Why I love sellers who use UPS as their carrier...

[Capocheny]

Greetings all...

Here's why I absolutely LOVE buying from people who use UPS as their preferred shipper...

Imported a US$100 (CDN$115.37) camera bag from the United States => Canada. The breakdown on the charges were as follows:

Duty $12.69

GST $16.64

Brokerage Fee $39.10

Brokerage GST $2.35

=============

Total COD CDN$70.78

That's an additional $70.78 charged on a bag that costs $115.37... the majority of which is derived from the Brokerage Fee and Brokerage GST!

Any questions as to why I LOVE dealing with people who use UPS as a carrier? :>8

Cheers

[Daniel Grenier]

Fed Ex is just as bad. I no longer buy anything from the US unless it is sent USPS/ Canada Post. They charge a mere $5 for brokerage fees. UPS et al charge at least 10 times that. Outrageous fees for a few second's worth of work.

[Darin Boville]

Fed Ex is just as bad. I no longer buy anything from the US unless it is sent USPS/ Canada Post. They charge a mere $5 for brokerage fees. UPS et al charge at least 10 times that. Outrageous fees for a few second's worth of work.

There a class-action lawsuit you can join!

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/061024/K102418U.html

--Darin

[Enrico Faini]

Luckily here in Italy the brokerage fees for both FedEx/UPS are not as high: slightly more than €10
Even if they were higher most people would still be more than willing to pay them since anything sent via USPS usually takes between two weeks and a couple of months to clear customs

[Greg Lockrey]

Luckily here in Italy the brokerage fees for both FedEx/UPS are not as high: slightly more than €10
Even if they were higher most people would still be more than willing to pay them since anything sent via USPS usually takes between two weeks and a couple of months to clear customs

And that's if the Customs doesn't go on strike. Or doesn't that happen anymore since you became part of the EU?

[Marco Annaratone]

And that's if the Customs doesn't go on strike. Or doesn't that happen anymore since you became part of the EU?

I do not see any :-) anywhere. So, I guess I have to take the above as an uncalled-for cheap shot. Italy's postal system is doing pretty well, thank you.

Italy was one of the six original Countries that FOUNDED what eventually evolved into the EU, so it never 'became part of it'.

In spite of having lived almost 25 years in the US, I never quite understood that minority of the population that --- out of a sense of (presumed) God-given primacy --- lectures the rest of the world on the latter's more or less real shortcomings. Oh well...there's plenty of truly wonderful people left between New York City and San Francisco anyway.

Cheers

P.S. Not to be completely OT, I am no longer buying stuff from the US unless the seller uses USPS EMS. I did read horror stories with USPS, but my experience so far has been quite positive. UPS prices have truly gone out of whack.

[raucousimages]

I avoid UPS. About 4 years ago I purchased a Toyo 45E along with several holders and other accessories for my children to use. The box arrived crushed and the camera was smashed but the other items were fine. I filed an insurance claim with UPS and in one week an investigator came to take the camera, box and all items included in the sale without payment but would give me a recipt. I refused to give up the items until I recieved payment on my claim so he took all of the information and some digital photos, gave me a case number and said they would get back to me in a few days. Several days later I contacted UPS to find out what was going on and was told that because I refused to give UPS the package I forced them to give the payment to the seller. Thats right they told me to contact the seller for a refund. The seller told me they never recieved anything from UPS. I know the seller by reputation and have no reason to doubt her. Further attempts to contact UPS were in vain, They said that this insurance claim number was setteled and were unable to make further comment.

[Lee Hamiel]

My story with shippers is this:

I have shipped a lot over the years both domestic and international for original illustration artwork.

Fed-Ex is the most reliable but not always the cheapest;

USPS is right behind them & more reliable than I expect them to be;

UPS is very expensive & not sure why I use them occasionally (recipient requests) but no problems;

DHL - the worst possible service I have ever received or sent with:

With all that said - I have been shipping/receiving via all of these carriers since the early days meaning since the early to mid 80's once they all got started beyond the usps.

Once I had DHL call me 4 days after a due date delivery asking where I was located (fed-ex/ups/usps had no problems with my location) - another DHL shipment from Germany took well over a month with not much help from their customer service & this was recently.

USPS although not highly regarded by many has been quite the dependable provider over the years without any problems & I will not hesitate to recommend them.

Fed-Ex has been my mainstay over the years & after countless thousands of shipments I will say they are the best if you need it there on the agreed upon terms & without fail they do deliver on time.

I know this has little to do with the "brokerage fees" but this is my user feedback for shipping providers.

What I understand is that only the usps will transfer packages without a brokerage fee as opposed to ups/dhl & not sure about fed-ex. I could be wrong on this but if there is a fee it's not a high amount as charged by ups, etc.

[Greg Lockrey]

I do not see any :-) anywhere. So, I guess I have to take the above as an uncalled-for cheap shot. Italy's postal system is doing pretty well, thank you.

Italy was one of the six original Countries that FOUNDED what eventually evolved into the EU, so it never 'became part of it'.

In spite of having lived almost 25 years in the US, I never quite understood that minority of the population that --- out of a sense of (presumed) God-given primacy --- lectures the rest of the world on the latter's more or less real shortcomings. Oh well...there's plenty of truly wonderful people left between New York City and San Francisco anyway.

Cheers

P.S. Not to be completely OT, I am no longer buying stuff from the US unless the seller uses USPS EMS. I did read horror stories with USPS, but my experience so far has been quite positive. UPS prices have truly gone out of whack.

Marco,

I didn't mean to offend you or Italy. I wasn't talking about the postal system but customs. I lived in Italy for 10 years back in the 70's. I had my household belonging resting at the Customs import area for about 3 months due to a strike. That was ok with me because the total value of my stuff was about $1000.00 and the government paid my four star hotel bill for the entire time costing more than $5000.00. I made out. It was like if somebody had a grudge anywhere in Italy, the whole country went on strike to support the grievence.

Ciao,

[Ted Harris]

Educate your sellers. And remember the down sides as well. The down side being the inability to insure some forms of USPS service beyound ~ 650 USD. As someone who ships stuff to Canada all the time I have cometo understand the angst of everybody on the Northern side of our border and never think about using anything other that USPS for shipping unless it is absolutely critical irreplaceable documents, negatives, transparencies, etc. I get around the insurance loss issue by carrying insurance for items in transit as part of my business insurance (never had to file a claim on it so no commen there).

Many sellers just plain don't know the grief they are causing their customers in Canada so you gotta tell them. BTW, the charges are much less agregious for shipping to the EU, etc.