Found this link today. How to avoid the inflated brokerage fees UPS charges.

http://trueler.com/2010/09/13/ups-brokerage-fees-total-scam-fraud-cheating-avoid-it/

 

1. you have to post the whole URL

2. there is no way to avoid brokerage fee with the exception of: A. doing it yourself, B. getting an agent.

 

my question is this. what if u mailed it to a friend who lives in the states and they mailed it back to you here in Canada.

 

Just have it shipped by USPS. The only fee's they charge is GST/PST/HST + $5 to do it. Most of the time they don't charge you anything. UPS is garbage.

 

@ Menace....you can do that...they would have to declare it as a gift, and it's value can only be up to 60.00 to be exempt from taxes, duty, etc..

 

1. Link fixed.

2. Yes it's about doing the brokerage yourself.

3. No this is not a "UPS sucks so use something else instead" thread. We all know UPS sucks and the reason it does is because of the brokerage fee. So here's a link to help combat it if you're stuck using UPS (and maaaaybe if enough people do this UPS will make the adjustment in the future to not suck anymore).

 

Here's an idea, don't use UPS.
It's written all over the Internet.

Use USPS.

UPS has fees for everything and they are all higher than USPS.
I recently priced this out for myself to ship an amplifier to me. UPS has a fee to COLLECT a fee that's much higher than anyone else, a fee for processing this and that. There's probably a fee for reading the label too.

I've made that mistake before and I will not use UPS again unless it's in an expediated format ... at least there, the internet suggests you're paying brokerage fees ahead of time and you avoid the entire "Ooops" Delivery service fees.

 

but doing your own brokerage and clearing your item on your own is nothing new.

the only problem with that is it can be a huge hustle.

UPS is garbage. just ship USPS.

 

Try organizing this with the seller on eBay. Give me a break.
Okay, lets make sure we have all the forms ... okay.
Now, what day are you going? Okay, what time?
Okay, did you fill out the paperwork correctly? How much are declaring it as?

I buy the item, ship me the item. Oh yeah, don't use UPS.
DONE AND DONE.

Like I said, if you have to use UPS, use the expediated service and at least that helps.

 

Yea I avoid UPS as much as possible too. Broker fees and all the other bullshit, but on top of that, more often than not they want a signiture in person, which means I have to take at least half a day off work just to be home and hope they deliver it in time so I can salvage some of my work day. FedEx or USPS all the way.