Shipping to Canada. Advice?
sushihotwings
Posts: 452 ✭✭✭
So. I have never shipped to Canada and live in USA. In the past couple weeks I had three separate offers on cards on Ebay with requests to declare minimum value or as gifts and for me to pay shipping. Is it common practice for people to do this? How onerous are the taxes and customs fees for Canadians? How closely is this watched by customs and what kind of penalties are faced if reviewed. It seems with Paypal payment trail, it would be easy to get audited and in trouble if authorities wanted to really investigate. Am I thinking too much about it or do most people do it without a second thought? Also, if faced with a customer who wanted to return item or say they had a an issue claiming item never received, it seems you would be more likely to have a problem explaining to Paypal or even be scammed. The more I type the more I am thinking it is better to just do it by the book. What are your experiences?
Comments
Sell through the ebay global shipping program. It costs the buyer a lot more, but absolutely no headaches. It may lose a sale or two, but you will probably gain a few as well
That is actually how my sales listings are set (global shipping program), but these people messaged me wanting to go outside of it to avoid taxes and fees. Are the fees/taxes that high?? I just thought it was odd that I got so many requests at once wondering if there has been a recent hike in taxes or customs fees.
I would not entertain any offers outside the parameters you've already set up. Not worth the potential headache or hassle. That's the purpose of the global shipping program in the first place.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Global shipping is tremendously expensive for Canadians. It is more expensive than just shipping to us declaring full value. Are taxes at the border are 13% + a $10 custom handling fee. I have had one parcel held up at customs because they thought the vaue was too low. I did ot ask them to declare a lower value. Customs contacted them and I told them the amount and they charged me the tax and customs. The seller did not have any reprecussions. You can ship with delivery confirmation to protect yourself with paypal. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the info guys. Looks like I will stick with EBay global shipping program.
Global shipping is a disaster.
It's a massive rip-off for buyers outside of the U.S. The huge price deters buyers from Canada and elsewhere.
It is really meant for high risk shipping situations (sending expensive items to Russia, etc.). Shipping a card to Canada for $3 with PayPal Ship Now is much, much cheaper and straightforward and can be tracked all of the way to the destination, eliminating much of its purpose.
No one should use it. Just turn off shipping to countries that you don't want to sell to and only service the U.S. and Canada.
So, how are the taxes and customs fees handles most of the time in your experience? Who pays them? Do most sellers declare full value? In my original post I was asking about multiple inquiries about declared item value etc. I assume you live in Canada? What does the seller need to or should do to make it work for both parties?
Declare full value, responsibility of buyer. Be clear about this in your listing.
I live in the United States and ship to Canada often.
+1
Alright, well that makes it easy. I will just ignore these other unusual requests. Stinks that Canada is making the tax and custom costs so burdensome on it's people but that is something they can take up at election time I guess.
In the other direction, I paid $15 in shipping back in November of 2015 to have this 1961 Fleer Unitas card shipped to me from someone in Canada. The shipping was crazy high but I couldn't resist. This card is hard to find with nice centering. The card itself cost me $60. ($75 if you include shipping.)
Same here I haven't had an issue. Are the offers on that nice 79 Topps Gretzky you have listed on the bay? Ive been eying it hard but the timing isn't right for me. GLWS.
Kevin
Lotsos. Thanks for the compliment on the card.I have gotten some interest from people wanting to trade cards plus cash and some other offers that are a bit low and some from Canada that want to avoid taxes and customs. PM me if you want to talk. I may decide to auction it in a few weeks if it doesn't sell as BIN/best offer.
As a Canadian I buy a card off you for $100 Us. Customs converts to Canadian ( $100 X 30% exchange rate = $130 ) X 13% tax = $16.90 plus $10 handling = $26.90 in duty
I like to add, I only get charged about 1 of every 10 packages
"Shipping a card to Canada for $3 with PayPal Ship Now"
How does this work and how do I do it? I have had buyers ask me to ship and the new rates on usps.com are a minimum of $9.60
What do you mean by this? Is it a random selection of packages to get assessed the duty?
First, you cannot avoid taxes and fees in canada...legally...it is a law. So whether you sell on ebay or paypal invoice, someone is paying the fees. With the GSP, the buyer is stuck with the taxes/duties. That is the way the program is set up. When selling via invoice, put clear terms in that all taxes, tariffs, duties, and related customs fees are the sole responsibility of the buyer. Do not try to help them by calling the card some other tyoe of item. You will never win against the gov't. You are an exporter. You do not pay duties. This is the job of the importer. The tax burden is on him and he knows it. Do not break the law for him. I know of people who attempted to trick the system and saw their high wnd gretzky rookies lost in the canadian customs world forever. Explain to the buyer you are willing to do on or off ebay, but the buyer will pay all taxes. Be upfront about this.
Also, I ship via fedex to canada. You can elect to check a box on their forms that says fedex will pay for the required taxes on behalf of the buyer and bill the buyer. This works well too.
Yes it is random with packages sent USPS with tracking ( The higher the value the more likely to be checked ) Almost always when using FedEx, UPS etc
Worst ever for me was when I sent some cards to PSA for grading. PSA graded them and mailed them back to me with my declared value. Customs nailed me big time on duty for getting my own cards back. It took months and they sent me back half the money. Charged me tax on the grading fees I paid PSA.
Fantastic advice. Basically you put the disclaimer in your sale listing , accept the payment via PayPal for sale price, and check the box on the Fed Ex form. Did I miss anything?
FedEx is bad because they charge brokerage fees that are totally separate from and addition to impory/customs fees. Only use them if you need signature confirmation for high value items.