UPS and fees
 

FYI

I had a parcel coming from the States and the the USPS charge was 28 USD and UPS was 20 USD. Before I had a chance the seller shipped UPS. So UPS phoned me and said the extra charge was 30 CDN(GST and Custom clearing). They also gave me a choice of whether or not I wanted to clear it myself. In order to do that I would have to go to the city where it was going to enter from the states. In this case Winnipeg. The bottom line is I would have to go there in person to clear the parcel. UPS said the other ports were in Calgary, Vancouver in the West. UPS would not have it sent to those other ports unless specified by you or the seller. No for those people that don't live near those ports they are hooped.

I wonder if they is any other way to clear through customs in your own city? I know Edmonton has Customs offices for sure at the airport and in the City.

Moral...Never Ever use UPS

+1 on Not using UPS I could go on and on about their service or should I say lack there
of.

If you can you should get it shipped usps the cost is less.

+2 never use UPS
If a seller says they ship UPS and won't go USPS I won't buy from them

UPS are CROOKS when shipping cross border. It's Extortion, plane and simple, yet they are allowed to get away with it. USPS whenever possible, and they ship some pretty heavy items, so no worries on that

I agree UPS is a scam (have experienced then myself) but I if you use them, don't think there's anyway around their fees.

"Crook" is a good word
I had a package shipped UPS to me paid thier exhorbant fee they then contacted me a few months later asking for the money again. I had to send them a CC statement showing it had been paid.
UPS farms thier deliveries out to a local company here and even they don't like UPS.
Google "UPS" some real horror stories

I learned the hard way as well. USPS might take a day or two longer but is definitely worth it IMO.

It's not only UPS but all courier services. If you can get them to ship USPS or if your lucky like I am ......... get it sent to a border town and pick it up from there.

Cheers,
Vic

I just got a brokerage fee of $48 on a $60 purchase this morning...

I always try and use USPS, i hate ups. But one time i had ordered 180 CAD worth of cloth diapers from the states. I go to the PO to pick them up and customs had marked down the declared value as 2400 USD!! They wanted me to pay somethibg like 400 CAD....ya right no way! So i sent it back to appeal, with the invoice and numbers and stuff, 2 weeks later i got it back and had to pay nothing....Now why did i go from paying something to paying nothing?....If we all appeal it will they come back "free"?....

I had a $10 item shipped USPS, Can customs opened it, appraised it at $120. What THEY figured it should be worth. It was a couple computer lights, cold cathode tubes. Well, had to pay taxes and such. I sent them printout's of all the Ebay info, Paypal reciepts and such of actual value paid. They told me, "I didn't sent the right info, Sorry" So our beloved Govt screwed me again.....

I've had that happen too. I just phoned them up and blew up over the phone: "How the $%^& did I get the item if I didnt pay the %^&* COD? You @#$% retards!" It worked, they dropped the charge without me having to send in any documentation. We had paid cash for the item and I think the driver just pocketed the money.

I've also had a $16 purchase re-assessed to $76 and new tax applied to it... I had to send in all of the forms and receipts to get my money back.

Yes, definitely avoid UPS if you can. As for clearing it yourself, perhaps it can be done by fax? Can they fax you the documentation which you could take to the customs office at the airport and then fax back the customs forms to UPS? I'm not sure if they need originals or will take faxes but it might be worth asking.

Did I forget to mention that they make up stories like you would not believe.

I buy tattoo supplies and equipment from the US and many other places all the time. Here's what I do that seems to work for me.

Allways use USPS because they are not only the shipping company, but more importantly they are also their own broker. UPS makes a killing on the brokerage fees.

If you can get the seller to send the item as a "gift" or a "promotional sample"....... the item will be duty exempt.

If a US seller refuses to ship an item to me through USPS, I won't deal with that seller no matter how badly I want the item.

I hope this helps someone.:smile:

Just for anyones interest... I have to shop for supplies online, so shipping is sort of a big deal... I compared the shipping cost of a 23K bucket of salt, from Ontario to Flin Flon. Shipping on a bucket through Canada Post (1 - 7 business days), ~$36.00, making a bucket of H2Ocean Pro around $113.00. Shipping using UPS (1 - 3 business days), ~130.00, about 1.5 times the cost of the salt mix. Quite the gouge...

One time, a shipper shipped me an item by UPS after we agreed to ship via USPS, I just refused to accept the delivery even after it had cleared customs. UPS had to ship it back to the sender at the sender's cost.

My sister, who lives in the States, used to send gifts for my kids via UPS all the time, even though I told her we were the ones paying the brokerage fees. Finally I told her to stop sending gifts, cause I simply couldn't afford them anymore!! LOL She got the hint and starts sending USPS ;)

one thing about UPS and FEDEX
if you ship overnight priority they don't charge the brokerage fees.
alot of times it works out to be about the same cost as it would shiping normally with the brokerage fees as it does overnight without the brokerage fees.
this is especially true if it is a small and light parcel....not so much if big and bulky.
hope this helps
Neal

I do the same thing.....UPS = no sale.....Had the cost of my items far too often double in the end, costing me more than purchasing locally......I can't stand paying $30 to ship something, only to have another $50 due on delivery for no reason. I held one delivery guy hostage at my door, he had a floor tom for my drumset, I disputed the cost, and he said no pay no item....I told him I'd call the cops, afterall thats MY drum he's holding....I made him phone to accts recievable, and I negotiated down to something pretty small......Delivery guy was getting all amped because "he had other delivery's to make", too bad bud, deal with my wrath now....."inconvenienced" him for probably 40 minutes....Best part, I was using his phone so he couldn't leave if he wanted to.....

I've also had customs mis-label my items on declaration, I had an item described as "shirts", and of course theres a 16% tax on clothing coming across the border....Well, $180 dollars of tax later, I pursued the claim back through the government and got it resolved back to the $28 dollars it should have been without a problem....

USPS/Canada Post....$5 brokerage on whatever FTW....

Free trade my ass...