Again, Don't ship UPS to Canada (HUGE brokerage fee)

rv8eh · #1 12-02-2009, 04:18 PM

I ordered an alodine pen from Steinair a couple days ago.
Holy smoke, it arrived today, in Saskatoon.

$67.50 USD for the alodine pen.

$29.55 brokerage fee to UPS.

PLEASE GUYS DON'T SHIP UPS TO CANADA

I'll take up the order process and shipping with SteinAir, perhaps I missed something in the process. This particular instance could be my fault that UPS got used.

However, USPS Parcel Post would take about a week, and cost me $5 clearance.

I should have phoned it in, I guess.

RickWoodall · #2 12-02-2009, 05:18 PM

I got a $200 order from vans in a small box. $25 to ship $120 in duty and tax....total $350. Crazy. I dont mind taxes and I dont mind shipping. The $50-$75 broker fee grab is insane. I now ship all to a US address and go get it myself and declare it at the border. Much cheaper or USPS is fair.

nucleus · #3 12-02-2009, 05:28 PM

How do you pay bills from the Canadian aviation authorities, they are billing me in Canadian dollars, and don't seem to have a CC option, I have been scratching my head on how to write a US check for canadian dollars...

Hans

Snowflake · #4 12-02-2009, 05:29 PM

USPS beats UPS every day of the week for anything i've had to ship across the border.

Lately i've had extremely good service (or maybe it's luck?) shipping Purolator across the border. 1/2 the time they don't even charge the duty (this is for non-aircraft things).

LifeofReiley · #5 12-02-2009, 05:31 PM

That is Crazy...

vlittle · #6 12-02-2009, 06:02 PM

I agree, my UPS experience is bad for Canadian shipments. Fedex is the way to go... any duties and taxes owing and they will send you a bill later on. No extra brokerage costs.

Unfortunately, most US providers are not aware of how to ship internationally. I've even had this conversation with Van's and it was disappointing. Aircraft Spruce, however, has worked this out. They now can ship FOB Canada through their Ontario warehouse... their extra costs are buried in the price and are reasonable.

For the Vx Aviation products that I sell, I ship worldwide post paid. I've figured out the logistics to make this happen, and it is a competitive advantage. Yes, my customers need to pay any duties or VAT, but at least they don't have to pay outrageous shipping or brokerage costs.

Vern

lorne green · #7 12-02-2009, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nucleus

How do you pay bills from the Canadian aviation authorities, they are billing me in Canadian dollars, and don't seem to have a CC option, I have been scratching my head on how to write a US check for canadian dollars...

Hans

Check with your Canadian bank if they charge a fee for this but...if, when you write your cheque to a US company, Write in "U.S. Dollars (funds)" after the
dollar amount...and you're good to go!
Regards,

G-force · #8 12-02-2009, 08:40 PM

Ahem, working for a company ships millions internationally...its not the shippers, its Canada. No other country in the world is a much of a pain to ship to. No other customers give us more grief than Canadians about trying to get us to falsify invoices and shipping docs so they can avoid the taxes/tarrifs, etc. I agree, shipping UPS to Canada is expensive, but thats not the shippers problem if the customer does not specify a shipping carrier. The UPS truck is at my shop twice a day and the default shipper, it takes a special call to get the Fed-X truck there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vlittle

SNIP

Unfortunately, most US providers are not aware of how to ship internationally.

Snip

rv8eh · #9 12-03-2009, 08:52 AM

Ha, I got an invoice for the shipping this morning too :-)
I thought they'd missed that.

They had to ship the alodine pen via courier, as USPS wouldn't take it.
Their normal method to Canada is USPS (which I'm very happy with, as it's reasonably fast, and minimum cost).

In 1988, my team bought a bunch of electronics from Jameco in California - shipped UPS. At the 4 week mark, we had schedule pressure, and ordered again from the same vendor, US Air Parcel Post. We got it in about a week.

The original order (via) arrived at about the 6 week mark.

Fedex isn't free, but I don't want free, I want reasonable.
I don't think that $6 of discrete electronic parts warrants a $30 brokerage fee.

Anyhow, I'm done with it, and learned a lesson again.

Danny7 · #10 12-03-2009, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G-force

Ahem, working for a company ships millions internationally...its not the shippers, its Canada. No other country in the world is a much of a pain to ship to. No other customers give us more grief than Canadians about trying to get us to falsify invoices and shipping docs so they can avoid the taxes/tarrifs, etc. I agree, shipping UPS to Canada is expensive, but thats not the shippers problem if the customer does not specify a shipping carrier. The UPS truck is at my shop twice a day and the default shipper, it takes a special call to get the Fed-X truck there.

I've read a fair amount of complaining about outrageous fees from the guys in GB as well. Seems they have a similar situation where the shipping companies can charge very high "brokerage" fees and even an add on that most customers just take, but the guys on the gb vaf list say they didn't have to pay, and showed it to the shipper.