[cornflakes]

okay so i've heard about it but i have no idea if i can do something about it or not.

I just got an item from the US shipped to me by UPS. The cost was $345US + $45US for s/h.

Then i got slapped with a $90.05cdn UPS brokerage fee. Is this about right or is something not right with this picture?

I already paid the seller $45US to ship it here....why am I getting asked to pay another $90 for "brokerage fees"???

[NikiterZTS]

oh trust me......they love to band people over like that......its so freackin stupid

[guilty]

You are one of the many Canadians who has been charged a retarded amount of money for a service that Canada Post charges $5 for.

When you're buying a US-made part from a US seller you should expect to pay the taxes at the border (GST/PST/etc) plus some sort of brokerage fee. UPS and FedEx like to charge whatever they want for that fee.

There's a guy in BC that's trying to file a class action lawsuit against them: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2006...2115440-cp.html

[OAC_Sparky]

Where do you live, cornflakes?

[focusracer]

The brokerage fee is the cost of having someone bring it across the line for you. The bigger shipping companies have people who do all the paper work and bill the company for every second of time spent plus every piece of paper, kind of like a lawyer and then they tack on a % for themselves as well. That's why I love living so close to the border and having friends in the US. Go down and pick it up and just pay taxes and duty bringing it back, hell sometimes they'll even bring it up for me if it's small enough, under $60 us.

[OAC_Sparky]

If you ship something US Post from the US, when it gets to the border and is imported by either Purolator or Canada Post, depending on the size and "level of shipping".

Brokerage cost: $5-$7

A package shipped from the US by UPS is imported by UPS, sometimes never even leaves the truck.

Brokerage cost: min $35, and up. Depends on the VALUE of the item.

Now, it does not cost more to broker a $200 couch (big item) and a $5000 ring (tiny item). So why the difference in fee?

All a variable fee is, is an extra tax they can extort -- because they can.

That's why I went to Niagara Falls Monday night, I had a guitar I bought shipped to the UPS depot in the US, and went over to pick it up, then went shopping at the Walden Galleria.

[bluetoy]

I just found out last week that you can have stuff sent to the UPS store by ANY shipping company. My buddy had a car door sent by fedex to the UPS store in Ogdensburg. no problems, same $5 fee. They said they don't care how it gets to them.
BTW I paid something like $17 brokerage for a $19 part. they also charged me $20 shipping. When the shipping is to Canada it's usualy at least double. Always use USmail if you must have it shipped to your door otherwise a trip to the states to pick it up is your best bet.

[cornflakes]

i'm in north york....so there's nothing i can do now except pay the brokerage fee?
If i don't decide to pay up....they keep my item and never to be seen again?

[OAC_Sparky]

cornflakes,Oct 26 2006, 09:42 PM Wrote:i'm in north york....so there's nothing i can do now except pay the brokerage fee?
If i don't decide to pay up....they keep my item and never to be seen again?
[right][snapback]213518[/snapback][/right]

If UPS has imported your goods already, your choices are limited to:

1) Bend over and pay up, or
2) Refuse shipment, return to sender and hope the guy gives you a refund. (I'd call first to make sure).

At this point, I'd say bend over, they've got it half in now.

For future reference. Your Focus should spend $25 round trip to the UPS depot in Niagara Falls. While you are there you can do some other shopping and/or fill up on cheaper gas. Visit the falls for the day (but the depot is not open on weekends). If you need the depot address I can get it for you. It's like 5 minutes from either bridge. Rainbow or Queenston-Lewiston. I finde the Rainbow has less traffic though.

Of course, you can avoid all this by having it sent US Post next time.

Good luck.

[Kelowna_Focus]

"just the tip" :lol:

[NOS2Go4Me]

Sorry to hear about your grief, man. We all seem to learn the hard way.

Can we sticky something in Focus Talk or somewhere that says for the best results, use USPS?

We shipped in wedding supplies, my extra computer parts and car parts all via USPS. I don't recall paying ANYTHING extra beyond shipping, and I guess that's because they build-in the cost of the brokerage fee at the time you pay for shipping.

Puro is another half-decent way to do it, but I recommend this only as a backup.

Also, marking the package as a personal gift tends to help sometimes. I've had good luck with it so far, anyways.

[reldridge]

I've paid brokerage fees on FREE stuff before shipped DHL. $20 for a free golf shirt?!!??! WTF????????? :o

UPS, DHL and just about everybody but USPS charge rediculous brokerage fees.

Ryan

[Flofocus]

reldridge,Oct 27 2006, 08:48 AM Wrote:I've paid brokerage fees on FREE stuff before shipped DHL. $20 for a free golf shirt?!!??! WTF????????? :o

UPS, DHL and just about everybody but USPS charge rediculous brokerage fees.

Ryan
[right][snapback]213536[/snapback][/right]

lol, the best was when UPS wanted to charge me for a logger Tom sent me from focus-power.com to use for a few days ot check his tune. They wanted over $100 for somethign I was going ot use for 2 days and send back to Tom.

If a place in the state wont use USPS to deliver, I dont give them my business.

[cornflakes]

darn......wish i knew this about UPS beforehand. Since my brokerage fee COD is 90.05 is that included the GST/PST (60ish) and then the UPS fee (30ish) to equal 90 or is it all UPS brokerage fee?

[OAC_Sparky]

cornflakes,Oct 27 2006, 09:52 AM Wrote:darn......wish i knew this about UPS beforehand.[right][snapback]213544[/snapback][/right]

Search this site, we've already whined about it a half dozen times or so. <_<

Quote: Since my brokerage fee COD is 90.05  is that included the GST/PST (60ish) and then the UPS fee (30ish) to equal 90 or is it all UPS brokerage fee?

If your item was $345 I would say that the brokerage fee is more than $30. The fee goes up in relation to the value of the item.

[cornflakes]

yeah....the weirdest part is that i've been frequenting this forum like mad crazy over the past month or so....see my name everywhere lol. But funny i never ran into the UPS complaints until AFTER I made all the big purchases from UPS lol.

so i guess every site should have a huge warning sign at the entrance of the page to warn us when buying from US sellers.

[cornflakes]

just thought i'd send out this warning since i never got warned......don't accept any seller from the US that ships with UPS or you'll fall into the scam of brokerage fees.

Do a search on this site or google and you'll read all about it.

[meford4u]

We don't need a big warning sign and we only need to discuss this topic in one post.

Management

[Kelowna_Focus]

If you're looking for the costs of UPS brokerage, it's on their website.

UPS BROKERAGE FEES

Hope this helps!

[Flofocus]

Quote:Entry Preparation Charges

UPS offers free1 routine customs clearance of UPS Express Plus, UPS Express, and UPS Expedited. Our published rates are among the lowest in the business, with savings of up to 30 percent and often more. Use the chart below to calculate the customs brokerage fee for your inbound shipments.

BULLSHIAT