Pitney Bowes: unjustified extra fees: huge scam: who will stop this scam?

[habanera4ima]

This "third party" Pitney Bowes is running a disgusting scam on eBay! How can customers make ebay aware that this is a fraud ? This third party does not represent official customs an does not give US or Canadian customs any money, they put it all in their pockets. By using fraudulously the term "custom fees", they are not only lying to ebay buyers, but also to official authorities who are not getting these extra "custom fees". Sellers! Why do you make business with these people? they are stealing money from you and from your customers! If ebay cannot or will not take action, this fraud issue will be taken directly to the federal governments of both countries to unveil the scam. Enough is enough!

[lcoo3580]

The Pitney Bowes program is a scam.   The "customs fees" collected are very likely charges for PB acting as customs agents to clear items that normally wouldn't require customs fees.     The packages arrive later than they should,   for they are sent first to Kentucky and then forwarded abroad,   and we pay extra for this delay.    

When deciding whether to buy an item,   if I see that the Pitney Bowes company will be involved,   I decide against the purchase,   unless the price is especially low and I'm prepared to wait an extra week to receive the item. 

When I phoned ebay, they said that the Pitney Bowes program protects both buyers and sellers from losing money if an item goes astray.   I suggested that shipping insurance would be a better way.

[marnotom!]

I agree pretty much with what you said, lcoo3580, although I'm not sure you're aware that anything with a declared value of over C$20 can be subject to GST/PST/HST plus a processing charge of C$9.95.  It's just that much of the time nobody at the Canadian Border Services Agency bothers to assess these taxes on smaller, modestly-valued items.

[slackerj6]

I absolutely refusing to buy anything that has "import charges" it is a total scam.

[nuvistors]

GSP  is hardly a scam. 

It is a great business oportunity for ebay/Pitney Bowes and fully supported by the Canadian government.

       Ebay makes money.   Pitney Bowes makes money.  And the Canadian government gets tax on   a huge number of shipments that would otherwise be  passed through without tax being collected.

          The US seller is protected and the Canadian buyer has an extremely difficult time  recovering the GSP costs for INR or SNAD.

Definitely not helpfull to Canadian buyers for items under  $100.00.

[brandeentertainment]

I have to agree it is a huge scammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

i bought 2 things both withi $2 of each other in price .. both Under around $40

Pitney bowes charged $7.80 import on one sale

Pitney bowes charged $22 and change on the other ..

It is a scam and a rip off and pitney bowes should have to explain themselves on this one because they are collecting import fees on items that don't even have import fees so can they really say it is import fees they are collecting .. 

I wonder if anyone has ever contacted a shipping service or customs to see how much of this goes to them... 

I am done buying from All US sellers in the gsp Program...

[pierrelebel]

"Pitney bowes charged $7.80 import on one sale

Pitney bowes charged $22 and change on the other .."

Were both products similar - equally taxable and duty free?

[00nevermind00]

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@nuvistors wrote:

GSP  is hardly a scam. 

It is a great business oportunity for ebay/Pitney Bowes and fully supported by the Canadian government.

       Ebay makes money.   Pitney Bowes makes money.  And the Canadian government gets tax on   a huge number of shipments that would otherwise be  passed through without tax being collected.

          The US seller is protected and the Canadian buyer has an extremely difficult time  recovering the GSP costs for INR or SNAD.

Definitely not helpfull to Canadian buyers for items under  $100.00.

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No, it's not a scam, but you can't really blame buyers for feeling that they are being taken advantage of because of all the extra fees that they wouldn't have to pay with a seller shipping directly to them. I don't know anyone who likes to pay extra without receiving anything extra in return.

There is no scam here, but there sure is a lack of transparency. If this was such a wonderful program, would ebay feel the need to sign up sellers without their consent and without even letting them know, through a cockamamie "user agreement update" that led them to a "close your account" page unless they clicked Agree? That seems like a pretty shady and underhanded business practice to me.

There is also a lack of transparency for buyers of auction items. I don't know what the final selling price of an item will be when I put in my proxy bid and since the GSP fees are contingent on the final selling price, they are unknown to me until that price is known and I can't factor them into my bidding decision. Not nice, ebay! Ebay requires its sellers to disclose all charges upfront, yet it doesn't have the same requirement for the GSP. As a buyer, I'm really not happy about that and give all GSP items a wide berth.

The GSP is definitely not helpful to Canadians for items under $100, and not helpful either for small, light-weight items of any price. Pass!

