misclassified as some form of collectible (maybe the person had it cross listed in a few different categories?)

[premiumcards2]

Yea, I’ll try doing that. I emailed the global shipping department asking for a breakdown of this $70. I figure I will wait til they reply then go from there…..

[premiumcards2]

Hmm I’ve never had something go thru the authentication program so that maybe be a possibility. I guess I will have to wait and see, right now it hasn’t passed through the global shipping hub yet, so I don’t know what carrier is going to handle it when it gets in Canada.

[fh991586]

Taxes are ok considering the declared amount, but that "Duty" line is definitely not clear enough, and I'm pretty sure it should not be labelled as such.  I would not be enclined to pay that without questionning them!
I recently made a purchase in the USA that was shipped with UPS, and the breakdown of the payment due was more clear, and the brokerage fee was only $9.95 on top of that! But it wasn't on eBay...

[femmefan1946]

The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.


https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
 

[femmefan1946]

Nearly $800 Cdn?

Our duty free allowance for the USA is $150.

Over that and we pay duty no matter where the item was made.

(We pay taxes on imports valued over $40)

However there does not appear to be duty on sports cards.. https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2018/html/03/ch49-eng.html

4911.91.00

30

Other printed matter, including printed pictures and photographs. - Other: - Pictures, designs and photographs - Trading cards

I'm not sure if eBay can help you here devon@ebay   but you could try contacting CBSA with your paperwork in hand and asking for the incorrect charge to be refunded.

The HS number (4911 etc) would be the important one to know for this discussion.