USA -> Canada Shipping Question

OK, I think I have the jist of this whole cross border shipping fiasco (OMG, how complicated/expensive do they want to make transporting a box from one city to another?!?). You guys seem to have tons of combined experience dealing with courriers, so give me any advice you can.

Here's the package info:

from: Orgeon, USA
to: Alberta, Canada <- EDIT
package: 12"x12"x6", 5lbs at most
contents: used Comair Caravel
value: abut $20 CAN
shipper: friend

And my current courrier info:

For any courrier:
1) Label as "GIFT" on outide in big letters
2) Mark as gift on shipping form
3) Include a note inside something to the effect of: "Hey, Joe! Hope this worx for you. Have fun with it. Jack"
As a gift, there's no taxes/duties, correct?

For UPS:
4) Mark value as $20.00 CAN for free brokerage: UPS brokerage fees

For USPS:
5) They have absolutely no idea what a brokerage fee is. I phoned them twice, both people just said "Huh? What's a broker for? We don't use brokers" <- EDIT
I assume the brokerage fee is built into their shipping calculator: USPS shipping calculator

6) Totals:
UPS: $10.88 standard shipping UPS shipping calculator, free brokerage (for $20.00 CAN), no duties/taxes
USPS: $15.25/$16.75 Surface/Air USPS shipping calculator, includes brokerage (EDIT: I think), no duties/taxes
FEDEX: $12.30 shipping, too much brokerage hassle for one small package!! Forget it.

Any other possible fees I should know about?

Thanks

I believe that you have everything covered. Taxes and duties do not apply for gifts, and with the packages that I received cross-border, there were no other fees other than those. In terms of shipping reliability, from my experiences, both UPS and USPS are about the same, (although UPS's package tracker isn't really that reliable), meaning UPS, being cheaper, would be a better option.

Also, its Alberta, not Alberata

Ha! I'm so confused, I can't even spell my own province!

Thanks for the input, man. I think I'm going UPS. I've read enough horror stories about all the major courriers, they all seem to have equally bad reps for mistakes/breakage/etc. Might aswell go with the one with the cheapest total cost.

Actually, gifts are tax-free only if it's worth CA$60.00 or less. If it's worth more, it'll be subject to taxes. For merchandise, it's tax-free if it's worth CA$20.00 or less.

USPS/Canada Post charges a brokerage fee as well. However, they call it a handling fee. The fee is flat-rate CA$5.00.

I've personally used all 3 carriers (i.e., USPS, UPS, and FedEx) before and I never had a problem. Just don't expect the package to arrive on schedule because customs sometimes delay it for a few days.

esit:
I just phoned USPS again to confirm your tax & handling info. They no nothing of which you speak.
I phoned Canada Post, asked them the same questions. Without even looking it up, the lady was able to confirm everything you said.

It amazes me that USPS customer service cannot specify all the costs involved to ship a certain package! No wonder there are so many surprised recipients!

I'll the ship the little fan soon. Good luck to me!

esit said:

Actually, gifts are tax-free only if it's worth CA$60.00 or less. If it's worth more, it'll be subject to taxes. For merchandise, it's tax-free if it's worth CA$20.00 or less.

USPS/Canada Post charges a brokerage fee as well. However, they call it a handling fee. The fee is flat-rate CA$5.00.

I've personally used all 3 carriers (i.e., USPS, UPS, and FedEx) before and I never had a problem. Just don't expect the package to arrive on schedule because customs sometimes delay it for a few days.

Click to expand...

Knew I forgot something...........Really annoying when your browser crashes right in the middle of typing a message and you forget to retype everything

if your shipping a fan put it in a small (vcr tape size) box then slip it in an envelope and knock $5 off the shipping I have sent may things to Canada this way (many of them in here )

I'm gonna be sending a CPU from SoCal to Canada next week. Can I just pack it (securely) in one of those flat-rate USPS "Global Priority" envelopes and send it like that? As long as I label it as a gift there shouldn't be any charges over the fixed rate and it should get there in a few days, right?

/Ralf crosses fingers.....

Stede:
I don think that it will fit


Caravel spec's n stuff

Good idea for other stuff, though.

Ralf:
I beleive you will be charged the USPS flat handling fee of $5 (or the recipient will, rather). And I think all gifts are tax exempt, if their insured value is under $60.00 CAN. Not sure about duty though.

Anbody know exactly under which circumstandes duty is applied? I would imagine there are different rates for different products/values of gifts.

