eBay

vlopddap · ‎04-21-2013

Hi,

First let me tell you that this program is a joke (almost a scam). I buy products ship from the US on eBay for several years and on 99% of the time I don't paid a penny in brokerage fees, taxes or anything. But now eBay forces me to pay import fees? WTF?

The law in Canada is simple: a package purchased in the U.S. with a value of 60$ (CDN) or less is free from customs and taxes! I currently check for an item of 44$ and eBay add 11$ of import fees? And because Canada's customs do not charge anything at this value, who will receive this extra money?

Is there a way for a BUYER to REFUSE to participate to the "Global Shipping Program" and to chose to deal myself with imports procedure at Canada customs (if required) like I do before?

marnotom! · ‎09-09-2013

@i*m-still-here wrote:

marnotom!.......... That, actually is an interesting question.

It has NOTHING to do with the P-B GSP operation..................

Actually, I think it does have a lot to do with Pitney Bowes' Global Shipping operation. After all, one of its jobs is to collect taxes and duties due on imported items.

A lot of the complaints about the GSP seem to be that its doing that particular job.

I think that if Canada Border Services were able to more consistently collect taxes owing on postal imports, the posts on the GSP would be focussed more on its high shipping costs for items that could be sent by First Class International and its questionable custom service.

i*m-still-here · ‎09-09-2013

@marnotom! wrote:
I think that if Canada Border Services were able to more consistently collect taxes owing on postal imports, the posts on the GSP would be focussed more on its high shipping costs for items that could be sent by First Class International and its questionable custom service.

That's the ticket:

Change the way our Canadian Government collects taxes to bring the GSP into line with reality.

(Are you kidding me?)

marnotom! · ‎09-09-2013

Please read my post more carefully. I didn't say that Canada Border Services should change its ways, did I?

i*m-still-here · ‎09-09-2013

@marnotom! wrote:
I think that if Canada Border Services were able to more consistently collect taxes owing on postal imports, the posts on the GSP would be focused more on its high shipping costs for items that could be sent by First Class International and its questionable custom service.

The post office is very consistent........... not 100%, but I can predict with roughly 95% degree of accuracy when the PO will collect taxes.

If the PO were consistent and never collected, then my prediction would be accurate 100% of the time.

How would that shift the GSP posts to shipping costs?

marnotom! · ‎09-09-2013

@i*m-still-here wrote:

The post office is very consistent........... not 100%, but I can predict with roughly 95% degree of accuracy when the PO will collect taxes.

If the PO were consistent and never collected, then my prediction would be accurate 100% of the time.

How would that shift the GSP posts to shipping costs?

At what point did the statement "If Canada Border Services were able to more consistently collect taxes owing on postal imports" become incomprehensible?

ttapley204 · ‎10-02-2013

The other issue that is ticking me off with the GSP is that items made in the USA and Mexico are duty free when shipped to Canada under NAFTA and therefore there should be no brokerage services required. I have decided that I will avoid any vendor who participates in this cash grab. I have purchase over 40 items from US Sellers and only twice, have I paid taxes and duties and only when the items were over $100 in value. This is a program that is bad for the average Canadian buyer who buys items under $100 and can receive items by USPS outside of the GSP. I believe this will impact ebay negatively in the long run because buyers will realize that they are being taken advantage of and will curtail their ebay shopping .

pierrelebel · ‎10-03-2013

"and therefore there should be no brokerage services required."

Unfortunately, that is not the way it works.

Canadian consumption taxes (GST/HST/PST) are payable on taxable items. It has nothing to do with "duty" on duty free items manufactured under NAFTA.

When taxes are payable (regardless of amount), Canada Post automatically charges $9.95 brokerage fee (it used to be only $5 many years ago). There is no avoiding it if taxes are levied.

On the other hand, the fee charged by Pitney Bowes appears to be a handling fee to receive a parcel from an American seller and reship the parcel to an international destination and has nothing to do with "duty" or "taxes" or "Customs". It is charged regardless of value and is not directly related to "brokerage". Now, the fee charged by Pitney Bowes will increase based on the amount of work required (tax calculation and collection for example) and value of the parcel. Unfortunately - and this is one of the major complaint by most users - the PB fee schedule is undisclosed. This is one specific area where the system could easily be improved: visibility

ntwrong · ‎10-12-2013

You should check your facts before offering misleading advice. The International Priority Shipping is done by Pitney Bowes. I'm with the OP -- eBay signed me up for this "service" by stealth, and it makes purchases from the US prohibitively expensive. When a buyer pays, part of the money goes to the seller and a separate part of the money goes to Pitney Bowes. UPS doesn't enter into it.

reallynicestamps · ‎10-12-2013

ntwrong-- You are wrong twice.

As a Canadian buyer, you are not eligible to sign up for this program, which is only open to US based sellers shipping from the USA.

So you have not been signed up .

Nor was it done by stealth, except for the first couple of weeks, sellers using the Program do have the information posted on their listings. The wording is .... hmmmm..... soothing but it is there.

said you refuse to pay theirs import fees because you require to deal directly with Canada customs directly without paying a dime to UPS...

However, the cost of doing so may be higher than the cost of paying the shipper (private or postal system) to do the work and deliver the package.

I'm getting bored with myself continually pointing out that in Ontario the minimum wage is 17 cents a minute. If you take two hours to go to the CBSA offices to broker your own package, you have spent $20.40 of your time (more if you earn a living wage) plus the cost of gas to get to the customs office, often out at the airport, train station or some other commercial hub.

pierre makes a good point about why CBSA does not bother with most postally imported parcels. If it costs $2 to collect $1.50, why bother? If the Harper government wanted to look good and increase the amount of duty and GST collected, all they would have to do is increase the maximum duty-free limit to match that of cross-border shoppers, which I believe is currently $200. The cost of collecting would not rise, still $2, but the amount collected goes from $1 GST on a $20 NAFTA-made import to $10 on a $200 NAFTA import. Plus the $9.95 Canada Post service fee. And duty on those items that are not made in USA, Mexico or Chile.

cskguitars83 · ‎11-07-2013

I've actually had many items that got through customs without charges. One was even a $1200 item, and it was declared at $1200 US. The next day I got a $22 item and I was charged duties. Not that I want to pay more taxes, but that certainly doesn't help the deficit.

That neon said, this GSP thing may actually be the scam some people are claiming.
I just received a package yesterday. It was $25. The package shipping label PB put on it said "goods return" and had no declared value. Their FAQ says they forward the import fees to the relevant authorities. But I am not so sure. It seems like they are declaring things as returns to bypass cbsa and keep the money for themselves . Then again maybe they do forward the fees and that's what they have been instructed to do by cbsa to pass items through faster. The last GSP items I bought were opened by PB. And one was actually damaged either when it was opened and/or was damaged as a result of very poor repackaging. Now I have to fight for compensation!

As an aside, if you use the OBO option and make an offer less than $20, do you notice that the customs import fees disappear, as they should, but then the shipping cost goes up significantly, offsetting the removal of the import fees.

This is definitely a cash grab. But as some have suggested, eBay may be pocketing the import fees for themselves. If that is the case, it can't last long. Or maybe cbsa is looking the other way and getting a cut. This way they are collecting at the time of purchase instead of missing out on packages that pass through tax free. If that's the case, it's genius.