International Ordering

[RK1]

I'm currently looking at an item on Ebay with a starting bid of $350, but as I'm located in a European country and the item ships from the US, Ebay says that the import charge will be $175 ~ 50% of the starting bid price? Does anyone have any idea, if possible, to avoid this global shipping program?
I think it sounds absurd paying $175 in import charges via Ebay's "global shipping program" for a $350 item.. And thats exclusive of the shipping it self.
Can anyone enlighten me on this case? Is there anything to do?

Thanks

[noirgt]

1349: Ink always mark down price on packages

RK1: contact the seller, make a deal, pay by paypal, let the seller mark down value when shipping it out.

[twmllr]

Thank you for all the replies. It only seems worth the expense if INK would be willing to mark the prices lower. 18% + other costs is making me reconsider an order from INK.

INK will be willing to mark down the prices for you, just ask politely with an email

[savant]

RK1 or perhaps someone - How does the eBay "Global Shipping Program" work ? Will I be charged additional tax/surcharges upon eBay checkout ? I am looking at t-shirt valued at $100 shipped via ebay. However, my country does not charge any import taxes for anything under $300.

[RK1]

RK1: contact the seller, make a deal, pay by paypal, let the seller mark down value when shipping it out.

Thanks for the advice.
Is there any reason to be concerned when using this method, which I assume is illegal?

RK1 or perhaps someone - How does the eBay "Global Shipping Program" work ? Will I be charged additional tax/surcharges upon eBay checkout ? I am looking at t-shirt valued at $100 shipped via ebay. However, my country does not charge any import taxes for anything under $300.

I was/am very confused myself, so unfortunately I am not to much help.
Have you read these links?
Using the global shipping program:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/shipping-globally.html

Buying an item through the global shipping program:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/shipping-globally.html

They might be helpful.

[savant]

^ Yeah I have but I'm still confused how it works. Guess i'll find out when i win the bid. Thanks anyways

[lowrey]

from what I've gathered, its a total scam. my post from the previous page:

Someone just pointed out something new to me today. Ebay has something they call the Global Shipping Program, which is introduced here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/shipping-globally.html

It seems to give the idea that you are paying for applicable import charges when you buy something from abroad in advance, but to my understanding, what your actually paying are some seemingly unecessary fees concerning exporting: "...certain fees, such as export classification, importation risk premium, and variance fees".

Are these really necessary things when shipping from the US?

The service description is pretty twisted because it states:

When you purchase an item through the Global Shipping Program, you receive international tracking at no additional charge and pay any applicable import charges upfront. There are no additional charges at delivery. You'll see an estimate of the international shipping charges and any import charges in the item listing. The final charges appear at checkout.

but then in the following chapter:

Import charges include certain fees, such as export classification, importation risk premium, and variance fees, which are assessed by the global shipping provider as part of the services provided by the Global Shipping Program. These fees are in addition to the customs duties and taxes imposed by country tax and customs officials. For additional information about applicable fees, see the eBay Global Shipping Program Buyer Terms & Conditions.

so it does NOT include all import charges (aren't duties and taxes such?) and there WILL be additional charges at delivery (duties and taxes), even though the first quote says otherwise.

Is it just me or is this totally fucked up?

[lowrey]

my recommendation: ask sellers to list the item without this option and tell them its totally unecessary.

[wonder]

from my understanding of the program, once a seller opts in they are unable to opt out. All the items they sell will be under the global shipping program.

[RK1]

I did as suggested above and I have just received a letter from the tax office demanding ~ $190.
Does anyone have any idea what went wrong?

I paid $380 for the item and told the seller to mark down the value which he/she did from what I can see on the USPS tracking site.
Also, the item have been worn previously, why one could say that the value of the item is subjective?
If anyone have any idea on this matter, please enlighten me.

I have checked up with my country's (Denmark) laws regarding customs and taxes and I can not get this to make any sense.

Edit: I believe that the package must have been opened and that inside it there is something suggesting that I paid more than the $100 the package is marked down to. Isn't that really the only option?

[Rei]

I did as suggested above and I have just received a letter from the tax office demanding ~ $190.
Does anyone have any idea what went wrong?

I paid $380 for the item and told the seller to mark down the value which he/she did from what I can see on the USPS tracking site.
Also, the item have been worn previously, why one could say that the value of the item is subjective?
If anyone have any idea on this matter, please enlighten me.

I have checked up with my country's (Denmark) laws regarding customs and taxes and I can not get this to make any sense.

Edit: I believe that the package must have been opened and that inside it there is something suggesting that I paid more than the $100 the package is marked down to. Isn't that really the only option?

If possible you should talk to them about it, there's no way they could slap that much on top. Only reason I can think is that someone there looked up how much the item costs new and calculated it according to that price. Which it obv won't be if it's used. Or that the seller had attached original tags with the retail price or something. Either way you should be able to weasel out of most of that 190 if you can just get a hold of them.

[RK1]

If possible you should talk to them about it, there's no way they could slap that much on top. Only reason I can think is that someone there looked up how much the item costs new and calculated it according to that price. Which it obv won't be if it's used. Or that the seller had attached original tags with the retail price or something. Either way you should be able to weasel out of most of that 190 if you can just get a hold of them.

Thanks for your response.
You are probably right and I suppose either one of them is what happened.
I believe it's most likely that the original tags are in there as the item is in near new condition.
However I would love to get ahold of them but I really can not do much as I'm almost positive that the people from the tax office will demand receipts from PayPal if I require some of the money slapped off the bill and that will show them I paid $380 while it was only marked as a $100 item and I'm quite sure that's illegal.

But I have used two calculators and done it by hand and even when typing in the $380 I paid and $66 in shipping and insurance the final result ends up being less than what they want me to pay, although only about $35 less but still..

Right now I'm contemplating whether I should just take this as a lesson or try to do something about it. Duh, this situation sucks!

[Rei]

Even then it's cheaper so I don't see any reason not to do it. But I'd check with the seller first to see what's in the package, in case the customs people just went to investigate on their own. But either way I don't think you should be held responsible for what it was marked as.

[RK1]

Even then it's cheaper so I don't see any reason not to do it. But I'd check with the seller first to see what's in the package, in case the customs people just went to investigate on their own. But either way I don't think you should be held responsible for what it was marked as.

I guess you're right, I'll take some further steps with this I suppose.
Thank you for your help.

[okayvin]

Essentially as I said 18% duties+gst/pst+ eventual brokerage fees. I payed 35% on my guidis last year shipped from italy ( they did not mark them down as they promised) So best is to get the seller to mark down the package bellow 100$. Otherwise it is going to be expensive.

I live in Canada too. Which store was this?