My 2 cents on shipping to Canada from the US:

From what I understand, there is no duty on basically ALL computer, auto parts..etc originating from the US and shipped to Canada due to NAFTA. This includes items made in other countries, but have warehouses/offices in the US. You do have to pay the GST (and PST depending on the province) on the declared value.

What you have to be concerned about is the brokerage fees that the shipping companies charge. UPS and FedEx are notorious for charging very high fees for items listed at around $20Cdn and above. For example, a $25Cdn item will almost cost that much just in brokerage fees from them, not including the shipping charges! Avoid UPS and FedEx at all costs from the US to Canada! It's almost criminal what they charge.

Canada Post via USPS charge a $5Cdn handling fee. (I've shipped with them for items listed up to $300Cdn and still only a $5 fee, but I'm not sure if they charge more for higher priced items.

Unfortunately, most US online shops only ship using UPS or FedEx, so people either have to find places willing to ship with USPS or get them to decrease the declared value to under $20Cdn. (might not be great for insurance or legal purposes though)

I'm not sure on the charges from other shipping companies like DHL..etc though, but USPS is definately the cheapest. Just make sure you use a shipping option with tracking.

Trashcan said:

From what I understand, there is no duty on basically ALL computer, auto parts..etc originating from the US and shipped to Canada due to NAFTA. This includes items made in other countries, but have warehouses/offices in the US. You do have to pay the GST (and PST depending on the province) on the declared value.

Click to expand...

Do you know if there are any duties on monitors? I know most computer hardware are duty-free, but I know monitors have some restrictions. But I'm not sure. Maybe you or someone out there will know.

I'm not too sure about monitors. If it's just a regular run of the mill one for just PC use, I don't think duty will be applied.

Here's something I found out recently. If you're buying several parts and having them shipped within Canada to Ontario or some other province, try to find some retailer in a province that only pays for PST. I just recently bought a bunch of stuff from BC and had it shipped to Ontario, and ended up saving a bundle because the PST I would have paid would have been far more than the shipping and insurance I ended up paying.

From my experience, only couriers use brokers. Like, say I get something from ThinkGeek.com. Well, they use Airborne Express, a courier. When that courier gets to the border, that's as far as they go, so they hand it off to a broker, who in turn, pays all the border fees, and hands it off to a 2nd courier, who gets it to me (usually Purolator, but sometimes Fedex). You then get billed by the broker (usually PBB Global Logistics where I'm from) for handling and border fees.

W/ USPS and Canada Post, you don't get charged these, 'cause they don't use brokers. Canada Post takes it to the border, then the USPS takes over and delivers it (through rain and sleet etc ).

As for shipping, I've never gone wrong w/ Canada Post and the USPS. It always gets there, and usually quite a bit cheeper than their courier cousins. Sometimes just as fast for less money.

The only courier I have a problem w/ is UPS. They like to crush things.

Anyone had experience with FedEX and broker/taxation/handling fees? My last time with USP costed me 40$ in those broker fee... At that price, I would have bought local :/

I have had nothing but trouble with UPS. I bought a Celeron 500 off ebay about a year ago for $20 and UPS charged me $30 broker fee. I had asked the guy to ship it USPS and he promised he would, but he sent it UPS anyway.
Same thing with a digital camera I bought, $50 broker fee.

I have found USPS to be trouble free. I have bought many a motherboard off one guy that sells refurbished boards from New Jersey. He sends them all USPS Priority and I have had no problems.

eus said:

Anyone had experience with FedEX and broker/taxation/handling fees? My last time with USP costed me 40$ in those broker fee... At that price, I would have bought local :/

Click to expand...

Fedex will charge brokerage fees as well. Either you pay when you receive the item or later if you have an account with them. (I forgot I had an account so I thought they forgot to charge me brokerage. The bill in the mail was a nice surprise).

I've done about 13 2-way deals between US and Canada, all of them went flawless except for 1...... The guy sent me up brand new Round ATA133 cables, a round floppy cable and a blue LED fan, all items still in original packaging but the Customs form was marked as gift. However, when the parcel arrived there was a little sticker on it saying to be expecting a bill for some sort of 'random duty taxiation' thing.

Apparently, they pick packages at random, open them up, find the value of all items then charge you the PST and GST (taxes) on them. About 3 months later my bill finally arrived, was only for $8.50, but even still, it's pretty stupid...

Oh yeah, also bought some items off someone but they forgot to check the gift box on the cutoms form and I got charged a $27.00 pick up fee.... Was good though cause he wrote me a out a cheque to cover cost of the fee, so all was good. But never, ever forget to check that box, or less it'll get you....