$hipping Cost's,Getting Rpped Off!

GoldenMotor.com

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,440
4,877
113
British Columbia Canada
Here's something no one has mentioned yet but everyone in Canada knows about. You order something, usually from the U.S. and pay for it including the shipping. All's good so far.
Now U.P.S. drops off the package and has their hand out for "customs brokers fees" and the duty. When I bought the Monarch the customs brokers fees were $80 on a $450 bike.
Duty was on top of that. I'm 20 minutes away from the border so now I have a drop off mail and package receiver who charges under $10 to hold it until I can pick it up. They email me when it arrives and I bring it through the border my self.

We are now allowed to bring in $400 after being out of the country for 24 hours and $800 after 48 hours. It's good to own a camper. Order it all at one time, pick it up and find a place to camp for a couple of days.

The post office charges the duty and border handling fees and about $10 for their handling fee.

Steve.
 

tooljunkie

Member
Apr 4, 2012
663
5
16
Manitoba,Canada
yes,duty's an expensive addition to any cross-border purchase.i used to order stuff quite often,til i got smoked by an over priced broker.duty was 15.00 broker hammered me 70.
that was 10 or 12 years ago,im sure things are better now.
gas is 1.26 a litre,so just over 5.00 a u.s gallon.
all the more reason to ride my bike.
can you imagine how much people would spend if there were no duty?
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,440
4,877
113
British Columbia Canada
Gas where I live in B.C. is $1.43 a liter. They tax the life out of it to fund the public transportation system which is brilliant since once you chase everyone on to the buses, who pays the gas tax?
The "brokers fees" that U.P.S. and FedEx charge are ridiculous and now that they have changed the amount you can bring back and the time to do it, crossing the border here is a 3-4 hour wait in the busy times. I'm within 30 minutes of 3 border crossings and it's fun to look at them on the computer and see the line ups. Early morning or late at night is the best time to cross.

A lot of the big store chains are here now. They found out that we have actual money and don't trade in beaver and muskrat pelts so the rush is on. Target is slowly getting organized across Canada but like Wal Mart they buy as much as they can in Canada but so can we and most Canadians want the items that are only available in the U.S. and at U.S. prices.

I've mentioned this before but 24 Budweiser sells for around $55 here. Makes you want to go down to the local C store and buy a box just so you can celebrate where you live

Steve.
 

Dan

Staff
May 25, 2008
12,765
115
48
58
Moosylvania
$55 for a case of Bud!? That is insane and just plain wrong!

I will be right there Steve, Viva La Revolucion!
 

paul

Well-Known Member
Dec 23, 2007
5,547
44
48
66
Kalamazoo, MI
55 for bud? ouch. shoot you can buy a half gallon of vodka or rum here for under 5 bucks. getting stuff shipped here is a whole different ball game though
 

truckd

Well-Known Member
Oct 19, 2010
2,837
134
63
palmdale calif
Ya but what was the cost of shipping Dan ? I just paid $25.00 for a white pair of coke bottle hand grips and shipping was free (USPS) postage on the enelope $2.35 vendor sprang for it, Ordered something similar at a cost of $14.00 and paid $10.00 to ship this shipping is un-regulated, I don't care where you live every one has there hand in the till and it is INSANE!
Your'e 24 pack of BudWeiser was cheaper the my fill up at the pumps yesterday $100.oo for 20 gal of gas( I guess some guy had to take a dump and forgot to do something before hand so the price shot up) Two weeks ago this fill would have cost $76.00,
you with out a doubt got more enjoyment out of the beer
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,440
4,877
113
British Columbia Canada
Truckd,
Your fill up would be about $108.00 here where I live. This is about normal for us but you folks are being down right cheated for no reason other than they can. My question would be who's helping them?

The reason prices in Canada are high is we have the largest country in the world by square miles after Russia but California has more people living in it that Canada has.

My Social Security cheque is almost twice what Silverbear gets but we have the same job background. Someone is paying to keep all this going. Unfortunately it's us.

Steve.
 

Greybeard

New Member
Feb 8, 2011
336
1
0
Sequim WA
I just sent a 2lb box, 5x6x6 out. I had to find a box the part would fit in, package it so it wouldn't get broken, find tape and labels, hand write the lables, take it to the post office 5 1/2 miles away, wait for a parking space, spend 25 minutes in line, and paid $13.82 to ship it, and then drive the 5 1/2 miles home.
If I were to charge shipping and handling, it would have easily double the PO charges. That's would be at minimum wage too.
 

kallsop

Member
May 2, 2009
106
1
18
CT US
In the US, you can online order free USPS shipping boxes, have them delivered to you for free, weight the package yourself (if it is not a flat rate box) and print out a shipping label which is at a lower rate than you will get charged at a post office, have the package picked up at your door for free. Time to pack the box, weigh, print label, could be 5 minutes until you get more proficient at it.
 

