Bass Pro Shop Shipping

[DanO]

I thought we'd signed a FREE TRADE AGREEMENT with the U.S. over 15 years ago! How does UPS get away with this HIDDEN COST? The only way to get an accurate cost is to phone BPS and talk to a person. They can give you the actual final cost. Ordering on the internet is a complete crap shoot.

[LondonDave]

DanO,

It has nothing to do with free trade. You likely didn't pay any or at lease very little "duty". You've paid UPS to complete the necessary paperwork to get your package across the border. Something that Canada Post charges a flat rate of $8 for no matter what the value of the goods are.

You have to pay taxes no matter what.

Like VixChix, I have passed on many deals on ebay or from companies that will only ship via UPS to Canada. As you've found out (the hard way) what you thought was a good deal suddenly isn't when those extra fees get tacked on.

Dave

[VixChix]

I always mark items I ship across the border as GIFT.

I've had friends send up used clothing for my son and and forgotten to mark the parcel as GIFT and I was charged taxes on the estimated value. OUCH! I tried to appeal through Canada Post and they sent me a letter requesting that I send them the greeting card that came with the gift! (There was none). Totally ridiculous.

On the positive side, I've had product vendors in the US include a token freebie in a purchase to justify marking "GIFT" on the parcel. It's much appreciated, otherwise we pay taxes on the item even if it's used.

I can't believe how many eBay vendors will refuse to ship regular post (USPS) and insist on UPS! I wonder if eBay would consider putting some sort of recommendation in their Seller Tips about that?

[JRS]

I thought we'd signed a FREE TRADE AGREEMENT with the U.S. over 15 years ago! How does UPS get away with this HIDDEN COST? The only way to get an accurate cost is to phone BPS and talk to a person. They can give you the actual final cost. Ordering on the internet is a complete crap shoot.

DanO

The other alternative is to order from Cabelas. As long as you chose regular delivery and not some sort of expedited service, the brokerage fee is always $3.50 for any package, regardless of value. Also, any duty and tax due is shown in the price break down before you agree to the order when using the online ordering system. There are never any surprises that way (at least I've not had any).

For comparison, has anyone in the US had goods delivered to them from Canada using UPS? I am curious if the fees are comparable to those assessed when items are shipped north.

[Michael Stogre]

Have used Cabela's for many years and I always know where I stand re.
costs. And if you have to return a purchase you just send it to a Windsor
address. Their return policy is excellent as well. A class outfit as far as
I'm concerned.

UPS shipping costs as mentioned have always been a rip-off . Never again
for me!

[raydaughety]

Ok, here's the scenario, I have a friend in Canada that wants to buy a pair of boots from Cabelas. Why can't I make the purchase from the US and then send it to my buddy in Canada as a gift worth $10.00 ? Would that be illegal, unethical, beating the system, wrong? Sorry for the stupid questions but it sounds like my friends in the north are getting the shaft, BIGTIME

[Normous]

Hey Ray,
Many do that. Perfectly fine.
I order all the time from a gal in Florida.
She puts a $16 value on it every time. No problem.
Anything under $20 cdn. is duty free, gifts too

[Stash]

Folks, please keep in mind that undervaluing an item for cross-border shipment in order to avoid paying duty and taxes, or calling a commercial product a "gift" when it's not, is not "perfectly legal". It is in fact a form of fraud. If you're paying for it in any way, it's NOT a gift. If you undervalue it, you're smuggling.

In most cases you will probably get away with it simply because the Customs agents do not have the time to check up on every single shipment. But eventually you will get caught, and once that happens, it's very likely that they will go back and investigate previous shipments. These people are not stupid, just over-worked.

Also consider that if you undervalue a $400 item as under $20 and it gets lost in the mail, there's no way you're going to be able to recover the $400 value from your shipping insurance.

I strongly suggest that people obey the law, and ship items legally.

The main issue with shipping into Canada from the USA has been and remains the high brokerage fee that UPS is notorious for. Ship USPS and the fees are fair and their delivery reliability has always been reasonable.

[raydaughety]

So the issue is with UPS and not customs. Still stinks in my book . I can see a reasonable amount but 50 - 60% of the cost of the product that you bought . That's absolutely ridiculous .

[Stash]

Check out the UPS rates for clearing items with Canadian Customs:

http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shippi ... rance.html

Note all the additional fees...and of course, this is in addition to the actual shipping charge, which is not cheap...

It's easy to see how a $50 item can cost up to $50 for UPS to ship it from the USA to a customer in Canada.

[raydaughety]

That stinks . I'm fortunate in that the company that I work for has given me a fed-ex account # and allows me to ship personal items as a perk. It works great as long as you don't abuse the privilege .

God bless

[DanO]

Thanks for the info folks. Sounds like Cabelas is the way to go!

I did receive a breakdown of the $57 additional charge on the waders. Customs duty was $20 plus $18 to ship plus GST and PST $16 plus the Mastercard charge to convert U.S. to Canadian and the grand total is $57.00 mark up. Bend over you are going to like this! If you call BPS and order over the phone they say they will quote you a final total before you enter the MC number. So DON'T use their website if your Canadian except to look at inventory.

I appreciate the heads up on UPS and you folks are right in that many E- Bay sellers favour UPS. USPS all the way!

Dan O.

[joeumholtz]

My son recently started a job in the Virgin islands and asked me to ship two boxes of clothes down to him. He told me UPS wouldn't ship to Virgin islands (found out later they would) so I went to the USPS. Each box cost about 35 bucks which I thought was high, so I went to the other nationally knowwn shipper, Federal Express. They weighed one box and asked me what was in it. "clothes" I replied. "Value" they asked. I said "100 bucks". They aid it will cost 245 bucks to ship it to St thomas. (It was the lighter of the two boxes). I asked, "Who in their right mind would pay 245 bucks to ship 100 dollars worth of clothes. The clerk responded, "Do you want to ship it or not?" I picked up the box and hotfooted it back to the USPS. 35 bucks a box wasn't too bad after all.