DO NOT ever use UPS to ship to Canada

arch_8ngel · Post by **arch_8ngel** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:50 am

So I should have done more research I guess but here it is:

UPS draws you in with a great shipping rate (75% of USPS) for getting across the border, and A LOT faster. (And I could get tracking in Canada, which isn't possible with USPS as far as I know) This should have tipped me off that something wasn't right, but I figured if they use all they're own services on both sides of the border, it must just be easier than USPS having to hand off to Canada's mail service.

Anyway, the REAL reason it's faster and cheaper is because they charge the poor bastard you sent it to a HUGE fee for getting it through customs, whether you sent it as a gift or not.

Needless to say, I will NEVER use them again, for ANYTHING because I think this is completely unethical, and they didn't mention it at all when I sent the package.

I'm going to soak up half the charge and split it with the trader who would really be getting screwed by this, hopefully this will still keep us on friendly terms since neither one of us saw this coming.

NEVER EVER use UPS!

-Nathan

Alsiaie · Post by **Alsiaie** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:26 am

Acutally, a person in canada that receives a package via usps still gets charged. It is not a fee, but a postal tax. However through USPS as a gift, they wont get taxed for items valued under $25 USD.

Gregmita · Post by **Gregmita** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:45 am

Alsiaie wrote:Acutally, a person in canada that receives a package via usps still gets charged. It is not a fee, but a postal tax. However through USPS as a gift, they wont get taxed for items valued under $25 USD.

In my experience, receiving a package from USPS in Canada, the maximum you can get charged is a $5 customs fee plus 7% GST. (Canadian federal sales tax) However, this time with UPS (I'm the other trader that Nathan's talking about) they charged a total of $31. (Cdn) (for a $50US total package) Some of it is the customs fee, but the bulk is a "brokerage fee" that UPS tacks on. I've never had that much tacked onto a package this size.

( 832 ) · Post by **MagickalMemories** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:57 am

Would it have been cheaper to refuse the package & have it returned to A8?
Even if paying shipping twice, wouldn't that still be cheaper in the long run?

Just curious.

Eric

Warmonger · Post by **Warmonger** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 6:30 am

I shipped a big old box of stuff to RadStar via UPS, marked as a gift with a value of $100. He hasn't mentioned that they charged him at all.

arch_8ngel · Post by **arch_8ngel** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 3:39 pm

Well, I definitely marked this as a gift, so I don't know what the deal is.

Eric, according to UPS if he refuses it, and it comes back, then they charge me the fee to get my stuff back (and probably some more on top for shipping it both ways). It's basically postal extortion. Completely ridiculous.

-nathan

pixelgeek · Post by **pixelgeek** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 4:45 pm

Alsiaie wrote:Acutally, a person in canada that receives a package via usps still gets charged. It is not a fee, but a postal tax.

Gifts are not charged duty. And UPS and other firms like it also add a customs brokerage charge to their delivery. So yu pay taxes as well as the brokerage charge.

arch_8ngel · Post by **arch_8ngel** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:16 pm

Gifts shouldn't be charged a duty, but it certainly seems like charges are being assessed on top of this absurd brokerage fee that I wasn't made aware of. Bad business practices all around.

getupandgo · Post by **getupandgo** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:25 am

if you mark it as a gift, AND place the at a low amount, you should have no problems.. .even if it's a gift, if you mark a $1000 value on it, the recipient is going to be taxed.. the only reason we don't get this in the u.s. is because of our terribly inept postal service.

Fr0 · Post by **Fr0** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:03 pm

The same can be said for FedEX, Canada Post, and USPS. Customs is a bitch!

I hate it. It's not like my Magic cards are secret weapons, or my Dark Riders are going to come to life and shoot someone in the face.

I've had to pay upwards of $21.00USD on a $150.00 order!

I've since been refunded for some of the time that it happens. You have to label it properly. It must have a proper price claim.

Fr0

big_glim · Post by **big_glim** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 7:20 pm

They have the brokerage fees et al listed on the UPS site for cross - border transactions; it gets pretty pricey as you can see by this link:
http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shippi ... rance.html

Especially if it's a large / high - value order. But on really small shipments, it's not bad, if you just need to toss a handful of models across the border. UPS will get there faster than USPS generally.

Speaking as someone who trade cross-border between Canada and the US fairly often, anything labelled as a gift with a value of $50 and under never gets pinged for customs, whereas anything larger than that, well, it's pretty random in my experience

arch_8ngel · Post by **arch_8ngel** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:38 pm

This package was lableled exactly as you described. Gift at $45 and it was charged customs and a $30 brokerage fee, or so.

My complaint was that they didn't mention this fee to me at the store, in person. An instore customer can't be expected to have read everything online.