[01-yellow-ZX3]

Hey guys,

Anybody have experience with UPS and duties and customs charges?

I received a gift from the USA, with the insurance claimed at $500.

Now I've always thought receiving a gift was duty free, that way you don't have to pay customs and taxes when getting birthday gifts for instance from family or friends.

Anybody?

[nass]

Not sure about gifts but I think they will still charge you otherwise everything would be a gift :)

I bought something fromt the states that was JUST over $100 and I had to pay like $1.50 GST and UPS charged me the $39.99 brokerage fee. If you're getting something from the states try not to use UPS.

[PerfectSaiyan]

yup UPS likes to destroy Canada with duties and customs charges.

they charge us to send the guy 30 feet to the customs office to walk it through. its bull crap considering how much they charge. VERY excessive.

[01-yellow-ZX3]

Okay, something I found out:

Insurance value or declared value can't go over $60 CDN.

I've bought a ton of parts and other things thru UPS before, but to tell ya the truth...this is the only time I've run into this.

The stupid shipper declared it at $560 US and marked it as a gift. IDIOT.

[meford4u]

Gift or not, you still have to pay the duty and taxes on the declared value.

[imack]

With free trade, there is no duty for items shipped from the U.S. to Canada (or vice-versa). The only customs charge for bringing something across the border is GST. The theory being that if you buy the item in the U.S. and then bring it into Canada, you end up paying the same, since you would pay GST if you bought it here.

What UPS charges so much money for is brokerage. When you bring something across the border yourself, your the broker. Filling out a few forms (probably automated in their case) is all they do for the outrageous fee they charge.

[nass]

imack,Aug 9 2006, 10:36 AM Wrote:With free trade, there is no duty for items shipped from the U.S. to Canada (or vice-versa).  The only customs charge for bringing something across the border is GST.  The theory being that if you buy the item in the U.S. and then bring it into Canada, you end up paying the same, since you would pay GST if you bought it here.

What UPS charges so much money for is brokerage.  When you bring something across the border yourself, your the broker.  Filling out a few forms (probably automated in their case) is all they do for the outrageous fee they charge.
[right][snapback]201431[/snapback][/right]

there is duty on an item that is not made in North America. If you bought it in the states but the country of origin is like Japan then you pay duty on it no matter what. What I do when shipping things over to avoid extra costs is:

1. Ask seller to low ball the value of the item, keep in mind this is relative. You can't say a massive box that's heavy is only worth $35

2. Use another carrier like Fedex that doesn't charge $40 to fill out 1 paper.

3. Find a friend on the states side and ship the item to him/her and pick it up yourself. On your way across the boarder make sure to stop at the duty free :)

[torradan]

1) UPS screws everyone, not just Canada. They're crooks.

2) Have things shipped using the postal service. Its easier, cheaper, and faster. No ridiculous brokerage fees either.

[OAC_Sparky]

torradan,Aug 9 2006, 08:02 AM Wrote:1) UPS screws everyone, not just Canada.  They're crooks.

2) Have things shipped using the postal service.  Its easier, cheaper, and faster.  No ridiculous brokerage fees either.
[right][snapback]201459[/snapback][/right]

Yep.

And Option 3

If you live near the border like I do and the shipper insists on UPS, you can ship it to a US UPS depot as a "customer hold". I've done that a few times, especially when the vendor offers free US shipping. I just drive the half-hour over to Niagara Falls NY to pick it up, most of the time I don't get charged tax on the way back.

[guilty]

If they delivered it to you and then bill you for the brokerage later (I've had FedEx do this to me before) they say that if you dont pay the brokerage fee it goes back to the shipper. Not sure if UPS does that or not though..

And like it's been said, because of NAFTA we dont have to pay duty on items made in NAFTA countries (Canada, US, Mexico, etc), but if you're importing a non-NAFTA country made item you can be charged duty. What you usually pay is brokerage fees, which is just the courier's made-up fee of what they think going through customs is worth.

I guess since he's already shipped it there's not much you can do about it.. I know a lot of people say "mark it as a gift and you wont get charged anything", but that doesn't work.. I'm pretty sure Customs is a little smarter than that. If you label it as a warranty exchange or something supposedly you won't get charged taxes (since you already paid the taxes the first time you bought it, assumably).

Sounds like you already recieved the item though, did you get charged anything for it? Or attempted to be charged anything?

[bluetoy]

Here's an example from today.

Item was $19 USD. Bought from US, Made in China Shipped by UPS.

cdn value was 21.39. had to pay 1.39 duty, 1.37 gst and 1.82 pst. Then I paid 1.03 gst on the OUTRAGEOUS brokerage fee of 17.10.

Total I had to pay was 22.71 for an Item that was $19 us. They also raped me for $23 usd shipping. So the $19 center caps cost me around $75 cdn. If they would have been willing to ship to the UPS store in Ogdensburg it would have cost $10 shipping and the taxes/duty. If they would have shipped by US mail the fee would have been around $5 plus taxes.


To top it off UPS won't give you the part until you pay.

[guilty]

That's a good example of why I wont order anything from the US unless the seller clearly agrees to ship with USPS rather than a courier service. That's a pretty s***ty experience bluetoy.. I've had one of those and learned my lesson.

[OAC_Sparky]

bluetoy,Aug 10 2006, 08:09 PM Wrote:If they would have been willing to ship to the UPS store in Ogdensburg it would have cost $10 shipping and the taxes/duty.
[right][snapback]201845[/snapback][/right]

Why not?

I just give them instructions to ship it to the UPS depot. If you deal with PayPal, you can register secondary addresses such as the depot.

Have them address it as follows:

ie.
OAC Sparky (Customer Hold)
6601 PACKARD RD
NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14304 (or whatever address suits you)
(905)555-6969

They call you when the package arrives.

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/shipping/...old_pickup.html

[bluetoy]

OAC_Sparky,Aug 11 2006, 02:30 AM Wrote:

bluetoy,Aug 10 2006, 08:09 PM Wrote:If they would have been willing to ship to the UPS store in Ogdensburg it would have cost $10 shipping and the taxes/duty.
[right][snapback]201845[/snapback][/right]

Why not?

I just give them instructions to ship it to the UPS depot. If you deal with PayPal, you can register secondary addresses such as the depot.

Have them address it as follows:

ie.
OAC Sparky (Customer Hold)
6601 PACKARD RD
NIAGARA FALLS, NY 14304 (or whatever address suits you)
(905)555-6969

They call you when the package arrives.

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/shipping/...old_pickup.html
[right][snapback]201908[/snapback][/right]

They would only ship to the billing address on the Credit card. They also refused to ship by US mail. They do not take international Paypal either. It was still cheaper than buying CDN. The center caps are $38 each from Ford. I usually get stuff shipped to the UPS store in ogdensburg. Matter of fact I have to go there today to get something.