Cross-Border Shipping....

[Scott Jacobsen]

When I purchase from Ebay, I always instruct the seller to send it SURFACE,
REGULAR MAIL ONLY. This sometimes gets caught at customs, but usually not.
UPS and other couriers almost always gets tagged at the border. If it is a
large item, consider having it shipped to a border city near you at a
location like Mailboxes Etc (they charge a storage fee), or to friends or
family members so you can get it later.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Eddy Swynar" <gswynar at DURHAM.NET>
To: <HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV>
Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 1:37 PM
Subject: Cross-Border Shipping....


> 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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