Import Charges Change When Making an Offer

[aliuh]

I would like to put in an offer for an item and it says import charges are $71.30, but when I go to actually make the offer on the window that pops up the import charges drop to $17.97.

Does anyone know why this might be happening, or can I no longer detect when my dyslexia is messing with me?

Item Number: 255403934875

[marnotom!]

Import charges consist of HST (or GST, depending on the province the item is being shipped to), duty (if applicable) and processing fees that usually run around four to five US dollars.

The import charges sound about right for an offer of US$100 being shipped to a province with 13% HST, but I'm assuming you didn't make an offer that low for a US$345 item.  Complicating things somewhat is that sometimes the import charges get shifted onto the shipping charge.  Did the shipping charge change drastically too?

[aliuh]

It would be shipped to Ontario. I forgot to specify my prices are in USD. I don't really understand how the import charges work. Shipping changed from $19 to to $12 USD.

[aliuh]

I didn't mean to post that yet. I actually did lowball the offer at $110 US because I was worried the original import charges would be what I actually had to pay. I fully expected it to be declined automatically, like it was.. XD

[femmefan1946]

Making an offer at 30% of asking is a good way to end up on an insulted seller's BBL. However, if the seller has an automatic Rejection parameter, you may still be able to bid, since sellers don't ever see those automated rejections.

[aliuh]

@femmefan1946 I know. 😞 I wanted to try because that was the max I was willing to pay. Because import charges were so much it unfortunately would come across as quite a lowball, I guess.

[marnotom!]

Gotta say the import charges seem really out of whack on this listing, but they are considered to be an estimate on the listing page and my understanding is that they get sorted out at checkout.

[aliuh]

@marnotom! It's definitely effecting how much I'm willing to offer.

[marnotom!]

How’s your math? It’s not a perfect solution, but for an item like this where the estimate for the import charges is out of whack, you could try adjusting the estimate by the percentage your offer is discounted from the seller's asking price when figuring out your offer and the total you might be paying.

So if your offer is 80% of the asking price (or a 20% discount), reduce the import charges to 80% of what you see on the listing page.  Based on what I saw of your lowball offer, odds are that the revised estimate for the import charges will be even lower than that.

[aliuh]

marnotom! Oh gosh, my math.. I am mentally incapable of math. I see what you're suggesting though, but I'm honestly not smart enough to figure out how to do it.