This has nothing to do with regions.

We all know the culprit is eBay. F eBay. 😉

Malik wrote:

This has nothing to do with regions.

We all know the culprit is eBay. F eBay. 😉

Oh well, now ebay.com no longer blocks my search for audio CDs. Some start to appear. But the shipping cost is outrageous! 🤣

Seems like some sellers have given up and joined ebay's money-raking GSP program after all. I wonder how GSP would sit with tax laws in certain countries, as a seller has said...

junk1958smith wrote:

It does make sense financially if they are collecting import taxes that aren't actually due and if they don't end up having to pay the excess taxes to anyone at the end of the transaction (post #80). Especially if ALL international sales from US to other countries were forced down that path.

In Indonesia, collecting taxes that aren't actually due is illegal. In other words, if you collect tax, you must report it and pay the tax you've collected to the government. What about other countries?

I'm sure it's not actually legal here in the US, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they're doing such a thing anyway. (It's not as though outright fraud would be anything new.) Most customs duties are for imports rather than exports. In other words, they're usually paid to the destination country, not the originating country. It would be one thing if eBay was taking money from the US government's pocket, but taking money from other governments' pockets? Nah, that's no problem, because fuck the rest of the world. That's the way things work here, at least for large corporations.

Ebay is just doing the same as Amazon. I know in the scandinavian countries import companies have a license to handle the customs on the customers behalf. It does not have to be the government itself who collects directly. Ebay (or their carrier for the GDP program) is just collecting the taxes ahead of shipment and sorts out the import tax/duties when the package arrives so it arrives as quick as possible to you. Same happens on Amazon (change European shipping address and see taxes/fees change!) and Pixmania. I do not see the big problem here tbh.

I spoke to a friend of mine who ships overseas on ebay a lot and has used the Global Shipping Program. FWIW, he primarily deals with audio recordings (CDs, reel-to-reel, records). Here in the US, all packages go to an address in Kentucky where the item is processed by Pitney-Bowes and shipped out of the country. They handle the customs forms and shipping from there.

The "nice" thing about the program from a seller's perspective is that they are protected from shipping hassles. As long as the item makes it to the processing center, the seller isn't liable for any damaged or missing shipments. He has had many complaints from buyers in Europe that either the shipping charges were unreasonable*, or they were unable to bid (he didn't elaborate on this). Right now he is on the fence on whether or not he will still participate in the program.

*This may or may not be ebay's fault. I just did a price quote with USPS for a small 4lb package to Sweden at the cheapest available shipment method and it came out to being almost $40US! It is kind of ridiculous though because USPS likely charges the same international rate for a package coming from California, as they would from New Jersey. Most everything I have shipped to Europe has made one stop at the local processing facility and is then on a plane. In theory it should be cheaper to ship from here than the west coast of the USA. If anyone knows of a courier service with cheaper rates, let me know!

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

...that's the way things work here, at least for large corporations.

Yep...

This is just getting ridiculous:

Top Gun: Fire At Will, Pilot's Handbook (1997)

Item's price: US $2
Shipping cost: US $32.16
Import charge: US $12.90

Import charge? What import charge? My government never makes me pay import charge for anything less than US $25. So the question is, to whose pocket does the US $12.09 go? Indonesian government? I don't think so. So this is what the Global Shipping Program is all about?

This is when a freight forwarding company like shipito comes in handy. Shipping within the U.S is cheap and often free, so I buy little things like this as I spot them over the course of a couple of months, have them sent to my shipito address in CA and then have them sent to me in bulk. It's easy and way cheaper.

badmojo wrote:

This is when a freight forwarding company like shipito comes in handy. Shipping within the U.S is cheap and often free, so I buy little things like this as I spot them over the course of a couple of months, have them sent to my shipito address in CA and then have them sent to me in bulk. It's easy and way cheaper.

I started using shipito recently. Bought something at amazon, and it's on my way to me know.

carlostex wrote:

badmojo wrote:

This is when a freight forwarding company like shipito comes in handy. Shipping within the U.S is cheap and often free, so I buy little things like this as I spot them over the course of a couple of months, have them sent to my shipito address in CA and then have them sent to me in bulk. It's easy and way cheaper.

I started using shipito recently. Bought something at amazon, and it's on my way to me know.

Thanks for the information, I'll find out more about it.

I started doing business on eBay in 2004 and it was difficult for me because I wasn't able to accept Paypal until 2007-ish. Had to receive payment in CASH or cheques which cost me a whoping 4€ to cash per cheque! After I finally got PayPal it was certainly easier to buy and sell stuff but PayPal had to give me crap about once a year. They'd freeze my account and request documents and such. Luckily, they haven't pestered me for a while now.

Not all changes on eBay have been bad. Most notably free insertion fees for the first 50 items you put up for sale each month. Global shipping program however is really pissing me off. As you say, when something costs less than a certain amount of money, you don't have to pay any import tax! They're just taking money for nothing.

I do hope that eBay goes to hell some day soon because they're turning into a criminal organisation. Glad I found AmiBay where I sell at least some of my stuff. Might not always get the best price but at least eBay is not leeching off it.

eBay is a royal PITA as a seller. 🙁 It is wonderful as a buyer. 😀

Half-Saint wrote:

I started doing business on eBay in 2004 and it was difficult for me because I wasn't able to accept Paypal until 2007-ish. Had to receive payment in CASH or cheques which cost me a whoping 4€ to cash per cheque! After I finally got PayPal it was certainly easier to buy and sell stuff but PayPal had to give me crap about once a year. They'd freeze my account and request documents and such. Luckily, they haven't pestered me for a while now.

Not all changes on eBay have been bad. Most notably free insertion fees for the first 50 items you put up for sale each month. Global shipping program however is really pissing me off. As you say, when something costs less than a certain amount of money, you don't have to pay any import tax! They're just taking money for nothing.

I do hope that eBay goes to hell some day soon because they're turning into a criminal organisation. Glad I found AmiBay where I sell at least some of my stuff. Might not always get the best price but at least eBay is not leeching off it.

I would absolutely adore a european Amibay (I haven't really checked it out, but it seems Amibay is more USA oriented...I could be wrong though and I probably am 🤣), it seems way better to take matters into our own hands.

Ebay is turning into some monster, mainly because it sorta has a monopoly. Lucky for me theres still some local websites in The Netherlands which are infinitely better (and cheaper) then ebay is right now. The only problem is that ebay has such a vast choice of products, it's hard to compete with that.

Right now ebay is a leaching middleman and I'd absolutely love if we would be able to remove that middleman somehow...

AmiBay is very much EU centric. Very limited US / CA items / people. Americans / Canadians prefer eBay for convenience sake: big cultural difference with the EU.