Comments on: Avoiding UPS/FedEx brokerage fees

By: DeepFry

DeepFry — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:27:03 +0000

Similar to Fedex International Economy / Priority, the UPS Worldwide Expedited or Worldwide Saver does not charge additional brokerage fee because it is included in the price. The final cost of shipping using these 2 service should be a lot lower than using UPS Standard, which has the brokerage fee and handling fee tagged onto at a later stage. But then of course if the retailer can ship via USPS I will use that instead – only CAD$5 handling fee + taxes, nothing can beat that.

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:02:39 +0000

UPS markets themselves very aggresively to Americans. Therefore many American companies use UPS exclusively. I find US companies do not understand global trade very well. UPS always tells them the complaints they are get are “duty”. We all know this is BS. Canadians have not paid duty on American products since 1992 when the Free Trade Ageement came in. UPS loves to charge huge brokerage fees and file them as “duty” on the invoice.

I will not shop with anyone who ships UPS. That simple. One company I deal with insisted on it for a large wholesale order once. UPS delivered it without issue. Strage. Then they charged a “duty” of $300 to the shipper. He checked the box saying he was responsible thinking this meant for the shipping fees. The fake duty was just that – fake. I have a dedicated broker and all my info was on the shipment. So that US merchant learned the hard way and finally gets it. Its not us Canadians or “duty” – its UPS being lying scumbags.

By: Ryobi

Ryobi — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:05:06 +0000

Remember – if its brown, flush it down!

By: Alice K.

Alice K. — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:26:08 +0000

I had no experience with UPS system.
I bought item of app.$1000 on ebay from US seller, and today I got the delivery notice that I need to pay $208.99 for brokerage fee. I can’t believe!!! Now I have no option, but pay the fee to get my package. I hate UPS! This is why it was so hard to find US seller who is willing to ship the item to Canada.

By: Hate UP

Hate UP — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:25:37 +0000

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:52:22 +0000

Another story from hell: product is made in Canada!, but it is shipped from US (long story)… anyway, for a US$160 product (and with free shipping), brokerage fees + HST = $57.76. I missed to ask for USPS shipping as it is usually shipped from canadian warehouse.
Anyway, following the excellent advice from “LVSinfo” I phoned UPS. It took me 25 minutes of arguing over the phone as they kept saying that it has to go back to Ft. Erie and that I can not clear it anywhere else but there. I have asked the lady who was apparently in “brokerage” business for a long time if she had a copy of D 17-4-0 so we can go through it together while on the phone but she did not have it in fron of her. Anyway, as I was not going to pay them brokerage fees as I have never authorized UPS to act as my broker to which even she agreed, finaly I told her to send it back to Ft. Erie and I will pick it up there with my B15. Oh, she did not know what “unique shipment identifier number” was, so I was going to use tracking number for that anyway and get my B15 at Pearson….
So this is when she told me that “this time only” UPS will waive brokerage fees and charge me only GST+PST…
So I said this is LAST time I used UPS ever, so there will never be another chance for them to do that…..

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:27:59 +0000

Another options for larger items is to use a company like A&A customer brokers. They will still charge you, but they have rates that are much more reasonable than Fedex and UPS.

By: christoph

christoph — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 08:51:22 +0000

uuh – i should have checked the web before ordering some lights in the us for my canadian summer home. nearly 400 dollars brokerage fee for 1000 dollar items and at least ups did everything wrong at the customs as they declared a too high value.

f*** UPS – do not use UPS. UPS is highway robbery par excellance.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 21:24:52 +0000

I have cochlear implants, for artifical hearing I sent my processors to Ontario to be repaired and calibrated using Fed Ex. I was told there might be a charge at customs but not about the brokerage fee or document. Got the broker’s document to FedEx Toronto to take care of customs. These are prothetic devices for hearing – medical equipment. I put a value on them of $8,000.00 – $4,000.00 each. Do they charge me a type of sales tax? They were shipped Temporary Import.
Does anyone have any ideal how much my fees will be?
I shipped priority and my next day delivery has so far taken 4 days to be delivered. Any guess on once they are repaired how long it will take for them to be shipped back to me – I enclosed return box, airbill with FedEx acct. number along with commerical invoice.

By: Heather Boyd

Heather Boyd — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:51:03 +0000

Thank you for this post and the post on LVSinfo. It has saved me money and (hopefully) will result in my package being delivered tomorrow. With the above info in front of me I managed to have the $33 brokerage fee (on a $40 DVD + $15 shipping) waived (just this one time, they said).

My conversation was almost verbatim what is posted above, though I had the additional barrier that the customer service rep continually said she was sorry but she didn’t have a unique identifier for the package, only a tracking number. I tried to argue that if it was imported, there HAD to be a unique identifier number assigned by customs. I eventually asked for her supervisor and am going to pay a mere $2.04 in taxes when they redeliver. I am holding my breath that all’s well that ends well…

Thank you again for this info –I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do.