Shipping to Canada

[metalstorm]

I can respect someone who doesn't want to send something to Canada. That said, I feel it's kind of silly when someone does not want to ship a Canadian made instrument to Canada...

 

[OUT51D3R]

OUT51D3R... you are wrong and way off base. YOU, the buyer, are responsible for all taxes/duty/ fees. Brokerage fees included. It is up to YOU, the buyer, to be aware of this.
I think you will find the amount of people who are going to do any business with you here on TB, is going to diminish to zero, seeing your attitude.

If UPS decides to charge a $5000 fee to knock on my door, am I also responsible for that? No, I am not. I am responsible for what I agreed to pay for(customs, taxes, and duty) and nothing more. You want me to pay it, you include it in the contract.

 

[guy n. cognito]

Outsider, thanks for posting here. Unfortunately for those in Canada, you've confirmed for many of us in the USA why we don't want to hassle with international buyers.

 

[guy n. cognito]

Invalid Link Removed

It's so secret they have a web page dedicated to it......

 

[Schlyder]

No. you are responsible for it if you want your goods. If you don't want to pay, they will just return the package. Then you can sort out your mess with the seller.

You have no clue about international purchasing, and are part of the reason US sellers get pissed with selling outside the USA.

Do yourself a favour and educate yourself on your liabilities/responsibilities as a buyer and importing purchased items, before you really make an impression with sellers on TB.

 

[Needenaneden]

I live in Canada and buy all kinds of things from the US and always have it shipped with the USPS. I never have any problems. I learned about 20 years ago not to use UPS after some surprise charges. I also ship to the US from time to time without ever having any problems.

If I do buy something from a company that will only ship to the US, I have it shipped to Invalid Link Removed and go get it myself. You guys are making this more difficult than it has to be.

 

[OUT51D3R]

Outsider, thanks for posting here. Unfortunately for those in Canada, you've confirmed for many of us in the USA why we don't want to hassle with international buyers.

Fair enough. Even those that do should educate themselves. At the very least, mention brokerage fees in the deal(despite what several people in this thread claim, the standard disclaimer doesn't include "related fees", "other fees", etc).

I'm not advocating screwing the little guy. I'm advocating not allowing UPS to screw you.

 

[Baird6869]

If UPS decides to charge a $5000 fee to knock on my door, am I also responsible for that? No, I am not. I am responsible for what I agreed to pay for(customs, taxes, and duty) and nothing more. You want me to pay it, you include it in the contract.

Completely wrong.

You ARE 100% responsible for all taxes, duties, handling fees, etc. you CAN refuse shipment but UPS (or other carriers) will not release the package to you under any circumstance without full payment.

If you want to go after the seller to pay UPS' insanely high fees after the fact, good luck.

 

[OUT51D3R]

No. you are responsible for it if you want your goods. If you don't want to pay, they will just return the package. Then you can sort out your mess with the seller.

That would be a sound idea, in theory. The last time I fought UPS on this one though, they didn't charge it when they dropped off the item. They sent me a bill 3 weeks later.

 

[OUT51D3R]

Completely wrong.

You ARE 100% responsible for all taxes, duties, handling fees, etc. you CAN refuse shipment but UPS (or other carriers) will not release the package to you under any circumstance without full payment.

This is incorrect. As I noted above, last time I dealt with this, UPS didn't mention any sort of fee when they dropped off the item. They sent me a bill 3 weeks later. Fedex also does this.

 

[Baird6869]

When delivering international packages to Canada, UPS are douchebags plain and simple.

Just do not allow sellers to ship to you via UPS.

Personally, I have walked away from TB Classified deals on $2000-3000 basses due to the sellers refusal to ship USPS.

 

[awilkie84]

Brokerage is a fee charged to clear your goods through customs. You don't have to hire someone to do it-you can do it yourself.

When your good arrive, there are held in a locked compound at the depot until they are cleared by customs-which means the government has been paid their taxes and duty.

If you want to avoid brokerage fees, all you have to do is go down to the customs office, wait in line, and when it is your turn, phone the depot and have them fax over the paperwork for your shipment. You can then pay your GST,PST, HST, whateverST, and chat with the customs dude while s/he looks up your stuff in their book to decide if you are going to pay duty as well. The nice government person will then stamp your papers as 'cleared' as you can return to the depot with them to fetch your stuff.

I have done this, it only cost me a half-days wages to do so, and about 50 miles of driving.

Or you can pay someone $75 to do it for you.

Or you can just not use a private shipping company & go with an equally reliable & less expensive government regulated one like USPS & CP.

Invalid Link Removed

It's so secret they have a web page dedicated to it......

If they want it to be public knowledge, why isn't it included in their shipping calculator??

 

[Baird6869]

This is incorrect. As I noted above, last time I dealt with this, UPS didn't mention any sort of fee when they dropped off the item. They sent me a bill 3 weeks later. Fedex also does this.

It is not incorrect. Your example is an exception to the rule. Fees can be charged after, but this is rare.

