CP Expedited Custom fees

[itrecovery]

That probably not a news for many, but I just learned hard way that CP Expedited USA customs and brokerage fees are always paid by sender (I.e. Seller).

I have send two expensive pieces of hardware to US and got a bill for $96 US. Live and learn.

I love CP. Always a great service.

[phoebescollectables]

This is the first I have heard of it.

[mevans_dot_net]

Glad you brought that up again for the benefit of newer people on the board. Never use CP to mail Expedited down to the US. Xpress Post is ok, unless anyone else has an update on that. The will not charge brokerage and duty on Xpress Post.

If you want to send your parcel via Expedited USA, go to the counter and use your Venture One card. You will still get a discount on shipping but they will not come back to you for any hidden fees.

[shoplineca]

98% of what I ship to the US is via CP Expedited Service and nothing under $100 US, most between $150 and $400 US and I have never been charged with any customs/brokerage fees.

I ship weekly to the US and I get billed about every 5 weeks from CP and am always charged in-line with the anticipated fees as posted in my CP book.

I am aware that US Customs sets the personal exemption limit of $200 US before duties are applicable for goods entering the US however I have never been charged, and I have never heard of any of my customers being charged.

I have had customers in the UK and Scotland complain to me because they were hit with duties that exceeded the cost of what I shipped them, but those goods also went out through CP via International Surface Parcel.

If you have a business account, call CP and make certain that you have an agreement in place that states you are not responsible for foreign taxes, duties or other charges levied.

You may be required to put your customer's Social Security Number on a customs form for your high ticket items (I havent). In that way, US Customs is able to charge the US resident for the brokerage charges or duties.

Malcolm

[mevans_dot_net]

Malcolm,
Do you use the Online Shipping Tools to ship? If you do and don't get the customs/duty charged back then I need to call my rep. at Canada Post.

If you ship at the counter, with manifest or just loose, then you won't be charged. I use my Venture One card which is basically just my account number so if they wanted to, they would know where to find me. But for some reason it seems we're getting the customs/duty charges back only when using the OST.

[shoplineca]

I dont use the online or electronic shipping tools, I complete my manifests manually, one for Canada and one for the US.

I have been dead set against using the online shipping tools since day one as I learned that the rates applied sometimes would exceed what I was being charged for doing it manually, this included some brokerage fee calculation of some sort. Todd has a better handle on this.

Furthermore, everything I pack is custom packed with sizes that differ with each item. My business is in one location and my shipping in a remote location where I do not have access to a computer to use the online tools.

The majority of times (9 out of 10) I am only being charged actual weight using the manual method whereas a year ago, CP was calculating cubic weight. If I used the online or electroinic tools, I would be charged by cubic weight every time driving some of my shipping costs up by as much as 35% or more.

Now to learn that if I use their shipping tools, I will be charged the duty that my customers would normally have to pay. Is CP absolutely nuts????

Well with all this out in the open, I would suggest to itrecovery to create manual manifests for his high ticket items destined to the US, pay the extra 2% in shipping ($1 on $50 shipping) for using manual manifests and let Uncle Sam collect duty from the US customer.

He can still use the online or electronic method for the remainder of his items he ships.

Malcolm

[mevans_dot_net]

Darn, I had hoped you'd found a way to refuse paying those hidden fees while still using the OST. So nothing has changed then.

Cubic weight is not an issue for my shipments, and I find the OST to be perfect for most of my needs. I ship mainly small packet and lettermail so I use the OST and buy stamps online as well, but the odd time I have a shipment that goes over 1kg. If its Xpress Post, I still use the OST otherwise I go to the counter.

I really thought they may change things when this ill-thought out plan was first implemented. From my understanding it has ALWAYS been the recipient that deals with the customs/duty with any carrier. When it first came out I spoke to someone at Canada Post and they said they had received a lot of complaints from their business customers. Evidently, not enough to get their act together though.

[muminlaw]

I was at a stamp club meeting last night where one of the members is also a postmaster plus CP's regional supervisor (or whatever they call them now) for this area. I asked him about this situation and he was totally floored! His take on it is that the sender should never be charged brokerage nor duties and that if you are charged, you should dispute it! X-(

Sorry, we didn't have time to get into details about how to go about initiating a dispute 😞

Glenda

[mevans_dot_net]

Hey, its worth a try. Call them up and escalate it to a supervisor. They do have discretionary power. I can't say I've ever felt like Canada Post didn't do right by me in the end if I had a problem, although I may have had to fight for it the odd time and get the ear of a higher up.