[pierrelebel]

"The GSP is definitely not helpful to Canadians for items under $100, and not helpful either for small, light-weight items of any price. Pass!"

Most Canadian buyers have correctly reached the same conclusion.  The program was set-up to help Americans sell outside their borders, not for Canadians to buy from them.

[marnotom!]

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@message*board*id wrote:

No, it's not a scam, but you can't really blame buyers for feeling that they are being taken advantage of because of all the extra fees that they wouldn't have to pay with a seller shipping directly to them. I don't know anyone who likes to pay extra without receiving anything extra in return.

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I would reword that slightly to read "You can't really blame buyers for feeling that they are being taken advantage of because of all the extra fees that they may not necessarily have to pay with a seller shipping directly to them."

I get the sense that many people complaining about the GSP "extra fees" are unaware that Canada Border Services is becoming increasingly lax about assessing and charging taxes due plus the Canada Post ten dollar "handling fee".  Anyone ever complain about that, I wonder?

[00nevermind00]

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@marnotom! wrote:

 

I get the sense that many people complaining about the GSP "extra fees" are unaware that Canada Border Services is becoming increasingly lax about assessing and charging taxes due plus the Canada Post ten dollar "handling fee".  Anyone ever complain about that, I wonder?

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Does it really matter whether or not they're aware? The end result is the same; buyers dealing with sellers who ship to them directly hardly ever have to pay tax, while those who deal with GSP sellers always do. I don't know about you, but the last time I had to pay tax on an ebay purchase, the fee was $5. I've received hundreds of purchases since them, some worth several hundreds of dollars. All untaxed.

But if I purchase something worth $20.01 from a GSP seller, I will have to pay the tax. I will also have to pay shipping from the seller's location to Kentucky. I will also have to pay inflated shipping from Kentucky to me. And I will have to pay the ebay/PB fee. So I think I'll stick with non-GSP sellers and take my pretty high chances that my purchase will not be taxed.

And we haven't even talked about how buyers are hung out to dry when something goes wrong with a GSP transaction.

[i*m-still-here]

The GSP is indeed a scam (and a very good one)........... as much as I don't care for that over-used word "scam," it actually fits.

It's a scam in the sense that P-B takes their customer's money and gives "LESS" than nothing in return.

The service they provide is that they make transactions more difficult on numerous levels, and their customers pay them to do that!!!

Incredibly CLEVER.  On eBay, where buyers search out bargains and deals!!!!! .............. And they are not only getting away with it............

The GSP is multiplying and cropping up unbidden everywhere.  

Where else can you get consumers to actually pay you to make a purchase difficult???

[brandeentertainment]

yeah they were both the same items .... Mailers.. used the same guy for awhile now over a year but not anymore... Spoe with seller to ask them why and they said it saves them money on how muc hthey would pay to ship cross borders because pitney bowes pays for it they just pay to ship to the centre in the US.. 

I asked them how much it would have cost me for shipping otherwise they said roughly $20 .. I paid for $10 something in shipping then $22 pitney bowes ...

[dipmicro]

Pitney Bowes scamming people? Shocking!

[marnotom!]

What do we get for Canada Post's $9.95 charge for items assessed taxes by Canada Border Services?

[ykwireless]

I just looked at two identical items, the first was $19, the second was $22.  Shipping via Pitney Bowes "International Priority Shipping" was calculated from the same city for both items.  Shipping was going to be $16.13 on the first item and $12.76(shipping)+$6.07("customs fees")=$18.33 on the second item.

If you ship a package through regular mail that has a value of less than $20 there's no customs duty so it looks like Pitney Bowes is at least aware of this.  See: www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/duty-droits-eng.html

I do wonder why they offer a higher shipping cost for an item just below the $20 threshold.  That seems a bit scammish.

I have had a bad experience previously with a company collecting "customs fees" and pocketing the money - I know because I had to pay actual customs duty when the package arrived.  I wouldn't know if Pitney Bowes is doing this or not because I just refuse to place an order if Pitney Bowes "International Priority Shipping" is the only shipping option.  What's wrong with USPS people?

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

It is not a scam, that is rude. It is a tool that is being provided so that the American Chicken Little sellers can pretend to sell internationaly. It is a forwrding and pre-customs clearance service. Services that have to be paid for.

I "think" the day is coming when international selling will be a requirement for selling on eBay. eBay is putting all the tools in place to enforce this. Selles and buyers will choose which tools they will use.

