Stupid cross border shipping

[seymour]

I just can't win. I got a couple of packages in the mail today while at school. One was a case, some Copags, and some chip samples from StraightFlush.ca. That was fine. The other was the Egyptians I ordered! Except, I have to pay tax and some small "delivery fee" (gee, I thought that was already paid) before I can get them. That fee was tiny, though, unlike what UPS would have charged. Probably more than the tax itself.

I wish I knew that beforehand, I would have had the cash ready for the stupid fee when it came. Now I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow

I'd start getting things shipped to a friend in the states, and then up here to me, but that would probably cost almost as much with the double shipping for any kind of large order. It's just so annoying.

And on top of all that, I've had some sort of cold/flu most of the week.

[babujit1]

Free trade my A$$

[TheDuke]

There are basically three charges that you need to be aware of when buying something across international borders.

brokerage fee - This can amount to highway robbery (read: UPS) or as little as a $5 flat fee. It's basically a charge due to the shipping company filling out customs forms for you.

duty - This should only be applied to products manufactured outside of North America. This is the result of NAFTA.

GST/PST - There's no way around this. Big brother wants a cut. The only way to get out of this is if customs drops the ball and lets your package slip through the cracks.

[dad604]

I find the big killer is usually brokerage fee. As Canadians we are use to paying GST/PST anyway so no big deal there. A lot of items are duty free or small percentage too. Sometimes the extra freight charges for crossing border hurts too. When you add it all up, yes it does suck sometimes.

[Pavel6969]

Usually you will only get hit with a low charge (if any at all) if you have something sent to you by USPS. Even if they get stopped at the border, they only charge a $5 brokerage fee. Which may be more than your tax in some cases, but also may be super low compared to the tax if its a high priced item.

Now if it got shipped to you via UPS, you are toast. I paid $35 in GST on my chip order, which is fine, gotta pay my taxes. No duty on it since they are made in the USA. So good old UPS wants their brokerage fee. Well USPS is $5, so what is UPS...$51. Bunch of crooks. Good thing I got those chips for "free".

[Apotome]

Originally Posted by Pavel6969

Usually you will only get hit with a low charge (if any at all) if you have something sent to you by USPS. Even if they get stopped at the border, they only charge a $5 brokerage fee. Which may be more than your tax in some cases, but also may be super low compared to the tax if its a high priced item.

Actually, I think that $5 goes to Canada Post, not to USPS. The irony here (at least in my little brain) is that we're paying one government agency to collect our taxes and send them to another government agency. We're silly to do that, but then we're Canadians.... whadda we gonna do.... complain?

Originally Posted by Pavel6969

Now if it got shipped to you via UPS, you are toast. I paid $35 in GST on my chip order, which is fine, gotta pay my taxes. No duty on it since they are made in the USA. So good old UPS wants their brokerage fee. Well USPS is $5, so what is UPS...$51. Bunch of crooks. Good thing I got those chips for "free".

After the last two armed robberies (oops, sorry deliveries) by UPS I have pretty much made it my policy not to buy anything from a company that uses them. I will pay a bit of money to Fed Ex (especially since they bill you later) but if at all humanly possibly I want to never see a UPS truck in front of my place again.

AB

[Idaho]

Originally Posted by babujit1

Free trade my A$$

It just means US companies are free to trade abroad without being taxed - not that foreign companies are allowed to access US markets

[seymour]

I can deal with paying the tax, since I have to pay it on everything else up here anyway. I just hate that since I rarely have cash on me (Interac rules), it makes it difficult to pay when a package does show up that needs payment. Not knowing exactly how much it's going to be is a little annoying, too. Especially if you aren't going to be home, but other people are.

I'm making it a point to never get anything shipped via UPS again, though. Their brokerage fees are just insane. Often even higher than the tax you're paying. At least Canada Post only chanrges a flat $5 or $8 for it, so when possible - USPS shipping it is!

[Dudlee74]

I too have been stung by UPS too many times. I search for USPS dealers or nothing. CT members seem to be good at saving people some cash on shipping too.

[MSPatton]

I feel compelled to chime in here as a retailer. I can not speak for every
other retailer out there but would guess we all have some of these issues
in mind when we make the choice to ship UPS only internationally.

1. Ease of use. With USPS we have to fill out a customs form and
physically present this to a Postal counter and pay there. With UPS we
can process the entire package with our free shipping software, include 3
copies of the invoice and done. And they pick it up and bill us.

2. Insurance, UPS loses a package and 1 phone call to verify non delivery
and we get our money for the product and shipping back. With USPS it
is virtually insane, handwritten claims, investigation periods, and IF they
decide to refund, it is only the merchandise, no shipping.

3. Trackability. UPS is great. We know where every package we ship is at
on one internet screen. USPS has virtually none. File paperwork again if
something is lost. Get a notice in the mail they can find it, file a claim.

4. Credit card charge backs. UPS delivery confirmations hold up far
superior to USPS with CC companies, and it is far easier to obtain a signature
from UPS. Postal at times can not provide a signature especially with
priority mail.

With all this said, we understand that for you the customer, the bottom line
is the final total cost of the items you have purchased from us. And we do
understand this, but we are also concerned with our bottom line too and
if we "lose" a $300 order and can not be reimbursed for it, then that requires us
to sell another $1500-$2000 in merchandise to "break even". If this happens
too many times a decision has to be made to either raise the price of our
goods to cover these loses, which forces every customer to pay for this
expense, or discontinue using USPS all together.

As a retailer, we want to deliver the best products we can for the price
so everyone can enjoy our merchandise, but we have to remain profitable
in doing so.

Just wanted to shed some light from my side of the web site.

Crawling back in my hole for now...............

Michael