Canadians buying from stores in the states - Read this

I live in Toronto, Canada. I recently made an online purchase from an American Store (FrozenCPU.com - but they aren't really responsible for what happened, and it isn't really important *who* I bought from).

I bought items that came to around $33 American in total (I bought a BIOS Savior, and a Molex pin remover), and weighed less than 300 grams. I picked the cheapest shipping method offered on the site - $12 for standard UPS shipping. I made my purchase, and the package arrived today - a day later (at least the shipping was fast).

When the UPS guy came to my door today I was shocked when he said I needed to pay him $36 to take possession of the package. He said that it was a brokerage and customs fee.

Outraged I immediately called FrozenCPU, the friendly customer support guy told me that had I paid $3 more for USPS shipping I could have avoided the brokerage fees. He said that the reason the fees weren't mentioned in my invoice, or anywhere easily seen on the website page where you chose your shipping method was because "if it was clearly outlined noone would use UPS shipping".

He went on to tell me that the fees were explained and outlined in the FAQ part of the store's website - which I didn't think to look at before making my order. But that is besides the point, and unimportant - I will deal with the store when I leave them a reseller rating detailing my experience.

Here is what is important:

If you live in Canada and are buying from the states DO NOT use UPS shipping.

I do not want anyone else to experience what I did - having to hand over your hard-earned money due to something so stupid. Pay the extra $3 and save yourself the brokerage fee that the greedy folks over at UPS like to charge.

My purchase that should have come to $48 came out to a total of $81. Translate that into canadian dollars and I payed $105.30 for a BIOS savior and a Molex Pin remover.

I hope that I have saved some people some anger, and some money.

Clock on.

Sorry to hear about that. This actually has been mentioned here before, so all Canadians take note:

All parcels coming into Canada from the US will require "brokerage fees." This includes USPS/Canada Post, as well as UPS, FedEx, Airborne, etc. This brokerage fee is to cover all the paper work required to clear customs.

USPS/Canada Post charges a flat rate $5 CAD for this brokerage fee. They call it a "handling fee." UPS, FedEx, Airborne, etc. charges much more, and it depends on the actual parcel coming in.

So if you are purchasing from the US, ensure that you use USPS/Canada Post!

I've been hit with that twice once on knives I bought off of ebay and then a secound time on 2 live pearl jam cd's from the toront and montreal show.

but the cd's were worth it, pearl jam rocks

Yep, I learned this lesson the hard way as well. At least it wasn't too bad, since I bought a DLT3C Tbred B and a NF7-S v2.0, and at that time, it was impossible to find in Canada.

Only UPS and FEDEX (plus other parcel services) get hit with a brokerage fee, the minimum is $21CDN!!

To avoid this or atleast lower it you should use USPS airmail, its slower but a hell of alot cheaper ($3.75 for a 1lb package) if you mark on the customs form the value at less than $25 you will get hit with $5CDN (or atleast thats what past customers have told me). The only problem with USPS Airmail or Parcel post is no tracking features and lack of insurance (except with parcel post), it also take 1 week+ for delivery.

UPS sux. I got charged $21 for a warranty claim on a motherboard.

I read there is a way to avoid the brokerage fees though but its only for people who live near a customs office. All you do is go clear customs yourself.