Customs Thread

[JMac88]

I wish the other thread would not have been locked. I believe a more proper title to his thread should have been "Avoiding BROKERAGE fees". Keep in mind brokerage fees are not customs fees, and have nothing to do with the government of Canada.

Brokerage fees are what UPS and FedEx will charge you to do the paperwork for your parcel to cross the border. Since both companies own their own brokerage companies, they can charge whatever they wish which usually is an extortionate amount.

I too am a firm believer that these fees are not right. The paper work quite literally takes 5 minutes on 95% of the parcels crossing the border. These fees’s should be regulated in some form by the government but are not.
Here is 2 ways of which I know how to avoid brokerage fees:

1) Use USPS/Canada post. The 2 companies have an agreement not to charge brokerage fees on parcels going to either side of the boarder.

2) Do the paperwork yourself. It takes a little more time to do this but sometimes can mean saving hundreds of dollars.

3) There are other companies that specialize in cross border shipping that own their own brokerages and do not charge a huge amount. But sometimes getting a company ship through them is harder because they are not a "familiar" name or do not offer business incentives.


The fees that you will have to pay are:

1)GST Naturally

2)Customs charges on items manufactured outside of North America (I believe it is 6.1%)

3)My province has no PST or HST but I believe this must be paid in other provinces?

4)There are random customs checks on parcels; if yours is selected there would be a charge. It’s usually around $15.


With our dollar so strong it’s nice to get things from the US right now, this might help you buy a little more.

To the original poster, hopefully this helps out a bit.