[pento57mm]

As a seller of an K-10D shipped to Canada from the US my customer was charged a 37% "BROKERAGE FEE" when shipping via UPS International on a 199.00 dollar item. A brokerage fee of $57.25 and Tax On top of that of a Broker fee of $7.44 for a total $64.69. This fee is not charged when shipping VIA the USPS. UPS will not refund this ridiculous surcharge.

[panoguy]

United Parcel Service (UPS - not to be confused with the US Postal Service, USPS, for those just skimming) is well known in Canada for tacking on enormous "brokerage fees" to packages that are sent through them on a lower cost service. Some of their more costly services "include brokerage fees" but even this is not a guarantee they won't try to charge the recipient to "double-dip" while they control the package. This is why I categorically refuse to use them, and will even avoid retailers that ship via UPS international only.
My in-laws sent an easter care-package to my young children (toys, candy, a handmade blanket) and UPS wanted $44 or they wouldn't release it. No tax or duty due, but somehow it cost UPS $44 to get it over the border? Two months later, it was sent back to the US and remailed via USPS, got here in a week and had no fees...

Adorama and B&H offer "all fees, duty and taxes included" shipping to Canada (via FedEx or Purolator), and the largest "brokerage fee" I've seen from them is $14...

[mrNewt]

Yep ... stay away from UPS ... arms and legs will be lost in the transaction ...

[bdery]

Fedex and Purolator do the same, but UPs are the worst. USPS offfers a better service and does not try to charge twice for shipping a package.

Brokerage fees are currently being investigated in Quebec by the Consumer's Protection Office, trying to see if they are illegal, or at least what can be done about it.

[Docrwm]

FedEx is not much different in my experience. The Brokerage fees are crazy. I once had one say that they had to do all this paperwork and collect import duty, I found that the item was exempt and took one click on one online form - FedEx wanted $55. USPS is harder to use these days because you can not print 1st class international postage UNLESS its an eBay sale. Their website ONLY offers to print Express or Priority - which is 2-4x as much as 1st class (just did it today for a grip going to Ontario).

[pento57mm]

United Parcel Service (UPS - not to be confused with the US Postal Service, USPS, for those just skimming) is well known in Canada for tacking on enormous "brokerage fees" to packages that are sent through them on a lower cost service. Some of their more costly services "include brokerage fees" but even this is not a guarantee they won't try to charge the recipient to "double-dip" while they control the package. This is why I categorically refuse to use them, and will even avoid retailers that ship via UPS international only.
My in-laws sent an easter care-package to my young children (toys, candy, a handmade blanket) and UPS wanted $44 or they wouldn't release it. No tax or duty due, but somehow it cost UPS $44 to get it over the border? Two months later, it was sent back to the US and remailed via USPS, got here in a week and had no fees...

Adorama and B&H offer "all fees, duty and taxes included" shipping to Canada (via FedEx or Purolator), and the largest "brokerage fee" I've seen from them is $14...

Well United Parcel Rip Off Service lost all International shipping from a major Auto Manufacturer here in Detroit because of this. They stole $64.00 but lost about 6.5 million per year in future shipping. All UPS shipping has been stopped. let's see if they figure that one out.

[Docrwm]

Well United Parcel Rip Off Service lost all International shipping from a major Auto Manufacturer here in Detroit because of this. They stole $64.00 but lost about 6.5 million per year in future shipping. All UPS shipping has been stopped. let's see if they figure that one out.

I've had no end of issues with UPS. Last time they claimed the office was closed on Friday (we were not, had paid a lot extra for it to be delivered on Friday, and were waiting for the package for the weekend). The funny part is that they claimed they tried to deliver at 6:02AM after leaving the warehouse at 5:45am - and they were 25 miles away through some of the worst traffic in the US. I asked them if the local police knew they were driving nearly 120 miles per hour. UPS could not have cared less and lied to me several times about the package being on its way, being left in the warehouse, being driven to the van, etc. I got to the last laugh because I have a personal contact at Amazon, the shipper, and complained directly to him (Sr. management) about the lies and BS. I got a call on Monday from an executive at UPS trying to apologize. Told them - not good enough, its happened too many times and you just plain don't care about the recipient at all so kiss off. It was only when Amazon, their largest customer, passed the complaint along that they even cared. UPS.....can't write what I want.

[aoeu]

experienced this with an incoming package?

[stevebrot]

Oh yes...the recurring issue of UPS brokerage fees to Canada.

It is a little more complex than just simple "skimming". UPS has a service level agreement to deliver within a given time span. If the item is languishing in a customs warehouse waiting for the recipient to pay duty, UPS is in a bind. To insure that this issue does not arise, they provide brokerage (meaning that they broker the duty) as a matter of course on international shipments. The fact that cameras and lenses pass into Canada duty-free is not their concern.

Bottom line: Avoid shipping UPS across the US-Canada border.


Steve

[Canada_Rockies]

For those of us lucky enough to live close to the US/Canada border, we use shipping services conveniently located a few miles from customs. For the SE corner of BC and the SW corner of AB, Montana Shipping Outlet is the answer. Even though it's a drive to get it, the gas is less expensive than the UPS charges most of the time.

[Docrwm]

experienced this with an incoming package?

My example was of a package coming to me from Japan that was exempt from duty but FedEx's experts couldn't figure that out - it took me <5 minutes.

[bdery]

It is a little more complex than just simple "skimming". UPS has a service level agreement to deliver within a given time span.

If they cared about their customers at all, and if time delivery was an actual issue, then they would warn their customers : faster means more expensive, and the client will be charged the sadly inevitable brokerage fees which we can waive if you're in no real hurry.

[pete-tarmigan]

Oh yes...the recurring issue of UPS brokerage fees to Canada.

It is a little more complex than just simple "skimming". UPS has a service level agreement to deliver within a given time span. If the item is languishing in a customs warehouse waiting for the recipient to pay duty, UPS is in a bind. To insure that this issue does not arise, they provide brokerage (meaning that they broker the duty) as a matter of course on international shipments. The fact that cameras and lenses pass into Canada duty-free is not their concern.

Bottom line: Avoid shipping UPS across the US-Canada border.


Steve

Maybe UPS charges the brokerage fee to broker the GST, since they don't have to broker the duty.

[jamarley]

This is all becoming too common in our profit-driven economy - if a "normal" margin is not forthcoming due to competitive pressures, make up the difference elsewhere. Too often this practice involves hidden or poorly stated "fees". So, if effect, buyers themselves become in a way a product of sorts. Ugly, but truly can be implicated.

BTW, the shenanigans of UPS are not limited to international shipping. At work we use their online service for generating package pickups. No longer do we receive printed price books, with effective dates sometime in the reasonable future. It seems any time Big Brown wants to implement a price increase the computer is automatically updated. I've also seen instances where our company "discount" was accidentally deleted with an update - suddenly packages were going out at exorbitant rates!

Sad, sad, sad.

[bimjo]

What drives me nuts is the "on the truck for delivery" but you can't have it until 2 days from now because that's the level of service you paid for. The model is bass-ackwards. Instead of charging for delivery within a certain number of days they should guarantee delivery not later than X, and if we get it there sooner then "Ain't we good! You're welcome!"

USPS seems to be able to pull this feat off with astounding regularity, despite the fact that they're on the verge of bankruptcy (or the government equivalent).