 

[OUT51D3R]

It is not incorrect. Your example is an exception to the rule. Fees can be charged after, but this is rare.

Your statement was that UPS(and any other carrier) will not release the package until all fees are paid. That is inaccurate. I've received packages from multiple shipping companies(UPS, FedEx, USPS), no mention of fees, and received bills for the packages weeks later. With FedEx, it actually seems to be their default way of doing things. It is far from rare, in my experience.

 

[Baird6869]

Your statement was that UPS(and any other carrier) will not release the package until all fees are paid. That is inaccurate. I've received packages from multiple shipping companies(UPS, FedEx, USPS), no mention of fees, and received bills for the packages weeks later. With FedEx, it actually seems to be their default way of doing things. It is far from rare, in my experience.

I have received dozens of basses, amps, pedals, etc. from US TBers and have been charged duty after the fact only once.

Point is, your options are: pay the fees, refuse shipment or return the item.

 

[Schlyder]

True, sometimes they will give you the package, and then send you a bill later. If this happens, ignore it. Or tell them to pound sand. The problem arises when they decide to hold the package until you pay, or they return it. Lots of fun for all involved.

You still do not understand your responsibilities as a buyer.

Please do not contact me in the future about anything I may have for sale in the classifieds , ever. You are a seller's nightmare.
Good day to you.

 

[SpecialBlender]

I've learned a lot from this thread on cross border purchases thanks guy's.

My last purchase from the US was a ShuttleMax that I had shipped by USPS. There weren't any surprises on my bill when it got here, within their estimated delivery time, all in all a great experience. My Combustion was shipped by UPS and did have slightly larger brokerage fees than I expected but I also knew there would be some and I had factored some brokerage fees into my original decision to make the purchase.

What did I learn from this? Anything I purchase in future will be shipped USPS. If I can't wait for up to 2 weeks to get here when I've probably waited 6 months or longer to afford it that's my problem and I've learned to live with that just fine.

I didn't know about Kinek.com although with a 4 hour return drive to the nearest outlet I don't see myself being able to offset brokerage savings with the cost of gas getting there. For those of you located closer the border it makes absolute sense to use them. In that case you are the broker. If you can't utilize Kinek or someone like them there will be brokerage fees.. Seems pretty simple to me and to my way of thinking anyone who has ever made a single purchase across any border has already learned this lesson. If you haven't learned this simple fact it's your fault!!.

The biggest red flag for me is someone asking to state a false value on any documentation. If they feels its OK to lie or ask you to lie for them, I don't think it says very much for their character, what else would they consider it OK to do?

To me that just screams walk away from them as fast as you can.

 

[alfred88]

Brokerage is a fee charged to clear your goods through customs. You don't have to hire someone to do it-you can do it yourself.

When your good arrive, there are held in a locked compound at the depot until they are cleared by customs-which means the government has been paid their taxes and duty.

If you want to avoid brokerage fees, all you have to do is go down to the customs office, wait in line, and when it is your turn, phone the depot and have them fax over the paperwork for your shipment. You can then pay your GST,PST, HST, whateverST, and chat with the customs dude while s/he looks up your stuff in their book to decide if you are going to pay duty as well. The nice government person will then stamp your papers as 'cleared' as you can return to the depot with them to fetch your stuff.

I have done this, it only cost me a half-days wages to do so, and about 50 miles of driving.

Or you can pay someone $75 to do it for you.

I have done it myself and it is time consuming, part of it is the wait time that UPS takes to hand me the paperwork. Their warehouse is like 10 miles from my office and when I get there, I often have to wait another hour or two to get the papers, then go to Canada customs to pay the taxes and return to UPS to get my item. Sometimes it is worth it because sometimes I have saved up to $400 in fees by doing it this way.

The thing that gets me is that UPS charges a percentage based on item value but it takes the same time to clear a package either it's worth 100$ or 10000$. Ups makes a big profit on customers who have already paid the shipping fees. This alone gives me reason not to use them and to buy from sellers who cannot make the extra effort. I have learned from experience and , as I have said before, there are plenty of USA sellers who respect their customers just as I respect mine.

PS: by the way, there are no real import duties for electronics for musical instruments since free trade. There are only federal and provincial sales taxes to pay, I do not think that UPS knows that but they do charge it.

 

[alembicguy]

Just read the whole thread and all I can think of is this is some how suppose to sway me into changing my mind and ship out of the US??
There's a couple on here posting their side that are the reason I DON'T DO IT.

 

[Iridescentone]

I don't know what would happen if the US Post office hands it of to the Canadian Post and the item was reported damaged? Who covers it then?

Neither do I, but it prolly aint pretty. I do know what happens with a USPS large package damage claim within CONUS. It's a royal PITA for the sender, and can easily take weeks (or even months) to resolve, and involves phone calls, follow ups, paperwork, trips to the Post Office, etc. And they don't like to pay.

It's so aggrivating and time consuming that not only will I not ship a large package with them...I also won't buy from a seller who ships big packages via USPS.