CA-ALL New Import Tariffs are in place from USA

[slow-poke]

Just a FYI, About two weeks ago I purchased some used drill bits, machine stuff, four separate things from eBay (from USA), low cost items like this previously shipped with global shipping just had HST applied as part of the purchase price and it would just show up at your door no broker, no nonsense. Now a special duty bill before it gets forwarded. My orders are all on hold. Can you spell I-N-F-L-A-T-I-O-N.

Pity because odd and hard to find suff WAS a lot easier to find on eBay.

No more eBay.com for me.

 

[gerritv]

Just a FYI, About two weeks ago I purchased some used drill bits, machine stuff, four separate things from eBay (from USA), low cost items like this previously shipped with global shipping just had HST applied as part of the purchase price and it would just show up at your door no broker, no nonsense. Now a special duty bill before it gets forwarded. My orders are all on hold. Can you spell I-N-F-L-A-T-I-O-N.

Pity because odd and hard to find suff WAS a lot easier to find on eBay.

No more eBay.com for me.

how was it shipped? And how do you know if it is tariffs or something else? If coming USPS/Canada Post they will often want fees plus HST first. Canada has yet to impose tariffs coming in on US made goods.

 

[slow-poke]

EBay global shipping. Will investigate when I get home. 34% with brokerage fee.

 

[Gearhead88]

I have ebay goods in transit ..... like , for a while , we'll see how that pans out

 

[Dan Dubeau]

What are you guys buying on ebay with cheap/reasonable shipping. Everytime I look at stuff the shipping is more than the item. I swore off ebay years ago, am I missing something?

 

[slow-poke]

What are you guys buying on ebay with cheap/reasonable shipping. Everytime I look at stuff the shipping is more than the item. I swore off ebay years ago, am I missing something?

Relevant point, seems some vendors have outrageous shipping cost for example $150 for a $50 item. I always assumed these were just an underhanded way of tricking people who focus on the selling price but don't pay attention to the shipping cost. I always search based on price including shipping. The shipping costs often scuttle the deal, but if your patient there are some reasonable vendors.

 

[whydontu]

I use eBay all the time, just have to set your search to sort by price including shipping. I generally find eBay to be less aggravating than FB and Craigslist, and my puppy knows the delivery folks for eBay and doesn’t bark at them.

The important thing to realize about UPS is that they really don’t give a f#$k. When you have tens of millions of customers, losing one doesn’t matter.

 

[Johnwa]

I just received an item from eBay with eBay shipping. It took over 3 weeks to be delivered. There was an 8% duty charged which I am going to appeal It is only a $25 charge so barely worth the aggravation of a dispute. They did collect gst and charged a $10 handling fee but that wasn’t unexpected. US ebay was and still is my last resort.

 

[Downwindtracker2]

Ebay goes international. I have bought used Mits from Japan.

 

[PeterT]

My opinion. It could be that new duty rates are being layered into eBay purchases that were otherwise 0% due to the recent spat. Taxes are always applicable regardless. I'm quite certain duty has been applicable on eBay for some time, or at least had the potential to be. Even used items can incur if applicable by product type. Its the government gift that keeps on giving every an item changes hands via sale. According to Gemini it kicks in at a $ amount threshold, but I don't trust that. Best to consult the eBay fine print. The other wrinkle is some (many) sellers are encouraged to go with the GSP Global Shipping Program for convenience & I have a feeling that bundles taxes & duty right there. I don't think you can opt out of GSP, the seller would have to alter the listing. So that's potentially why sale A didn't have the same end result as sale B.

 

[Johnwa]

In my case the duty was not included in the ebay price. The package was handled by at least 2 different couriers in the US. It then cleared customs in Toronto and handed to Canada Post. The duty, fees, and gst was added by Canada customs and collected by Canada Post.

Unlike USPS, tracking was available for whole route.

 

[PeterT]

I don't actually understand the eBay GSP program. Or maybe it varies by type/weight. One item from USA arrived with USPS tracking inside USA & then handover to CP within Canada. Dinger fees were remitted at local post office when I picked up. Another one came from Europe, also GSP. Landed on my doorstep from Purolator if I recall. When I have listed things to sell, you can toggle a button to use GSP, but after some checking the exact weight & box dimensions & value, it was more expensive than doing it myself through my own resources. So I think its yet another money-making angle but provides some degree of simplification if you do everything on the website or maybe have a store or many ongoing items? Other people have mentioned their GSP rates are competitive so I dunno. Confusing.

Just avoid the couriers like the plague. They run perfectly fine inside their own countries. But as soon as its border crossing time, new & exciting dinger fees apply. I will also put in a plug for DYK shipping in Calgary. Its not for all transactions but it has helped me out in several situations. Particularly where a US seller is just not interested in the shipping/customs headache to Canada period. Its kind of a weight based formula with other fees but in round numbers call it 15% on top of value for rough reference. It slower because they they clear at border but a few things come into play.
- Shipping inside USA to your USA mailbox is typically cheaper than CP, so inevitably savings there
- You have control of specifying duty class. Some things are cut & dry, others are more subjective, so may work to your advantage. If there is disagreement it happens at the email / pre-clearing level, not an argument on your doorstep or with a disinterested courier rep.
- they consider say eBay or Amazon as a single 'seller' even though can be made of many individual transactions or sources 9and parcels). That works to your advantage because some of the common transaction fees are spread out to many items. So some people collect a months worth of shopping at USA address for reasonable holding fee & then clear it in one shot. This is obviously not great if you want something fast, but something to keep in mind. Fast costs money.