Customs on a $20 card declaration? Seriously?!

[Habs1901]

If you're getting a card from another country you're taking the risk of getting stuck by paying taxes/duties. So before buying on ebay or trading take a moment a read where the card is coming from. It's not the senders responsibility if you get stuck paying taxes on a card.

[dahabsfan]

I got a UPS package as a gift marked $100 US so it was $107.50 canadian (and it was a gift) Got hit with a $47.50 charge. They told me it was a max gift allowance was $60 value.

You were deceived to by UPS, what you paid was a UPS brokerage fee (for the "honor" of having them broker your package through customs. It's a phantom fee for a service which you can opt to do yourself even if the item is shipped UPS and costs around $6 if you do it yourself.

What you actually paid was 10% tax on the amount over $60 so $4.75. The other $42.75 went directly to the clowns in brown for brokerage fees (the same fee that Canadapost charges $5 for).

UPS is THE absolute worst option for shipping to Canada.

Darren

[347convert]

Any time I ship to the neighbors of the north I always write it as a gift and $5.00. The last items I shipped to canada cost me under $2.00.

Are there any other ways to save people money on customs?

[hughmac]

You were deceived to by UPS, what you paid was a UPS brokerage fee (for the "honor" of having them broker your package through customs. It's a phantom fee for a service which you can opt to do yourself even if the item is shipped UPS and costs around $6 if you do it yourself.

What you actually paid was 10% tax on the amount over $60 so $4.75. The other $42.75 went directly to the clowns in brown for brokerage fees (the same fee that Canadapost charges $5 for).

UPS is THE absolute worst option for shipping to Canada.

Darren

I will not ship anything UPS anymore, if the seller wont ship usps I go elsewhere

I hate brokerage fees, I told UPS why dont they just charge like $100 to ship something and avoid the brokerage fee there response " we wouldnt have any customers" I said I know but by you doing this to people you wont have any either and hung up

[xirxious]

I wasn't aware of the $20 limit, but unless someone requests it, I don't do anything special on it.

[ravens_creed]

Update:

- For anyone who's curious, the card was an 08-09 The Cup Foundations jersey/auto Kyle Turris /10, so a high-end card.

- The bubble mailer had a sticker on it that I've seldom, if never, seen before. Which leads me to thinking...


*** Since the package was unopened, and the only explanation needed was on the handling fee (no duty was charged!), I'm thinking that since the package was sent via registered mail with a tracking number, Canadian Customs chose to CONTINUE that tracking number (instead of the tracking number ending at the border, which is usually the case) since the package was sent at a value close enough to our own Canadian Xpresspost service (tracking number with guaranteed arrival dates). I just had to pay the difference is all.


All in all, not a bad experience at all, now that I think about it.

[maple19]

i only do it on {trades} and never had a parcel lost as yet do it all the time trader gets your parcel and sends it back not ebay sales

mike