Cross-Border Shipping....

[Eddy Swynar]

Hi All,

I don't mean to start a long, involved discussion thread on this topic---and
neither is it my intention to go off "UPS-bashing"---I just wanted to share
with you fellows an experience I just had with an item I purchased from a
location within the U.S., as we ALL engage in a bit of mail order
cross-border shopping from time-to-time via eBay, these Reflectors, etc. ...

Now, keep in mind that what happened to me probably could---indeed, probably
DOES!---happen to you fellows south of the border, too. Read on...

I won an eBay auction for a $20.00 (U.S.) item: the seller advised that
"shipping" would cost another $10.00 (U.S.)---fine. I sent him the cash, &
yesterday a knock came on my door...

It was a UPS man, with the item in one hand, and a bill for $36.01 in the
other! This was their "...brokerage fee", he said, for getting the item
across the border from the U.S. & into Canada. I grinned (well, maybe it was
more like a grimace!) & paid the bill.

FACT: the item was worth about $30.00 in Canadian dollars. The $10.00 (U.S.)
original shipping cost comes to about $15.00. Add $36.01 to the fifteen
bucks, & you get a delivery figure that is ALMOST TWICE what the item was
worth in the first place!

CONCLUSION: I don't know about my fellow Canadians, but I can NOT afford
such gold-plated delivery standards. I'm not blaming the seller: he probably
does business with UPS all the time---but strictly within his own country.

I have no doubt that UPS would extract the very same "toll" (albeit in
American dollars) from you fellows in the States who might elect to buy
items from us up here. Beware!

It's the good ol' U.S. Post Office/Canada Post for me from now on---BOTH
ways, and for always...I have NEVER paid a "...brokerage fee" with the post
office---similarly, anything valued at $20.00 & less gets delivered right to
my door with NO extra billing accompanying it.

Sorry to vent like this, but it is certainly something to be considered on
BOTH sides of the border as we enter into rather tight & uncertain economic
times...

~73!~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ

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