[goaliemitch]

Malcom has a very good point - use the counter service when in doubt. We also write out the manifests by hand and have had a few problems with oversea shipments that were not in their code book. We learned that it doesn't pay to guess. Let's face it, the counter staff often doesn't know any more than you. Let them take the chance instead of putting your neck on the line for the extra charges. For example, do they know all the countries that do not have an air mail small packet international service? Nope, yet if they accept it, it seems to get delivered. If you put it on your manifest, they upgrade your invoice with a costly international ExpressPost charge. In regards to customs charges, at least UPS gives you the option of who is paying.

[shoplineca]

For about 6-months I had my goods picked up by CP and I was always charged the highest amount and frequently by cubic weight.

I now drop off my items to at least 6 or 7 different postal outlets and always get great service and they accept what I tell them to do including weighing my items so they are charged by actual weight and not cubic.

I purposely no longer use my digital scale and make the clerks weigh the items and voila, 35% savings in my pocket. They also accept my guitars without writing in that they exceed the 1 meter size saving me the addtional $7 height surcharge.

Ya Gotta Do whats Ya Gotta Do to stay in business. Better the money you save to be in your pocket than CPs.

Malcolm

[llee2]

Hi all,

Guess CP has 2 types of Expedited Parcel service to the US. The OST version is considered Commercial Expedited and you will get stuck with the brokerage fees. You're best to do a manual manifest a la Malcolm or just use your V1 at the counter. This method is open to the public (minus the V1 discount) so you won't get any brokerage fee surprises later on.

Lincoln

[shoplineca]

One thing is that I have a commercial account with CP so I am not paying the counter rates, meaning that I am receiving discounts with the exception of a nae Jan 2004 2% discount given for using using their electronic shipping tools.

I would sooner pay an extra $1 for every $50 of shipping charges (2%) than $96 for some customers duties anyday for my shipments to the US over $200.

Malcolm

[ospreylinks]

Yes, and the desk-top shipping tools still suck.

Evidently there was a major rewrite and the only difference I can find is that they moved around a few things on the screen....

We had a problem that the update would not transmit manifests to the CP computer, but we could receive bar-code and other updates. They had to send the problem back to the company that wrote the program for a problem solve, but in the meantime, I had one Expedited Parcel that had to get out, so they system printed a manifest but did not transmit. I took the parcel to the Post Office thinking that as soon as they solved the programing problem, I would transmit the manifest (which took 4 days), however about 3 days later I go the Post Office and there is my parcel waiting for me with a note attached that since Canada Post did not receive my electronic manifest, they could not process the shipment.

I went balistic........

Calling Canada Post is like picking lottery numbers.... it is a total crap shoot that the extension you get will have any idea what you are talking about or any interest in seeing the problem resolved.....much like picking the correct lottery numbers, you might pick a winner, but chances are you are going to get a dud!

Jeff

[rewelu]

Hi,

Just to be sure ...

You only incurred these custom and brokerage fees because the item was over $200?

Just to make sure because I might start using their online tools.

Hendre

[shoplineca]

Hendre
I believe that US customers are entitled to import $200 US as a personal exemption before being liable to incur duty charges. You can check on the eBay site as they have a section that deals with taxes, duties, importing etc.

Despite that I have sold items over $500 US in value to American customers and they have never been charged, nor I using Express Post and Expedited Parcel and I always use manual manifests. I have between 5 and 15 items per month boing into the US valued at over $200 US.

So it appears that the duties charged to itrecovery were a combination of being valued over $200, using the online shipping tools and shipping via Expedited Parcel.

Malcolm

[www-labels4less-com]

Malcolm you are correct. All customers using electronic shipping manifests that ship Expedited parcels over $200 US are routed through PBB Global Logistics and they charge the sender not the receiver.

[rewelu]

Hi,

Thanks. I have to say that the desktop version is unbelievably cluttered and is probably the worst online shipping tool I have ever used.

I wish we could have the same tools USPS offers like Endicia and Stamps.com

That would save SO much hassle.

Hendre

[egoshopmanager]

I'm selling from Canada and recently sent a parcel to the UK. It has been held at the post office and the buyer is upset about the VAT and duties that have been charged. She is under the impression that I should cover this charge and insists that this was not part of the agreement and that she was not informed of these potential charges.

Anyone aware of any documentation within eBay to support the fact that the buyer is responsible for any additional duties as well as educating themselves on this matter ? It is implied throughout the help pages and discussion boards that it is the buyers responsibility but I'd like to provide her with clear documentation to support this as she will likely take further action.

Thanks in advance !

[treasure-pot]

Point her here:

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&propertyType=document&resetCT=true&id=HMCE_CL_001454

It is wise to include a statement in your listings that buyers are responsible for import duties ad taxes in future to avoid this potential conflict (unless you ship exclusively to the USA as I do and the value of your items are always under $200 USD).

Bill treasure-pot