On The Hunt For Bellows Materials

[sharktooth]

Yes, Custom Bellows. Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks for the clarification. I've been thinking of trying them too. How does it work for payment and shipping to Canada?

[Andrew O'Neill]

Thanks for the clarification. I've been thinking of trying them too. How does it work for payment and shipping to Canada?

It gets shipped UPS. Keith said fee is around 40-50 UK pounds. He'll email a PayPal link when the bellows has been completed. Don't forget duty and taxes which I'm sure will be hefty. Probably paid to UPS, as that is what I've had to do in the past with them.

[sharktooth]

It gets shipped UPS. Keith said fee is around 40-50 UK pounds. He'll email a PayPal link when the bellows has been completed. Don't forget duty and taxes which I'm sure will be hefty. Probably paid to UPS, as that is what I've had to do in the past with them.

In my mind, UPS and FedX are dirty words for international shipments. Duty and taxes are to be expected, but there's also a "paperwork fee" and a "brokerage fee" that's not included in the shipping cost, and they don't tell you about them beforehand. This is something they'll ding you with later, before your shipment is delivered, or afterwards with a mailed bill. I've recently been charged $11 for "paperwork" and $30 for "brokerage fees" in addition to the taxes and duty and the original shipping fee. This is for an order under $200. I'd like to know what your final shipping cost is when it's all said and done.

I've had good luck using regular postal service, like USPS, since the US and Canada have agreements on how to handle the brokerage, so they're always included in the shipping cost. The only fees after the fact are duty and taxes, which everyone has to pay, so there's no surprises. I assume it's similar between the UK and Canada, but I don't know.

The best service usually comes from places that do a lot of international shipping and know how to protect their customers from outrageous fees (since it kills future business). They'll often offer free shipping because they have agreements in place with brokerage companies to handle cross border shipments in bulk, to minimize cost and grief. You've got to be a big operation to have this capability, however, and most small shops don't have this capability or expertise. We're at the mercy of shipping companies that charge whatever they damn well want, after the fact. It's really a form of extortion.

O.K., Rant over.

[domaz]

It gets shipped UPS. Keith said fee is around 40-50 UK pounds. He'll email a PayPal link when the bellows has been completed. Don't forget duty and taxes which I'm sure will be hefty. Probably paid to UPS, as that is what I've had to do in the past with them.

I don't remember paying any fee except for shipping when I had them sent to the US. Just a tip in case you happen to have a friend in the US you could ship it to.

[Andrew O'Neill]

In my mind, UPS and FedX are dirty words for international shipments. Duty and taxes are to be expected, but there's also a "paperwork fee" and a "brokerage fee" that's not included in the shipping cost, and they don't tell you about them beforehand. This is something they'll ding you with later, before your shipment is delivered, or afterwards with a mailed bill. I've recently been charged $11 for "paperwork" and $30 for "brokerage fees" in addition to the taxes and duty and the original shipping fee. This is for an order under $200. I'd like to know what your final shipping cost is when it's all said and done.

I've had good luck using regular postal service, like USPS, since the US and Canada have agreements on how to handle the brokerage, so they're always included in the shipping cost. The only fees after the fact are duty and taxes, which everyone has to pay, so there's no surprises. I assume it's similar between the UK and Canada, but I don't know.

The best service usually comes from places that do a lot of international shipping and know how to protect their customers from outrageous fees (since it kills future business). They'll often offer free shipping because they have agreements in place with brokerage companies to handle cross border shipments in bulk, to minimize cost and grief. You've got to be a big operation to have this capability, however, and most small shops don't have this capability or expertise. We're at the mercy of shipping companies that charge whatever they damn well want, after the fact. It's really a form of extortion.

O.K., Rant over.

I am NOT a fan of UPS, in fact I despise them. I'm well aware of their ways...

[LabRat]

Ask CB... They gave me instructions what to declare when I sent them my old bellows (declare it as "replacement part" to avoid UK duties)... They have experience shipping all over the world, and should be able to guide you in the right direction...

My bellows took longer to ship old ones than getting new ones with no hassle to the USA, but Canada shouldn't be much harder...

Steve K

[sharktooth]

Ask CB... They gave me instructions what to declare when I sent them my old bellows (declare it as "replacement part" to avoid UK duties)... They have experience shipping all over the world, and should be able to guide you in the right direction...

My bellows took longer to ship old ones than getting new ones with no hassle to the USA, but Canada shouldn't be much harder...

