I have a question, mostly aimed at our Canadian members. I am working for a place that is selling some of their stuff (mostly hardware and small engine parts) on Evilbay and we are trying to decide the best way to ship to Canada.

I have heard things like duties and taxes as well as brokerage fees can really add up. Any advice would of course come in handy as our Evilbay sales are starting to take off.

At this point UPS seems to be cheaper, but I have always used the post office with good results so I'm a little biased towards them. Objective opinions sprinkled with a few facts would be great, thanks folks!!

-Jeremy

PS. I'm trying the pole thing for the first time, please leave your opinion that way too. THANKS!!

As I learned the hard way, your Canadian buyers would not be pleased with you if you chose UPS, as they will charge a brokerage fee and the total will be higher than USPS. I say stick with USPS.

USPS has always been safest, safest, safest and cheapest ... did I mention safest ?

United Parcel Smashers is faster, but waaayyy more expensive if the recipient has to pay the customs clearing charges and they (UPS) tend to break stuff - usually rare, expensive stuff.

But ... if the shipper (that's you Jeremy ) has an outbound contract with UPS, then I think you can pay the customs clearing fees up front at a substantial discount and pass them on to your customer which means that they'll get fast cheap service and hopefully the product will arrive in good shape.

cheers

UPS always charges a brokerage fee of 100 on packages sent to me . so USPS and FedEx i have never had a problem with

Yes UPS brokerage fees vary from expensive to extremely expensive depending on what's being shipped. Just to clarify, brokerage fees are completely separate from duties and taxes which everyone has to pay no matter what. When the post office handles the parcel they charge a very small brokerage fee, never more than $5 IIRC.

As Paul said, some mail order companies are set up so they can do the paperwork at their end which means we don't have to worry about which shipping company they use. Digi-Key is a good example.

Paul also brought up another good point. Customers sometimes blame the seller rather than the shipping company when they get charged the extra fees, even though it's not their fault.

Hi all,
I live in Canada and cannot accept anything sent UPS due to extreme brokerage charges. I recall a recent news story about a class action lawsuit against UPS by some Canadian customers to try and recover these fees. I have had very good luck with both the U.S. and Canadian postal services.
best regards,
Sandy

The best service I have had when receiving something was The post service. UPS and fedex charge brokerage fees and stuff.

Definitely, USPS for me as well.

USPS, choose Airmail Letter Post for the method.

-Ed

Thanks so much for all the replies, its now an easy decision to make.

-Jeremy of Garceau's Hardware and Power equipment! (New job, woohoo!!)