EIS Package - Courier to a PO Box and charging me customs fees
I thought the purpose of EIS was for me to pay the customs when I buy the item? That's what I did, why is DHL charging me customs twice?
Secondly, why did EIS decide to send this by DHL? I have a PO Box and no street address. How are they going to deliver it? Is it going to be undeliverable where I can't get my money back because I lose MBG because EIS decided to use DHL to ship to a PO Box?
C.
8 comments
sin-n-dex
OP6 months agoI am the buyer in this situation. I went to look at the listing and what I paid, and it doesn't show anything saying "import charges". I thought that was partly the purpose of EIS was to prepay import charges prior to importing. Shipping was rather high, so I thought the import charges would be included.
I'm just questioning it, I'll pay the invoice, it's only $17.
I'm far more worried that it's DHL to a PO Box and wondering how that got managed. I don't want to pay the import charges and then have my package get returned for being undeliverable.
Thanks,
C.
lacemaker3
·6 months ago@sin-n-dex, what kind of item was it?
If the order details page doesn't show that you paid the import fees at checkout, then I guess you weren't given the option to prepay them, like the listing on the left below.
I don't know what is going on with eIS any more ... I just looked at two listings for different kinds of items, both with eIS shipping from USA to Canada, and very different results. The magazine on the left doesn't allow me to prepay the import fees, while the vase on the right allows me to choose whether to pay at checkout, or on delivery.
Given how much more expensive the shipping is, when the import fees are paid on delivery, I don't know why any buyer would choose that if they were given the option.
According to google, "DHL e-commerce packages may be handed off to Canada Post for the last mile delivery" or "if a package is already sent, you can usually redirect it to a physical address via the tracking link provided by DHL." You might want to look into whether you can redirect it.
sin-n-dex
OP6 months agoThanks that answers my question about DHL... if they hand it off to Canada Post, no problem. I presume Canada Post will collect the customs (the email I got from DHL offered me a chance to prepay with them, but I'm a little anxious about clicking links and provided credit card info, even though it looks legit).
I'm receiving a dress sometime this week and tracking says it's with DHL ecommerce, so I guess that's a regular thing. The dress didn't have import duties to pay for me to receive it, but the sweater has that to pay extra (in addition to what I paid eBay).
I will be a little more attentive to charges on EIS purchases in future. In the past customs was always paid at checkout so I never worried about being charged extra, and I buy lots of clothing on eBay to save money, it's not so much of a savings if there's customs to pay after I pay for the item and shipping on eBay.
C.
wastingtime101
·6 months agoThe listing offering eIS does not mean import charges are automatically included. Yes, the DDP option is a benefit of the program, however it's not available on all items; you need to review the shipping details to see whether duties are being prepaid or not.
Shipping being high could mean the seller had a high domestic shipping charge, which was then expounded by the international charge; don't assume a high ship cost means import fees were included.
It sounds like your listing did not include the import charges upfront.
There are screens here of what to look for on the app: https://pages.ebay.com/tariffs/
Here are screens on the web of what it looks like when DDU is the only option:
Here are screens on the web of what it looks like when DDP is the only option:
wastingtime101
·6 months agoThat's not the purpose of eIS - it's not even an option on all purchases. eIS can be DDP or DDU. Can you post the item number so we can see what was offered on that listing?
lacemaker3
·6 months ago@wastingtime101, The information about eIS does state that buyers will have the option to pay import fees at checkout, or defer payment until delivery. But I'm not sure that deferring the payment is even possible, recently. At checkout, buyers are being required to pay the import charges.
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/shipping-delivery/international-purchases-shipping?id=4057#section3
I'm sure that @sin-n-dex is correct when she says that she paid the import charges at checkout. C, just to confirm, you were the buyer in this transaction, and it was shipped from the USA to you in Canada, right?
For one thing, in the last few weeks, I have not been given the option to defer payment of import charges when I look at a listing with eIS. Whether it was being sent from the USA to Canada or from Canada to the USA, the only option for eIS shipping was to pay the import charges at checkout. Previously, there used to be two options (pay at checkout, or defer payment), but the option to defer payment has not been available for several weeks.
Last week, there was a thread on the eBay Canada community that was eerily similar, but the package was going in the opposite direction.
In that case, we didn't have any information from the buyer about whether they paid import fees at checkout or not, so the simplest explanation was that they had deferred paying them. But, the listing didn't show that as an option, and now sin-n-dex has had the same experience, with DHL expecting her to pay the import charges again on delivery.
I think something is going on, something has changed, with no announcement. Possibly, the DHL delivery workers are not properly trained about how to handle DDP packages? or how to identify them? maybe the eIS shipping labels are not clearly showing that they are DDP?
That thread was when I realized that I wasn't getting the option to defer paying the import charges with eIS any more, for the past 3 weeks at least. I purchased a book from Canada on Jan 26, and did not get the chance to defer payment of the import charges with eIS. Books are "informational media" and are supposed to be both duty-free and exempt from tariffs to the USA, https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=4901 (unless the media was made in China, and this book was printed and bound in Canada). eIS wanted more than $34 for import charges, so I shipped it to my place in Canada instead.
wastingtime101
·6 months agoI'm still actively seeing a mix of DDP and DDU, depending on the listing. Sometimes there's a choice and sometimes there isn't - it's either one or the other. It's probably just coincidence the specific listings you viewed the past few weeks were all DDP @lacemaker3 .
mudshark61369
·6 months ago@sin-n-dex ,
You are registered as being in Canada, and your country's tariff situation is different than ours in the U.S.. Where was the item coming from? We've had many who posted on the U.S. boards from countries abroad that have had the same double charge issue, and one thing I've read on the U.K. site is that if your Order details show that you paid the tariff in advance you would have to show that to the shipper at their office.