Ebay import charges

[Menegrothx]

I've noticed that now almost all actions I view on the US eBay have an "import charges" section.

ebay.jpg (34.24 KiB) Viewed 3070 times

I think the first time I saw that was couple of months ago and now I have a hard time finding auctions that haven't got import charges. Before this summer I never once had to pay import charges. What's up with that? Is there any way to circumvent that? When I look at games that are located in Japan, none of them have that. Nor does any place inside EU, only US (and probably Canada) have that.

[Hobie-wan]

Maybe that's some sort of automatic import duty charge? Never seen it from here in the US. Last UK purchase I made was several months ago though.

[CRTGAMER]

Maybe that's some sort of automatic import duty charge? Never seen it from here in the US. Last UK purchase I made was several months ago though.

This. I have bought stuff from different countries, never seen that fee. Maybe It is the country you reside in.

@ Menegrothx That "Tax" is ridiculous, what country?

[Menegrothx]

Maybe that's some sort of automatic import duty charge?

The weird thing is that some auctions have it and some don't. For example there are 80+ copies of Final Fantasy 3 (6) for sale and some of the auctions have the import charge and some don't, at nearly identical prices. An auction that has a buy now of 40 USD can have the charge while an auction with a buy now of 120 hasn't. Maybe it has something do with what kind of shipping option the seller is using?

The auction that picture is from had a buy now price of 35 USD. I saw another 35 USD buy now auction that had the exact same import charge (15.56). I randomly checked some auctions and the import charges grow in a weird pattern
35 (with 20ish USD shipping)=15.56
180=45.74USD
229.99=56.13
444=101.50

[mjmjr25]

Likely tied to whether they are using ebay as a business or not. I buy from some sellers in Minnesota, sometimes there is a tax added, sometimes not - when there is a tax (7.5%) the seller has always been a "business" seller as opposed to someone just getting rid of extra stuff.

[Ziggy]

I see it says "Global Shipping Program" but you can't read the rest of it because it's cut off. I know eBay some what recently added this new international shipping thing. I guess because a lot of people don't like to ship internationally, there's this new program that eBay was advertising. It's some kind of program that ships things internationally for you. I don't know the details. But maybe it has something to do with that?

[Menegrothx]

Yup, seems like the shipping program is the culprit here. I'd rather just send a PM "hi, could offer worldwide shipping?" than give eBay 20-40 dollars a game for doing the same for me
Btw the import charges increase with your bid, I just noticed. So in some cases there wont be import charges if you bid 20 dollars, but if you go into a bidding war and your bid goes above 30, suddenly you'll have to pay 15 dollars of import charges. What total BS.

When shopping, you may notice that some items can be shipped internationally through the Global Shipping Program.

The Global Shipping Program makes it easier for buyers in some countries outside the US to purchase items from US sellers. The seller ships the item to a global shipping provider located in the US and the global shipping provider ships the item to you.

Using a global shipping provider enables sellers to offer international shipping at competitive rates and may allow items to ship more quickly. In addition, your purchase is eligible for coverage through eBay Buyer Protection and PayPal Buyer Protection.

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.

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.

Important things to keep in mind:

The charges that you are quoted in the item listing are not final until paid and may change if, for example, you change your shipping address during checkout or if the applicable import rules change before you complete your payment.

With the exception of shipments to Canada, delivery to P.O. Boxes is not supported by the Global Shipping Program. We also can't deliver to APO or FPO addresses.

[Purkeynator]

Yeah, I recently got an offer from ebay to sign up as a seller for the program and they were going to give me a huge break on fees. Now I see why. As a seller you just ship like normal to their 3rd party location who handles all the import tarrifs and customs forms. You dont even know what country your item will go to. It is a bit easier from a seller point of view. I will now ship internationally items where before I would have stuck to U.S. only.

[Retrogamer0001]

One more money grab courtesy of Ebay. No thanks. Very happy I bought most of my collection years ago when this kind of nonsense didn't exist.

[theclaw]

Maybe that's some sort of automatic import duty charge? Never seen it from here in the US. Last UK purchase I made was several months ago though.

USPS virtually never puts import duty on games.
Can't speak from experience what happens when they do, not one cent to date myself.

No idea who here may have been charged.