Beware Brokerage Fees on eBay

For a show I'm in I had to purchase a pair of camouflage pants.  I was thrilled to find a pair in Hong Kong.  It was only $20, and shipping was listed as "Standard International Flat Rate Postage: AU $9.99."

The pants arrived quickly, but two weeks after, I received an invoice from FedEx for $17.77!!!  This bill was for duty of $3.68, Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) of $2.89, and an "Advancement Fee" of $10.00 plus HST on the Advancement Fee!  This increased the price paid on my pants from the expected $36.56 to $47.76.  That is a 30% increase in the price.

Now, how does "standard international flat rate postage" translate to using Fedex to ship something?

Now, I'm not the only person steamed about this Advancement Fee and lack of consent for using FedEx to ship my things.  Luckily for me, other Canadians were steamed up enough about this to start a Class Action lawsuit against UPS and FedEx for exorbitant brokerage fees.  You can find the warning for this in the "eBay Canada Guide" only if you're looking for it, here.

I was right about to join Merchant Law Group's class action lawsuit to avenge this outrageousness when I decided to pick up the telephone and speak to FedEx, who probably has some awareness of the lawsuit.  I informed the agent at FedEx that I had no contractual relationship with FedEx and did not request the use of FedEx with the eBay seller.  The agent gave up without a fight and offered to waive the $10.00 fee and tax on that fee as a one time only thing.  That was when I asked her to waive it on another bill from FedEx that I received 10 days later for the same type of purchase from a different eBay seller.  There was simply no time for me to react to the previous problematic purchase by the time I bought another item.  She did that as well.

So... if you buy anything on eBay, make sure you specify that the sender is not permitted to use a courier without your consent.