ebay, GSP and "import fees"

NateSelwyn25

Member
Jun 2, 2018
506
1,266
So I just tried to finish a purchase from the UK on a bag and I am suddenly told I owe an extra $250 in "import fees" to the Global Shipping Program, in addition to $50 of "normal shipping."

What the hell is this? This is outrageous, being charged $300 to ship a small handbag from the UK to the US, thanks to some sort of "Global Shipping Program," whatever the hell that is. I just the seller a message saying I wouldn't pay, so now I'm going to have my perfect eBay score ruined. There was no information on the list about potentially paying hundreds in extra fees.
 
Whenever I've bought anything that uses the GSP, it always has the shipping, plus import charges listed, so no surprised

Can you post a link to the item - I'm more than surprises if it didn't show it?
 
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Yes the fees and duties are stated in the listing before the purchase under GSP.
Not this time. I'll try and bring up the correct link(For some reason it keeps turning up dead when I try and post it at another site). Going back, I see it mentions the possibility of import fees under the forms of payment the seller accepts, but when I click over to the shipping information page, it directly states import fees will not be calculated until checkout.
 
Yeah, they do this for shipping from US to canada as well. These fees show up below in the listing. It is the required duty and taxes usually. So, the good news is that these things will not be charged on entry
 
Not this time. I'll try and bring up the correct link(For some reason it keeps turning up dead when I try and post it at another site). Going back, I see it mentions the possibility of import fees under the forms of payment the seller accepts, but when I click over to the shipping information page, it directly states import fees will not be calculated until checkout.
Oh no, that's bad and not fair. Are you able to cancel the transaction?
 
Yes, the seller cancelled and said he would not leave a negative feedback. They agrees it's shoddy that Ebay isn't telling me or them what the fees are until *after* someone has made the transaction.
Ebay changed it years ago where sellers can't leave negative feedback for buyers, only positive or none, so don't worry about that part.
 
So I just tried to finish a purchase from the UK on a bag and I am suddenly told I owe an extra $250 in "import fees" to the Global Shipping Program, in addition to $50 of "normal shipping."

What the hell is this? This is outrageous, being charged $300 to ship a small handbag from the UK to the US, thanks to some sort of "Global Shipping Program," whatever the hell that is. I just the seller a message saying I wouldn't pay, so now I'm going to have my perfect eBay score ruined. There was no information on the list about potentially paying hundreds in extra fees.

The GSP is difficult and it's not something I include whenever I list anything for sale. It is available all over the place, not just in the UK, but it basically means that buyers pay the customs charges as they checkout so that there are no surprises on delivery. Of course, there's a nice cut in there for ebay too. I don't know what the value of your item is. However, the GSP basically means the seller pays for the UK postage to a servicing centre. So there's whatever small charge there would be for domestic shipping. That servicing centre then forwards the item onto you in the US so there is a small amount of double postage charges as you're paying for it to be shipped twice in effect. The 'advantage' is that buyers aren't then paying customs fees on receipt of the parcel.

The issue with the service for US buyers is that you're rarely charged import taxes and I think, from what has been said, that your import limit is 800 dollars so if the item was valued below that then you wouldn't be paying fees if the seller shipped directly to you. As I understand it, if the fees aren't collected on arrival in the US then ebay pockets the money - the fees don't get refunded. I have no experience of this; again, I have read it elsewhere so don't know if it is true.

The purpose of GSP was to make items available to a wider audience and there are many sellers of all sorts of goods that will not ship internationally. GSP makes that available.
 
that your import limit is 800 dollars so if the item was valued below that then you wouldn't be paying fees if the seller shipped directly to you. As I understand it, if the fees aren't collected on arrival in the US then ebay pockets the money - the fees don't get refunded.
That's correct and that's the reason I hate using GSP. It's also slower because the item is needed to ship to their shipping center first and the buyer is also paying this fee so it's basicly paying shipping in double.
 
You did not state the value of the bag.
I do not completely understand your outrage - or do I?

You need to see the distinction between the shipping and import charges.
It's the $50 that is really annoying.

At some point you would expect to pay import tax of a few percent PLUS VAT on the total amount including shipping.
In addition to that if it arrived via ParcelForce there is a further flat rate handling fee of ten to twenty pounds.
I learnt about this the hard way when I bought two pieces of china from US for a good price of about £40.
Shipping was reasonable; I hadn't thought about import charges, which was my inexperience but fair.
However I really resented having to pay ParcelForce a handling charge - and it irks me to this day!
The overall cost ended up nearly £75.

Whenever I buy outside EU in my mind I always add an extra 20% and hope that the charges are less.
 
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You did not state the value of the bag.
I do not completely understand your outrage - or do I?

You need to see the distinction between the shipping and import charges.
It's the $50 that is really annoying.

At some point you would expect to pay import tax of a few percent PLUS VAT on the total amount including shipping.
In addition to that if it arrived via ParcelForce there is a further flat rate handling fee of ten to twenty pounds.
I learnt about this the hard way when I bought two pieces of china from US for a good price of about £40.
Shipping was reasonable; I hadn't thought about import charges, which was my inexperience but fair.
However I really resented having to pay ParcelForce a handling charge - and it irks me to this day!
The overall cost ended up nearly £75.

Whenever I buy outside EU in my mind I always add an extra 20% and hope that the charges are less.

I think the poster is in the US and was buying from the UK. I think that is part of the issue - the buyer/poster would be unlikely to be charged taxes if the seller shipped directly to them but is charged if the seller chooses to use GSP. We expect to be charged over here (and it's usually more like 40% of the declared value if it's bags etc) whether the seller posts directly or through GSP. Royal Mail charge a handling fee too, it's slightly cheaper than PF - either way, there's no avoiding it as all the companies do it (but it is annoying, you're quite right there!) We'll have to see what the future holds for us, even buying from within the EU.