Is there a New Canadian Petition for Lower Duties Circulating to Members or is it a Scam?

[old_macdonald]

I got an email but I wonder if it is legitimate or a phoney one looking to obtain your information. It starts by saying..

"Join eBay Canada in calling for fewer duties and taxes on ecommerce purchases."  And the sender address comes up as eBay@reply.ebay.ca

is it legit?

there's no other way to ask through eBay's help section so I'm trying this community section.

[i.am.vivian]

I'm sorry to say it is perfectly legitimate.

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/More-quot-de-minimis-quot-maneuvering/m-p/362491#U362491

[nikkow]

Screw off eBay. Youre just trying to increase your revenue. You don't care about Canadian buyers one bit. If you did then you wouldn't be gouging us on shipping and "taxes" with your global shipping program

[pocomocomputing]

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@nikkow wrote:
Screw off eBay. You're just trying to increase your revenue. You don't care about Canadian buyers one bit. If you did then you wouldn't be gouging us on shipping and "taxes" with your global shipping program

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Raising the De minimis on imports would actually make the GSP program look better because with a higher exemption limit (currently $20 CDN), sales taxes would not be charged to that limit.

eBay promoting a higher De minimis limit would actually help Canadian buyers importing items from outside the country.

[nikkow]

No it doesn't help. "Tax" is already charged on anything under the scam program

[bpl521_sell]

It would benefit EVERYONE, you know how much couriers make by ripping off Canadians on their brokerage fees. US is now allowed to bring in $800.00 duty and tax free, we are still stuck at $20.00

Ebay has a lot stronger voice than I do.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@bpl521_sell wrote:
... US is now allowed to bring in $800.00 duty and tax free, we are still stuck at $20.00

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That's only because the USA does not have a national sales tax (state and city sales taxes, but they don't have border control). It was raised last year to $800 from $200 on personal purchases since the cost of collecting duty was not covered by the value of the duty.  Purely a cost cutting measure by the US government.

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[recped]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

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@bpl521_sell wrote:
... US is now allowed to bring in $800.00 duty and tax free, we are still stuck at $20.00

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That's only because the USA does not have a national sales tax (state and city sales taxes, but they don't have border control). It was raised last year to $800 from $200 on personal purchases since the cost of collecting duty was not covered by the value of the duty.  Purely a cost cutting measure by the US government.

...

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Not only that but in reality US Customs never charged anything or required a formal entry on postal shipments below $2500.

The change from $200 to $800 effectively meant nothing at all. Certainly nothing much for Canadian sellers given that imports from Canada are almost always free of any duty (and as noted there is no federal sales or excise tax). Individuals importing these shipments are supposed to declare and pay "use tax" on their state tax returns (just as they are supposed to do with out of State purchases), most reports I have read estimate compliance at less than 5%.

Even on shipments above $2500 the duty rates are often so low that the biggest cost to importers is the "user fee" and paying a broker.

[old_macdonald]

I'm not really sorry. I was just concerned it was some phishing scam. I've gotten other ones disguised as ones from ING and Bank of Montreal; no, not the obvious Mid-Eastern King that left me some large ingeritence and they only need my bank account number-kind of scams. Those are obvious. Some of the phishing scams can look pretty legit, but I'm being cautious and asking first.

[old_macdonald]

I'm charged HST (Nova Scotia sales tax) and can be charged extra import fees on top of that plus brokerage fees, which I never heard of until I bought something that needed to be delivered via UPS. All you can do is ask the seller to write a lower value on the package so the fee is lower, or they mark it as a gift. I read that somewhere.

[nikkow]

Screw off eBay. Go medle in some other countries policies so you can make more money. Thieving **bleep**s

[nikkow]

Global scam program. eBay helps China set up factories and trains people to use their platform to produce fakes and knock offs and flood North America with illegal, inferior goods.

[pocomocomputing]

Apparently eBay Canada has started the next step in promoting a higher de minimis. See today's eBay Canada announcement

https://announcements.ebay.ca/2017/01/11/7932/

Today, eBay Canada launched the next step in our ongoing efforts to encourage the Canadian government to increase our customs de minimis threshold: We have issued a call to Canadian eBay members to sign a letter to Finance Minister, Bill Morneau.

The customs de minimis threshold is the value above which goods shipped into Canada are assessed for duties and taxes. Canada’s threshold has been set at $20 for more than 30 years.

Please read the full announcement in the link above.