I personally know two American sellers who use GSP and it is working very well for them. It has REDUCED their problems. The Cdn view is a lot different than the worldwide view.

[marnotom!]

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@ykwireless wrote:

I just looked at two identical items, the first was $19, the second was $22.  Shipping via Pitney Bowes "International Priority Shipping" was calculated from the same city for both items.  Shipping was going to be $16.13 on the first item and $12.76(shipping)+$6.07("customs fees")=$18.33 on the second item.

If you ship a package through regular mail that has a value of less than $20 there's no customs duty so it looks like Pitney Bowes is at least aware of this.  See: www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/duty-droits-eng.html

I do wonder why they offer a higher shipping cost for an item just below the $20 threshold.  That seems a bit scammish.

I have had a bad experience previously with a company collecting "customs fees" and pocketing the money - I know because I had to pay actual customs duty when the package arrived.  I wouldn't know if Pitney Bowes is doing this or not because I just refuse to place an order if Pitney Bowes "International Priority Shipping" is the only shipping option.  What's wrong with USPS people?

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One thing to keep in mind with the GSP shipping charges is that you're actually paying for two chunks of shipping.  The first chunk is how much the seller would charge to ship the item to Kentucky if the sale were domestic.  The second chunk is Pitney Bowes' charge for shipping from Kentucky to the item's destination.  I realize that this doesn't account at all for the difference you saw between those two items, however.

Until recently, the GSP had a nominal import charge of three bucks and change for items below the tax/duty-free threshold of C$20, but a lot of buyers didn't seem to understand that even though the item may not be subject to taxes there are still customs clearance fees to pay, so they griped about how the GSP was charging for "duties" or just something "extra" when they felt that the item in question wasn't subject to addition fees. So now those fees are factored into the shipping price of the item instead, which is unfortunate in my opinion because it makes the GSP even less transparent than it already isn't.

As for your experience, it's hard to make any sort of judgement on it without knowing what you were actually charged for in the first place and what you were charged for upon receipt of the item.  An invoice would--I hope--make this clearer.

I will agree, though, that in most cases, the postal service will do the job just fine.  The problem seems to be that while the U.S. postal service is more economical and offers a broader range of services than Canada Post for the shipment of items internationally, it doesn't seem to be nearly as user friendly a service, if the stories on the U.S. discussion boards are reliable enough to go by.

[pjcdn2005]

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@ykwireless wrote:

I just looked at two identical items, the first was $19, the second was $22.  Shipping via Pitney Bowes "International Priority Shipping" was calculated from the same city for both items.  Shipping was going to be $16.13 on the first item and $12.76(shipping)+$6.07("customs fees")=$18.33 on the second item.

If you ship a package through regular mail that has a value of less than $20 there's no customs duty so it looks like Pitney Bowes is at least aware of this.  See: www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/postal-postale/duty-droits-eng.html

I do wonder why they offer a higher shipping cost for an item just below the $20 threshold.  That seems a bit scammish.

I have had a bad experience previously with a company collecting "customs fees" and pocketing the money - I know because I had to pay actual customs duty when the package arrived.  I wouldn't know if Pitney Bowes is doing this or not because I just refuse to place an order if Pitney Bowes "International Priority Shipping" is the only shipping option.  What's wrong with USPS people?

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According to what you wrote, the item that was being sent through PB was being sold for $22. That is over the $20 limit so taxes would be charged on the full amount. Also, the shipping charge of $12.75 from PB is less than the $16.13 on the first item...not more. The import charge is not considered a shipping charge as it is for taxes plus a service charge of $3 - $4. I realize that the total amount you would pay would be more through PB but I wanted to clarify that in this case, the shipping portion is not more expensive.

PB is a huge company and it is very unlikely that they are ripping off the Canadian government by keeping tax money owed to them. There have been a couple of instances of the buyer being charged again when they picked up the parcel but in those situations, the seller sent the items direct to the buyer, rather than through PB as their listing stated. The buyers should be able to get their shipping  and import fees back from PB in those cases.

[pjcdn2005]

It is not a scam, that is rude. It is a tool that is being provided so that the American Chicken Little sellers can pretend to sell internationaly.

You seriously think that the poster's scam comment was more rude than the comment that you just made about American sellers???

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Hang out at Seller Central dot com and read some of the anti-international rants. The slightest little thing and the sky is falling. Yes, many of them are Chicken Little.