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Yes, I'm reading from Budman's little rant on nbci (post-Xoom).
Essentially his problem is that he's never shipped internationally with a courier before. Shipping domestically, you never see brokerage fees and you just pay the shipping costs. Internationally, you have to pay duty if your product wasn't made in the States or Mexico, and GST on top of that.
Theoretically, you have to pay this regardless of how you ship. Even in his post he states that airmail "would" have cost a certain amount, as opposed to what it did cost.
All I wanted to say on this is that it's not unusual for UPS or any other courier to tack on a brokerage fee, because they want to cover the costs of any eventualities when the item crosses the border. Duty is assessed on the value of the item, not the sale price.
Did he get screwed on his Bud sign? Probably. Should he haggle the price with UPS? If he feels it's worth it. Should everyone use US Post instead of couriers? If they want to wait, although there's no guarantee the item won't be assessed for duty when it crosses the border as well. Many commercial outlets operating on Ebay won't ship USPS, or can't because of weight restrictions (USPS won't come to your door).
All in all, I see Budman's post there as a rant, I feel bad for him, but that's just the way it is if you have to use a courier to ship international. I find Fedex is the better of two evils if I have to use a courier at all, otherwise I certainly agree that USPS is the option of choice.
Amazing how we can get off topic, eh...?
- Aryko
Essentially his problem is that he's never shipped internationally with a courier before. Shipping domestically, you never see brokerage fees and you just pay the shipping costs. Internationally, you have to pay duty if your product wasn't made in the States or Mexico, and GST on top of that.
Theoretically, you have to pay this regardless of how you ship. Even in his post he states that airmail "would" have cost a certain amount, as opposed to what it did cost.
All I wanted to say on this is that it's not unusual for UPS or any other courier to tack on a brokerage fee, because they want to cover the costs of any eventualities when the item crosses the border. Duty is assessed on the value of the item, not the sale price.
Did he get screwed on his Bud sign? Probably. Should he haggle the price with UPS? If he feels it's worth it. Should everyone use US Post instead of couriers? If they want to wait, although there's no guarantee the item won't be assessed for duty when it crosses the border as well. Many commercial outlets operating on Ebay won't ship USPS, or can't because of weight restrictions (USPS won't come to your door).
All in all, I see Budman's post there as a rant, I feel bad for him, but that's just the way it is if you have to use a courier to ship international. I find Fedex is the better of two evils if I have to use a courier at all, otherwise I certainly agree that USPS is the option of choice.
Amazing how we can get off topic, eh...?
- Aryko
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