Ebay using misleading disclaimer regarding US import fees
Canadian seller here. Ebay has added a banner above all listings which states that
"Due to US customs policies, the buyer of this item will need to pay import fees to the shipping carrier prior to delivery. Learn more "
This is not necessarily true. Goods made in the USA do not incur any import fees. As for some goods that are made in countries with low tarifs, I'm perfectly happy to include these import fees in our prices. The statement therefore that the buyer will need to pay import fees is misleading and discouraging buyers from purchasing items for ebay sellers that are outside of the USA. I've already had buyers reach out to me stating they fear having to pay import fees when it had already been agreed to these fees were included in the listing price and that it would be our responsibility to pay. The banner even appears on listings when viewing them on ebay.ca, which means some Canadian buyers might be misled into thinking there are import fees even though the item ships from and to Canada...
Anyone else see a problem with this? It's of course impossible to reach out to eBay customer service to signal this problem and their AI assistant is beyond useless.
lacemaker3
·11 months agoInternational postal shipments valued below US$800 have to have the customs declaration and duty prepaid before the package arrives at US CBP, so there won't be any charges at delivery for those. Most international postal services are still not shipping to the USA, anyway.
UPS in Canada is no longer allowing sellers to purchase DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid) shipping labels, the sellers/senders have to prepay the duty (DDP, Delivered Duty Paid). This is probably because too many US buyers are refusing to pay the duty and fees they are responsible for when the package arrives. Most other carriers will be doing the same because they can't afford to continue paying the duty up-front, and then have trouble being paid for it.
Most international sellers are not stupid enough to continue using DDU shipping services for shipments valued below US$800, because they can't afford to pay duty after-the-fact for US buyers who are willing to cheat them.
eBay's claim that buyers have to pay duty when the packages are delivered is not correct.
bonanza125
·11 months agoBuyers are still subject to pay tariff fees upon delivery by the carrier. So there is nothing misleading here.
syrscat
·11 months agoSee the post I just made under the shipping category here this morning. I will never purchase anything from Canada because of the extortionary brokerage fees being charged by shippers like UPS.
gone.c-33
·11 months agoJust so you know, you’ll be charged these brokerage fees for any purchase shipped by UPS/Fedex from another country, not just Canada.
fullers_uk
·11 months agoI am in the UK but list on eBay.com when my listings are viewed in the US a banner appears to WARN buyers about tariffs, I call it the banner of death, it has a link to an ebay page with information thats wrong. I am based in the UK and ALL sipments have to be sent PDDP duties and tarrifs paid by me in the UK so buyers have to pay nothing extra but eBay dont understand, they say they have a legal requiremnt to warn buyers about something thats cant possibly happen.