In my lobby I found this, the buyer is going to be shocked.
Summary: musicyouneed shared an experience where a FedEx package was left in their lobby with a hefty import duty of $481.55, making them reconsider ordering from outside Canada. marnotom! suggests that the charges might not be shocking to the buyer, as a significant part could be taxes and possible duties that the buyer would have paid in a store. ilikehockeyjerseys shares a similar experience of high charges with FedEx, emphasizing that multiple shipments increase costs, even if consolidated under a master tracking code. They mention the unpredictability of receiving FedEx invoices, whether at delivery or later. transtraders prefers to avoid FedEx altogether due to these high fees.
In my lobby, fedex left this at the door. The buyer never left the buzzer number so fedex just left the note on the front door. What I noticed was the import duties of $481.55, yikes. I sure won't be ordering anything outside of Canada.
transtraders
·1 year agoI religiously stay away from using Fed-Ex for this very reason. Their fees are crazy high.
marnotom!
·1 year agoA lot of that $481 is going to be made up of the same sales taxes the buyer would have paid if they’d purchased the item from a brick and mortar store or someone registered to collect and remit those sales taxes. Also, any duties the item(s) might be subject to would be already included in the shelf price if purchased locally.
I’ve no idea what portion of that $481 would be FedEx’s own charges, but all told, someone looking at that kind of COD charge from FedEx would have paid a bomb in the first place, so they might regard the COD charge as chump change.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoFedex fees are crazy. I don't have the breakdown in front of me, but I paid over $700 on $1200 worth of merchandise. Partly, because the order was shipped across six boxes. Each invoice was around $120-$150. So I'd assume if each box was broken down to roughly $200, that's a bill of 60 or so percent of the package value. My assumption is that even know the shipments were grouped together with a master tracking code that I paid more overall because it was in six boxes, but I don't know that for sure.
I don't have the breakdown to see what is GST/HST, VAT, etc. GST would be less than $200 on the entire order.
I knew what to expect and factored the cost into the choice to make the order, but not everybody does when they order Fedex or UPS.
The funny thing is that with some Fedex orders, you will receive an invoice after the fact. I am unsure how they determine whether to charge at the door, or give you the package and send an invoice by mail at a later date. It's always fun to expect a massive bill, and then get that 2-4 week period where you can pretend that they somehow forgot to charge you, until you get a Fedex invoice in the mail.
marnotom!
·1 year agoVAT wouldn't be a charge by FedEx because VAT isn't a thing in Canada, at least by that name. There might be a chance of tariffs or duties, depending on the nature of the item(s), where it/they originated, and, of course, when you made the purchase.
I've only had to pay FedEx once for an international purchase and I was billed after the fact, likely because FedEx didn't ship directly to the remote hamlet where I was living at the time (handing the item off to Canada Post for last mile delivery). Interesting how it's been inconsistent for you.