UPS Brokerage fees risk

[aimfox]

I am planning to buy a product from California and they said they will ship it with UPS. I was wondering why they don't use USPS to ship it and why the heck are they using UPS? Unless they have a warehouse in Canada and planning to ship with UPS. My concern is the shipping cost is $15 and the product cost $10.. So in total cost it is $25.. I am worried they will charge me brokerage fees at the end. Is there a risk I'll be paying brokerage fees cuz I have heard and seen people paying a huge fee! Can someone confirm?

Also, at the bottom of the page, it seems fishy.. It said Yahoo copyright... I don't even know if the site is owned by Yahoo or not.. But according to rateselling website.. they said this site is pretty safe and it is ranked 9.1/10 with over 1.8k of reviews from different users

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/8963/scvmu9.jpg

[HowEver]

When UPS is done with you, this is going to be a very expensive $10 product.

Was there no where in Canada, or a non-UPS site in the US, that could have sold this item to you?

Cancel now if there is no penalty.

[Jon Lai]

If you so desire, specifically ask them to ship USPS. Many sellers ship UPS because it's cheaper thru UPS with merchant discounts and UPS provides better tracking than USPS (which, sometimes not at all).

[tlamm]

There is no risk. With UPS you will pay brokerage for anything shipped to Canada from the US.

Edit: http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipping/cost/zones/customs_clearance.html shows that under 20 dollars there are no fees. So if shipping is not included in the price you'll be fine. As of January my local border crossing has been including shipping when they calculate duty and taxes though.

[e-man]

UPS only charges brokerage when they are required to collect. Since your item is worth under $20 CDN (shipping isn't supposed to be included in declared value), there should be no brokerage. But call UPS just to make sure. My guess is that you should be okay, but double-check.

[seftonm]

You should not have to pay brokerage. If SVC writes up the invoice incorrectly and includes shipping in the total item price, then you will end up paying brokerage. Make sure to tell them to write the item value as $9.99, not $24.65.

I should make a UPS brokerage FAQ. There is too much inaccurate information being given on these forums.

[pifua]

when the shipment is made via USPS there is no brokerage fees?
Why is that?

[woof]

The Canadian government does not collect taxes or duties on import shipments valued at less than C$ 20.00. This is probably because the cost of doing the paperwork would be more than what they would collect. Therefore since no taxes or duties are collected on these low value shipments customs "clearance" by a broker is not required. Therefore for shipments below $C 20 none of the carriers charge a clearance fee - not canada Post, not UPS, not FedX, not anybody. You're not going to charge a clearnace fee if, in effect, no clearance is required.

All shipments still do go through customs of course since they have to verify value and contents and look for contraband, but the low value stuff gets fast tracked out while higher value items get piled up in the line to get dinged. And on all of these higher than $20 value items the carrier will hit you with a customs clearance charge.

[Handa]

I once bought a watch on AMAZON'S market place, from the States. The site explicitly said there will be no duty charge... UPS dude came to my door, and asked for $260.00 worth of brokerage fees, for a $300 watch! INSANITY. I refused the delivery and got a refund from the market place seller, less the shipping cost which kind of p'd me off...

[JonJubeTube]

There is currently a class action lawsuit against UPS for their excessive brokerage fees. It might still be open to signatories.

See here:
http://www.classaction.ca/content/actions/ups.asp

[dmdsoftware2]

There is currently a class action lawsuit against UPS for their excessive brokerage fees. It might still be open to signatories.

See here:
http://www.classaction.ca/content/actions/ups.asp

Only open to residents of BC and Quebec.

edit: Sorry, misread. Open to all provinces except BC and Quebec.

[JC69]

I just had something shipped to me by UPS Worldwide Expedited post. Apparently there are no brokerage fees with this method. It was expensive ($36 on a $119 item) but the item I bought was a steal at that price anyway. I'll repost when I get the item and let you know what fees I eventually pay. I'm hoping that I will only pay taxes and duty if anything.

[Kasakato]

I just had something shipped to me by UPS Worldwide Expedited post. Apparently there are no brokerage fees with this method. It was expensive ($36 on a $119 item) but the item I bought was a steal at that price anyway. I'll repost when I get the item and let you know what fees I eventually pay. I'm hoping that I will only pay taxes and duty if anything.

On any service other than ground, brokerage is included in the shipping price. All you pay is duties and tax.

when the shipment is made via USPS there is no brokerage fees?
Why is that?
There actually is a $5 to $7 handling (brokerage) charge, imposed by Canada Post- if duties/tax are applicable.

You should not have to pay brokerage. If SVC writes up the invoice incorrectly and includes shipping in the total item price, then you will end up paying brokerage. Make sure to tell them to write the item value as $9.99, not $24.65.

I should make a UPS brokerage FAQ. There is too much inaccurate information being given on these forums.
Chances are the CI will show a total billable value of $24.65, making the package taxable, resulting in brokerage charges. UPS clearing simply looks at the final line in the CI and enters that into the UPS system.

OP:
It shows a Yahoo copyright notice because they are using the Yahoo shopping cart system.
UPS is used because of their amazing shipping rates. With a high volume account, shipping charges are lower than USPS.

[davesaudio]

SVC has it's ups and downs but overall there are much worse vendors.
Have not had them ship to Canada yet

[Drew_W]

You should not have to pay brokerage. If SVC writes up the invoice incorrectly and includes shipping in the total item price, then you will end up paying brokerage. Make sure to tell them to write the item value as $9.99, not $24.65.

I should make a UPS brokerage FAQ. There is too much inaccurate information being given on these forums.

I agree. Everyone seems to want to play Chicken Little.

[selpats]

I agree. Everyone seems to want to play Chicken Little.

I agree as well. People just spread bad information instead of finding out for themselves.

UPS Ground will incur brokerage fees. Any other faster UPS shipping method such as Expedited includes the brokerage fee.

This is stated right on the UPS website for everyone to read:

http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipping/cost/zones/customs_clearance.html

OP - Maybe you should try calling the retailer to see if they can ship via UPS Worldwide Expedited...

Good luck!