NEVER, ever use UPS...

[Crazcnuk]

To send anything to Canada, or any other country outside the U.S. ( I assume).

Here's the deal. UPS is crooked. Downright, crooks.

When you ship out of the U.S. to Canada, for ex. You will go down, ask the price to ship to destination. They will quote you and you will pay the shipping and ship the item.

When it gets to the destination, the UPS driver will happily ask for more money! Usually aound $50CDN.

Often this is as much or more than the shipping itself. They will claim ALL the courier companies charge this 'brokerage' fee, but I am here to tell you UPS is the ONLY one that does.

I have received dozens of items, from the US, by many differerent couriers, USPS, FedEx, Tiger Direct, etc, and NONE of them have ever tried to extort more money from me.

Derwat bought some parts out of the US. When the package arrived it had an extra $80 charge on it, even though the shipping was prepaid, which he paid.

Funny part was, one small $4 part was backordered and came about a week later, they tried to charge the $80 AGAIN!

[CatatonicBug]

Yeah... That's a known issue. Every shipping company has to pay the same customs fees, but they usually work it into the shipping cost. UPS charges their own set of "brokerage" fees (my company actually DOES international brokerage) to pay for the handling of the customs paperwork. They can't tell you beforehand how much the fees are going to be, since until customs bills them, they don't know what to charge. The way they do it is rather shady, and the fees they charge are definitely way higher than most places. USPS to Canada is usually the best bet.

[Crazcnuk]

Funny how none of the other companies have any trouble with it.

I suspect UPS found out it was a neat way to increase thier revenue by 30%.

What brought htis to a head is that I just recenetly bought a seat from a member. The deal was for $160, shipper pays the shipping.

I am pretty strapped for cash right now, but if I get the seat I can get my 3rd xs ridable and sell the other 2, as this is bike selling season.

Well the seat arrived, and UPS wanted another $47! Well I was stretching the budget for the orignal purchase. So I talked the driver, and she said to refuse the shipment, because UPS will often return the item in a week with the extra charges removed, but it's a gamble.

So I did that, got ahold of the seller and told him what was happening, and that IF they contacted him to say he wanted the item back (if I refused it) and that I would pay the shipping to ship via USPS ( yes, it's even more but I would rather pay the honest company a little extra).

Well, the seller told them to scrap it, if I didn't want it!

So now, if UPS doesn't attempt delievery once more, I may have to go and dispute my original Paypal payment, as I did not receive the item as agreed..:^(

[kjohnson]

I too refuse to use UPS to get me anything from the US. If I can only get something shipped UPS, I will not buy it. I am willing to wait the extra week or two to get it via USPS.

[cueball]

UPS vs USPS

Canada to Aus via UPS $94, Florida to Aus via USPS $35 for boxes the same size.

[CatatonicBug]

Canada to Aus via UPS $94, Florida to Aus via USPS $35 for boxes the same size.

Shoot! That's not bad! You're paying for the extra 1k miles, plus the boat ride across the Great Lakes!

[Crazcnuk]

*in this instance the shipper paid $42 US. That was what he was quoted as total shipping charges to me.

UPS wants another $47CDN from me to get my parcel.

Extortion comes to mind.

[tinman905]

I bought something from Ebay for $26.95 and UPS tried to charge me another $29.00 for taxes and duty. They told me that there is a standard duty fee for $20.00 to $100.00 . I will never use UPS even local or across Canada they are bandits in my opinion

[jmnjrpa]

This

is all good to know. Will make sure our Canadian friends get their stuff without being robbed.

[Bullet]

Anyone sending anything from the US to Canada should use only USPS..

Canada Post takes the hand off from USPS and the fine folks at CBSA only charge a flat rate of $ 5 CAD customs fee's, per parcel no matter what the value of the parcel is.

The package can be tracked either way using both USPS and Canada Post online tracking service ..

I have received and shipped over 10,000 parcels back and forth between the 2 countries.. Never lost one, never any damage .. ever !!!!

USPS and Canada Post are not thieves unlike Fedex and UPS ..

Between UPS and Fedex, I lost over $ 6 K in products from thieving, damage, lost etc .. and they make you jump through hoops to get your coin back ..

[fredintoon]

Me too

My first UPS experience was a week before Xmas. The US-sourced parcel was just dropped on my doorstep, presumably by a sub-contractor. Then UPS started whining for their $30 brokerage fee. I replied with 2 words, the other one was "off"
Then my eldest boy bought a set of bargain mufflers from Dennis Kirk. On my advice he e-mailed them IN CAPS "send only by USPS do not send by UPS - - - " and explained why. (Surely they already knew, the amount of Canadian business they do?)
So of course they sent it by UPS.
When the UPS guy asked for money I told him no, send them back. 3 weeks later the parcel turned up at the post office.

[Wildkat]

Whoa!
Some rather exorbitant fees they're charging...

Thanks for the heads up and I'm sorry it was found out the hard way... that truly sucks...

[fredintoon]

Whoa!
Some rather exorbitant fees they're charging...
Thanks for the heads up and I'm sorry it was found out the hard way... that truly sucks...

Hi Kat,
well, UPS ain't gonna tell a US customer that the Canadian addressee will be robbed on his own doorstep, eh?
I always send a US seller a note explaining they should only send USPS and why. When dealing with a large mail-order company I have no problem refusing delivery of a UPS package because they'll re-send it via USPS like I told them to when I placed the order.
But if I buy from a private seller and refuse UPS delivery, he's out the money he paid to UPS and will not be motivated to re-send via USPS or to return my money.
If that ever happens I'll be torn between principle and expedience.
I wonder, do US residents get screwed over by UPS if they get a package from Canada?

[Wildkat]

I wonder, do US residents get screwed over by UPS if they get a package from Canada?

I was wondering that myself...

[cywelchjr]

I wonder, do US residents get screwed over by UPS if they get a package from Canada?

Don't know, everything I've gotten from Canada came via USPS mailed through Canadian post. Took a long time, but the price for the shipping was fine and I was ok with it taking the extra time.