I am refusing to pay UPS brokerage fees! any tips?

[BlazingDriver]

Thanks for this info Trueler! I'm sure I speak for many when I say your efforts are much appreciated.

[Crochetlady]

I`ve ordered a lot of things from a company in Tennesee. It always comes by UPS and I have never paid more than taxes and duty. If the order is less than $20 I pay absolutely nothing.

[msusi]

Good luck.. I just had to pay 150$ to UPS today.... let me know if that works.... I really do wish you all the luck.

The best solution:
As UPS/FedEx are looking for any corner to rub people while they know their complete cost of shipping for sending an item to Canada or U.S they prefer to hide the truth from the sender to encourage him/her with a competitive shipping rate but afterward they know how to rip the recipient off at destination with brokerage or advance bull crap fee! This is their responsibility to deliver your item for you free of any extra and hidden cost like any other shipping company.
I personally refuse to pay this fee, I contact the seller immediately in order to resolve the problem and get it paid by seller as I paid the shipping cost when I purchased my item. If seller doesn't pay I would dispute my transaction through PayPal or my credit company to get my money back! Why? Coz I am being rip off with a hidden cost of shipping, believe me it works 100% as seller will have to pay this fee.
Guess what happens next, they have to cut the B.S off and deliver your package free of ridiculous brokerage or advance fee or else they would be out of the business.
I think if everybody does the same, very soon nobody uses UPS or FedEx service because of this issue.

[theweave]

Okay, I realize this is old but I just found it and wanted to add my part to it as well.

Chris got caught by FedEx on this a couple of years ago. Since we were e-commerce business owners, he ordered a GPS from a fellow internet business person, who was in the USA. Did not think a thiing about it.

He had even ordered one from CostCo in Canada but refused it as he had ordered the other one too.

I got it for Christmas, then in January the bill came from something like $80 or higher! OMG!! Chris hit the roof, then hit the phone. He phoned the number on the invoice and told the person he was not paying it. They said he had to, he said "Not happening!"... they went round and round for over 30 minutes! LOL Finally the guy told him to drive to the nearest Canada Customs, which was Hamilton Airport for us and clear it himself. He did that, faxed the paperwork and we never heard from them again. That was the last time we ordered from the USA online!

Well we did order coffee from our USA supplier a few times but always had it delivered to the USA. A few times we got it shipped to our hotel while staying there, another time we had it shipped to a UPS store in Niagara Falls NY and Chris drove to get it. Still saved money! Seeing as coffee is GST and Duty Free, nothing got charged! The one guy was fuming the one day he came back and said he had 28 POUNDS of coffee and that was it!! The guy so badly wanted to pull him over but let him go!

Now as business owners, we knew the flip side too and because of the fees, would not ship to Canada. We had people call for picnic baskets and we would obtain prices for him but once they heard the cost with brokerage etc, 99.9% said forget it! The few did pay it, but did not get bills after because our supplier charged us up front for the fees. Thus, we had on our site:

"Due to the high cost of shipping to Canada, we only ship to the Continental USA. Customers of Canada can have orders shipped to them but are responsible for any tax, duty, brokerage or other fees that they may incur. They are also responsible for any fees charged to return the package if they choose not to keep it and are within the 30 return window. Normally, these charges are charged up front by us but you are still responsible for any additional charges"

That would cover our butt and we got no fights over the charges... it did amaze me that people would end up paying over $190 for a picnic basket but some would!!!!

Sadly our business is shut down now, but at least I can provide the shipping side of the coin too!

[NEVL]

Sorry to revive such an old thread but I need to rant.

Today I was caught in the UPS scam (and it's not the first time .. but it will be the last).
I had a package sent up from the US via UPS (against my better judgement). The sender put down the value as $20US, but because of the exchange rate it came in at $21.06Can ($1.06 over the cutoff). It was also marked as a gift (which it is), but because it was sent from a business address, that doesn't count. I also paid $20 to have it shipped. UPS are now demanding $19.16Can in brokerage fees before they'll deliver the package.
How can this be? An item valued at $20 can incur a fee of $19.16 .. this is more than robbery, it's extortion .. plain and simple.

[NEVL]

UPDATE:
So I went down to the local UPS pickup point and asked them for the shipment/commercial invoice for the goods in question. They gave me a form that I then took to my local CBSA office which just happens to be half a click down the road from the UPS place. I presented this form to the CBSA officer who stamped it and told me the amount due was $1.05 (a far cry from the $19.16 UPS wanted).
I returned to the UPS place, handed over the receipt I got from CBSA and they handed me my package .. end of story. So in the end I just had to pay the GST amount of $1.05.
UPS are thieving b'stards .. of that there's no question.