Avoiding Brokerage Fees

revrnd · 07-12-2010, 06:46 PM

I'm thinking of ordering an item for my TT from the US & was wondering if anyone had done so recently. If you have, which carrier was used & did you pay brokerage fees or not?

In the past it has varied among carriers & the "service" that was selected.

Dave_Monica · 07-12-2010, 08:56 PM

The only way I know to avoid the brokerage fees is to have it sent US Postal Sevice. You'll get a notice from the post office when it arrives...you pay the PST/GST and it's yours. Any carrier such as UPS, Purolator etc. will be charging a brokerage fee to clear Canadian Customs. There is a size and weight limit as far as what can be sent throught the Postal Service...not sure of the limits. Delivery is usually 5-7 business days.

If you're ordering from Camping World, they wouldn't ship through the US Postal Service.

Dave

VTX Al · 07-13-2010, 09:57 AM

Whatever you do - avoid using UPS !!!!! Their brokerage and other fees are VERY high. USPS/Canada Post is the best choice IMHO. If you live within a reasonable distance of the border, you can use a mail drop service on the U.S. side and pick up you items there, paying the HST at the Canada customs office.

Re Camping World orders. I have, on several occasions, requested that they review their shipping policies and consider using USPS and/or Fedex, instead of exclusively UPS. To no avail, I might add !!! Perhaps they need to receive more complaints.

...VTX-AL

dezolen · 07-13-2010, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VTX Al

Whatever you do - avoid using UPS !!!!! Their brokerage and other fees are VERY high. USPS/Canada Post is the best choice IMHO. If you live within a reasonable distance of the border, you can use a mail drop service on the U.S. side and pick up you items there, paying the HST at the Canada customs office.

Re Camping World orders. I have, on several occasions, requested that they review their shipping policies and consider using USPS and/or Fedex, instead of exclusively UPS. To no avail, I might add !!! Perhaps they need to receive more complaints.

...VTX-AL

Totally Agree.
UPS are bandits. A 12$ decal from Forest River ended up costing us $30 plus due to FR using UPS exclusively That original price should never have incured brokerage fees.
Been taken by UPS numerous times.

revrnd · 07-13-2010, 11:42 PM

That's why I hate brokerage fees! A few times the fee has exceeded the original price of the item by a LARGE margin.

SaskCampers · 07-14-2010, 07:00 AM

I totally agree, I will only buy from US companies that will ship USPS. Of course that kind of limits the things I can buy and that is good in a way as I would have way too many toys otherwise.
I bought an engine plate a few years back for the 460 I was putting in my 1980 Cougar out of a place in Michigan, the plate cost $99.00 us and by the time it got here via UPS I was out almost $250.00 CDN I learned an expensive lesson that day.

moosecop · 08-02-2010, 12:50 PM

I went through a big go around with Camping World and UPS a couple years ago when my order was split up into three shipments and I was charged the brokerage fees on all three orders. In one case the UPS fees were almost as much as the cost of the item. In any case the fees were at least triple what Canada Post would have charged if Camping World would have sent them UPS. Since then I haven't ordered anything by mail from Camping World and the other day I received an email from the "Vice President" of Camping World asking "why I've been away so long", so I sent back a lengthy explanation of why, along with all the emails that had gone back and forth between me and UPS and Camping World about brokerage fees and such. I doubt it will make any difference. I guess they just don't value keeping their Canadian customers, otherwise they would provide other shipping options for us.

revrnd · 08-02-2010, 08:24 PM

Moosecop, I commend you on voicing your opinion. The added fees & charges pretty much eliminate any savings.

bobsquarepants · 08-02-2010, 08:28 PM

I wish we had a decent Canadian mailorder RV parts / supply outlet, instead of the only source of goodies being the stealerships / limited selection at Walmart & Canadian Tire

revrnd · 08-02-2010, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobsquarepants

I wish we had a decent Canadian mailorder RV parts / supply outlet, instead of the only source of goodies being the stealerships / limited selection at Walmart & Canadian Tire

You can say that again.

Mind you I have bought some stuff from an RV service outfit. Some of their prices are OK. Not a huge selection though.

Willybgh · 01-21-2011, 09:52 AM

I have just received a package from etrailer.com. It came by regular post to the Alliston Ontario area pretty quick. Just check the shipping method and select USPS.

Chris

miatared · 01-24-2011, 07:53 PM

UPS & al rip off Canadians for sure - US Postal Service/Canada Post works great - IF and only IF your vendor agrees to use them. UPS has incredibly good rates for the US only... they must have a gold plated building in Fort Erie, ON, with all the brokerage fees they've charged.

Other wise, I plan my purchases around my US camping trips and pick it up over there.

Finally, if you have a friend in the US, have it shipped there and then have that person send it to you by USPS, if that is possible. Not too often though, as you may not have that friend for long

.

Good luck

caper · 01-24-2011, 09:27 PM

CW uses UPS only for the same reason the company I worked at used UPS, cost savings. We could ship an item across Canada for less money by using UPS over Canada Post. The book cost to ship by UPS would be $10.00 the cost to our company would be $2.25 and be delivered the next day. Because we only used UPS we recieved a volume discount. The only time we would use Canada Post was to ship an item that was not serviced by UPS.

great white · 01-24-2011, 10:58 PM

I will not buy from a US retailer if they only ship UPS.

Been burned once by UPS. It came out to more than the price of the item itself.

Went like this:

Item - 100 bucks
Shipping - 35 bucks
"Brokerage" - 75 bucks
COD charge to collect said "brokerage" - 10 bucks
Taxes and duties - around 20 bucks

Total cost for my "100 dollar" item - 230 bucks.

Fedex is no better.

That won't happen ever again...

The_Stuff · 01-25-2011, 10:06 AM

UPS also disregards any import exemptions. "Hobby" and "toy" parts are not to have any duty or tax bringing them into canada, yet still get that nice broker fee and GST on it.... Im tempted next time to refuse it.
.

one guy i know wrote them a cheque and then went and canceled the cheque. wonder how that turned out..

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