Greybeard

New Member
Feb 8, 2011
336
1
0
Sequim WA
I looked at that "free USPS". Couldn't find. What I found was boxes you had to buy 10 of, and a wait of 7-10 days for delivery, and then 2 days for pick-up after they are notified. And if you have a job, whatdaya do. Leave it at the curb?
I'm not a vender. Just a guy selling an old Motorcycle carb. I'm sure the buyer would be pleased with all that wait time.
It cost to ship! Complaints about the cost and USPS is going broke at these rates. I see in this rant that price kept coming up. It matters not what you paid for what ever you bought to UPS or USPS.
 

kallsop

Member
May 2, 2009
106
1
18
CT US
USPS free supplies

USPS print shipping labels, save 15%

USPS schedule a free pickup

Works great for me. Free boxes, shipping discount, free pickup which I schedule for next day. I used to run an ebay business, shipped lots of stuff by USPS and never a problem, and never left my house.

EDIT - the Priority Mail boxes they make now have Priority Mail printed on the INSIDE of the box, preventing you from assembling them inside out and using them for regular mail! Ah, the good old days LOL.
 

truckd

Well-Known Member
Oct 19, 2010
2,837
134
63
palmdale calif
Well again I tried to order a $1.00 (clutch cable tensioner clamp) and shipping was $7.95 and they're right here in California, so taking some advice from readers I called the vender and asked "since the part is smaller then a spray can nozzle why? couldn't he just put it in an envelope and I'd pay the 50 cent postage" he very rudely started going into all kinds of B.S.!
This is getting INSANE! Don"t these guys relize that our $$$ is feeding them and not the other way around,lets get real! this is not good business and I have no sympathy for a Co. that goes broke because they will not adjust their business tactic's, management,
prices,exc,exc,exc to even moderately accomidmate the consumer, unfortunately this type of system is ass backwards and will eventually crash before anyone realizes the greedy mistakes they've made.
Too Bad!
 

DareDevil

Member
Apr 29, 2012
446
4
18
Australia
Hi truckd..... Had the same suitation a couple of days ago for welding supplies ...Its local to me....items were about $16.....got in touch with vendor..probally less than 50k away....quoted $14 for postage and he wanted $30 to pack and take it to the post office...I have looked else where....DD
 

truckd

Well-Known Member
Oct 19, 2010
2,837
134
63
palmdale calif
It's amazing I can stick $200.oo in an envelope and send it to my Mother 4,000 miles away for fifty cents, buy a part for a $1.00 and pay 6 times the cost of the part to ship,I'm sure if you went on line and bought a tip for your gas welder they'd charge you double or more the cost to ship, and the venders attitude is the real killer, they act like people are beating down their door to get what they got, 28 % of the time that may be true but the other 72% their just full of(well you know!)
 
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truckd

Well-Known Member
Oct 19, 2010
2,837
134
63
palmdale calif
Here we go again! bid on an Item for $30,oo,shipping was $4.00 plastered all over the listed item add,even went to "calculate shipping" Still $4.00, I win the bid and all of a sudden shipping is $25.00 WHAT THE @#$%^!!!!, got ahold of Ebay rep and she couldn't even find any hidden overages on the shipping either, so contacted seller and after about 5 hours of back and forth tit for tat got him to cancel
the auction, then went back on to Ebay to resume shopping for another item to replace what I was going to get and the seller pulled all add's for his remaining items
Scam or what??
 

fatdaddy

New Member
May 4, 2011
1,516
4
0
San Jose, Ca.
Here we go again! bid on an Item for $30,oo,shipping was $4.00 plastered all over the listed item add,even went to "calculate shipping" Still $4.00, I win the bid and all of a sudden shipping is $25.00 WHAT THE @#$%^!!!!, got ahold of Ebay rep and she couldn't even find any hidden overages on the shipping either, so contacted seller and after about 5 hours of back and forth tit for tat got him to cancel
the auction, then went back on to Ebay to resume shopping for another item to replace what I was going to get and the seller pulled all add's for his remaining items
Scam or what??
I VOTE SCAM! But dude, ya gotta NAME this guy so others don't go through the same thing. He's just gonna put his adds back up later. No one has a problem telling on BGF, So tell bro.
fatdaddy.
 

bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
I try to look for free shipping or the lowest price possible. Any time shipping costs way more than a part, I simply refuse to buy from that vendor. The one time I did pay more for shipping than a part was worth, because I had no other choice as I couldnt find a lower price anywhere, the vendor put a smart ass note in the box with the item I ordered, and the item also wasnt exactly what was pictured. I emailed the seller several times expressing my disappointment and frustration with their tactics, and that was several months ago. They have not responded to my emails. For anyone who wants to know, the vendor was Pirate Cycles, and I will not buy from them again, nor will I pay over item cost for shipping again.
 

truckd

Well-Known Member
Oct 19, 2010
2,837
134
63
palmdale calif
The Ebay customer serv. rep. pulled all his auctions and noticed at the time of listing nothing was mentioned about the $25.oo also that a change of listing details about shipping cost's were added at the end of the time alotted for the auction.
I haven't seen any re-listing of his items, so perhaps he will relist at a later time and if he does I'll post a warning on the auction "DON'T BUY!"