Bartertown.com

So make a deal with a person for an item that he wanted $50 plus $15 shipping.

As a side note he says it would cost $10 to $15 so he charges me the max. I agree to it.

He then emails and says that the cheapest shipping is $25. He goes ahead and sends it.

Today I find a slip on my door from UPS saying that I owe $36.18 Brokerage COD.

Is this normal?

I asked the guy to use USPS because I thought it would be cheaper since you are not paying for speed of delivery.

Pretty bummed as adding an extra $36 I may as well have bought the thing brand new from a store and possibly saved money.

Did the seller have knowledge of the Brokerage COD?

Yes. Absolutely normal.

The "Brokerage" fee you owe is your Customs fees plus a "small" brokerage fee that UPS adds on (I think $8).

Most likely, he was not aware.

You say you asked him to send via USPS. Is it possible you typo'd UPS or that he misunderstood your USPS to mean UPS?

Eric

Nope he suggested using UPS and I suggested that USPS would be cheaper..... not knowing about brokerage but just it seems that's what most ebay shippers and btowners use to ship from US to Canada.

Will the sender be charged anything if return to sender?

Well we both agreed to split the difference on the brokerage fee and both learned a good lesson..... never use UPS for US/Canadian shipping.

frankcastle wrote:Well we both agreed to split the difference on the brokerage fee and both learned a good lesson..... never use UPS for US/Canadian shipping.

Well, that's not entirely true. I have had things shipped via UPS from the states into Canada and didn't have to pay anything, but at the same time some things (like when I buy collectable swords) I paid a hefty fee. I think it all depends on what the product is and maybe the type of UPS they send it with? I honestly have no clue but when Games Workshop sends me my goodies via UPS I never have to pay anything, and just recently I spent 600 on new computer parts and a new tower that were sent UPS two day delivery (two separate shipments) and I didn't have to pay anything.

Here is what I could understand from my experience.

UPS (I believe FedEx does the same) charges insanse brokerage fee only when they act as your broker agent, which probably means everytime another person ships to you. They charge you wether or not your package was charged some customs border fee.

Some companies act as your broker agent and UPS does not charge anything extra.

It was a 4.5 pound book (40K 6th edition rule book).

To make matters worse they expected COD if I want it delivered to my door. Unfortunately, I work during their hours of delivery so I went online and opted to go pick up the book. Now I get to drive 45 min x 2 to get the book and pay.

So I spent $65 + 18 (should have been 36 but the seller sent me 18)

On his end he spent 30 to ship + 18.

So neither one of us got what we wanted out of the deal but it was both of our faults for not knowing about brokerage fees.

wow

This kind of crap is why I have stopped doing deals with Canadians. Nothing personal against them but our governments apparently don't play nice when it comes to mail.

YOou iss the pointMedevl. It's not the governments, but the private carrier, UPS, that added the fee to the customs fee.

I just wanted to add a little something to this thread. UPS charges a $30 brokerage fee "if" the package is stopped in customs. I got hit with the $30 carrying fee and i told the UPS guy to please send it back, as the customs fee was only $6 and the carrying fee was $30.(sounds like a very similar situation to the thread opener) Customs fees are based as a percentage of the declared value and are fairly minimal.(around 15% iirc)
As for why some things get stopped in customs and some dont, who knows...

frankcastle wrote:Well we both agreed to split the difference on the brokerage fee and both learned a good lesson..... never use UPS for US/Canadian shipping.

Never, ever, ever use UPS for shipments to Canada.

They are singly the most inefficient, inept organization I have ever had the misfortune to have to come into contact with. I have not had a single foreign shipment from them that hasn't screwed up in one way or another.

I can't imagine how they stay in business.

RedSkullz wrote:I just wanted to add a little something to this thread. UPS charges a $30 brokerage fee "if" the package is stopped in customs.

This is not true. They charge this fee if it goes through customs at any point. Even if it isn't stopped. I have had to pay their sliding scale fees for parcels that have not been touched by customs.

Sorry if i have misinformed. My experience was quite a few years back.

RedSkullz wrote:Sorry if i have misinformed. My experience was quite a few years back.

You can't base what they charge on what they say they charge