Customs and Duties for non US Sales


Wonder if anyone knows the answer to why this happens. I have purchased things from Canada, Hong Kong, and the UK. The time I bought from Canada the seller used UPS. The sellers in HK and the UK used the equivelent of the US Postal Service, and then I received the package via USPS. In the non UPS transactions, I never incurred customs and brokers fees. I called Fedex and they stated that in all shipments from out of the country, no matter what the product is, they use a broker(fees charged to me) Anyone know why then, UK HK and USPS so far does not need the same type of brokers?
128x128justlisten

Showing 1 response by tatelman2284

I'm in Canada and have purchased numerous items from the U.S.A. In general, I find that USPS takes longer, but there's only the $5.00 Canada Post handling charge plus sales tax. UPS adds, as Rdg mentions, their rather stiff brokerage fee, plus the sales tax, plus at least half of my UPS packages arrived with some kind of damage and in no case was UPS willing to honour the insurance claim. So far I've had nothing damaged using the postal service. Within Canada I use the post office or, for heavy items like speakers, Grayhound bus. Again, no problems there. Hope this helps someone. . .Happy listening all. Joel Tatelman