Steve K

I can't speak for how things work in the US, but here's how it works in Canada. Any item that crosses the border into Canada needs to be inspected, and appropriate duties and taxes need to be paid. This "inspection" is usually carried out by a bonded customs broker, who completes the appropriate paperwork to import the item into the country. The broker will collect the duty and taxes and forward that to the Canadian government, along with the required paperwork. A customs broker will need to be paid to do this work.

The scam occurs when the courier service acts as the customs broker. There is no restriction on the fee they can charge the customer for this "service", so they're free to pull any outrageous number they want out of their ass. It would be like going into a store and buying an item, and paying for the item and sales tax, and then the cashier tells you there'll be an additional fee to do the paperwork to send the sales tax to the government. No store could get away with doing that, since this is just a cost of doing business and should be covered in the selling price. These delivery companies do this without shame.

It's the courier companies that are the problem. The sellers are victims just as much as the customers. Bigger companies like Amazon and B&H run their own brokerage services, so they don't use the brokerage "service/extortion" of the delivery services, so they can give you better shipping rates with no hidden surprises, even when they use the big carriers.

If an item is shipped via the US postal service (USPS), the Canadian postal service will charge you duty and taxes, and that's it. There are no "brokerage" fees involved since you're already dealing directly with the government. This is part of the bilateral agreement between the US and Canada for postal deliveries. I don't know if it works the same way with the UK.

One way to know if the seller is doing their own brokerage, is if they're charging for Canadian sales tax and duties at time of sale. They'll do that, since that will be necessary to complete the brokerage documentation. It the seller isn't asking you to pay for Canadian sales tax and duties at time of sale, it means that the courier company will be handling that, so expect to be gouged. It would be far too complex for a small operation to be able to handle customs brokerage to many different countries around the world.

[Peter De Smidt]

I'm trying to remember how my bellows arrived....I think via Royal Mail and the USPS.

[Robert Opheim]

I had a bellows for my Technikardan made by Custom Bellows in UK it was done very well. Years ago I made a replacement bellows for an old wood 8x10 camera - from vinyl that I purchased at JoAnn Fabrics or Hancock Fabrics in North Seattle. Making the bellows was really pretty easy if you have the original one for a template. I cut cardboard "stays" replicating the existing bellows. I cut the vinyl to the same shape as the original bellows vinyl, glued the "stays" to the vinyl fabric, glued the bellows vinyl together, then attached the bellows back to the camera.The one I made was too thick to fold up correctly so I have to remove the inner fabric liner. The bellows was light tight and worked fine.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I can't speak for how things work in the US, but here's how it works in Canada. Any item that crosses the border into Canada needs to be inspected, and appropriate duties and taxes need to be paid. This "inspection" is usually carried out by a bonded customs broker, who completes the appropriate paperwork to import the item into the country. The broker will collect the duty and taxes and forward that to the Canadian government, along with the required paperwork. A customs broker will need to be paid to do this work.

The scam occurs when the courier service acts as the customs broker. There is no restriction on the fee they can charge the customer for this "service", so they're free to pull any outrageous number they want out of their ass. It would be like going into a store and buying an item, and paying for the item and sales tax, and then the cashier tells you there'll be an additional fee to do the paperwork to send the sales tax to the government. No store could get away with doing that, since this is just a cost of doing business and should be covered in the selling price. These delivery companies do this without shame.

It's the courier companies that are the problem. The sellers are victims just as much as the customers. Bigger companies like Amazon and B&H run their own brokerage services, so they don't use the brokerage "service/extortion" of the delivery services, so they can give you better shipping rates with no hidden surprises, even when they use the big carriers.

If an item is shipped via the US postal service (USPS), the Canadian postal service will charge you duty and taxes, and that's it. There are no "brokerage" fees involved since you're already dealing directly with the government. This is part of the bilateral agreement between the US and Canada for postal deliveries. I don't know if it works the same way with the UK.

One way to know if the seller is doing their own brokerage, is if they're charging for Canadian sales tax and duties at time of sale. They'll do that, since that will be necessary to complete the brokerage documentation. It the seller isn't asking you to pay for Canadian sales tax and duties at time of sale, it means that the courier company will be handling that, so expect to be gouged. It would be far too complex for a small operation to be able to handle customs brokerage to many different countries around the world.

I'm not looking forward to dealing with them. I know I'm going to get an email basically holding my bellows hostage until I pay them what they want. Maybe I should contact Custom Bellows and ask if they could send it via regular post...