Bidders Duped Again

There sure is a great supply in the US over ebay. The main problem I find is that they use the international shipping tool that charges a large amount for shipping costs plus the ridiculous import charges. I have never been charged an import fee when buying coins from the US over ebay, but the shipping tool charges them. So I stay away and won't bid from those sellers using the tool. Then a lot of US sellers offering Canadian material, won't deal with Canadians and only deal with US buyers. I'm sure they could generate a lot more revenue for their coins if they bypassed the shipping tool and offered shipping to Canadian buyers. Sometimes, I communicate with US sellers and they can drastically reduce their shipping fees and eliminate the import charges altogether. It's a cash grab for someone! Frustrating!

On the topic of shipping, many US vendors belong to the PB Global Shipping program which charges taxes and brokerage fees up front, hence the ludicrous expense. As mentioned above, some vendors will ship coins via regular "letter mail" but that is against postal policy. USPS has a few products in between that can be used to ship.

Coin Hunter, you touched on a dicey subject here.

Have you or anyone else ever followed this GS trap, even compared charges from within one sellers listing?
your hair will grow again watching such a rip off.
Just look at the shipping cost of same or equal items.
Then get your friend to check it a day later... suddenly shipping cost and the other fee has changed.
I am wondering if Pitney Bowes does actually have all the appropriate licenses from the CAN government and respective province which are not part of the HST system. One thing for sure, neither ebay not Pitney Bowes have a PA from me entitling them to act on my behalf with CBSA. They have to have an original to be valid, or as a minimum, have an original on file. Plus their tax and business licenses must be available if requested. I did and got no reply.
then I need to ask the question of the import fees they charge. NOT at all in agreement with Canadian Tariffs.

If I come across a Seller using GS, I ask why his import licenses from the CAN Gov are not published. Remember, the seller is responsible for his listing!! Trust me, 8 out of 10 sellers have NO idea that their shipping cost are 25 Dollars for a $ 200 coin plus other fees, and rising with bids. they simply fell into the powerful ebay trap which is that GS is marked by default. and unless you un-mark it...well, u are stuck. A seller can still opt out before any bids were made.
AND, did you know that the GS stuff is NOT visible outside the US (.COM domain). so when a US seller wants to see it, he has 2 choices: sign in as .CA or send him a screen shot !
Just another ebay rip off.
I recently watched a coin very high end were shipping costs started with $ 15 and escalated to $ 46. Import fees were originally $ 22 and ended up being $ 437
and that on $ 1480 coin..... I rest my case...
and all in US dollars. another day a similar coin attracted only about half these costs. beats me..
also remember: small print, whatever is says, rules and disclaimer it has, can not override a countries laws.

I agree with our French Canadian friend Gilles.
I never buy on ebay from the USA. (did once and learned my lesson).
Also when buying from Canadian seller, I usually only buy
from seller using Canadian dollars that doesn't charge taxes.
If I bid on a coin that has US dollars, (which is not often) I convert what that would be in Canadian funds before bidding.
This is another pet peeve of mine I will save for another time.

@pacificoin. unfortunately posting education here for those buyers getting scammed on ebay are not doing any good, since they obviously dont come here. would it be against ebay policy to have a dummy listing whose purpose is to inform? or maybe make it a real auction for information but include in the auction "or go look here"

i dont know if links to other websites such as this one are allowed, also if naming individual sellers would be a faux pas.