@zamuler wrote:
It is true that the "last mile" delivery is handled not exclusively by Asendia/UniUni but they do a lot. Worse, if they can't deliver for any reason, their websites says "pick up at warehouse" but there is NO Asendia /UniUni warehouse anywhere in Canada. This was confirmed to me, by phone, by a UniUni representative. So their website is litterally misleading
Well, we're not sure how much "a lot" is and what proportion of last mile carriage within Canada is done with Uni Uni. As I said in my earlier post, I've never heard of it until your post and I suspect it doesn't have much if any sort of market presence as a carrier in British Columbia.
It sounds as though they may operate similarly to Intelcom, where the deliveries are made by agents or contractees, and it's likely up to those agents/contractees to provide anything resembling a warehouse facility that would double-up as a pickup centre for items they're unable to deliver on site.
@zamuler wrote:
As for the eIS fees, for me at least, they are a LOT more expensive than before when sellers could ship through USPS. Even with inflation counted in, these eIS fees are deal breakers. Buy a $15 comic book with $25 shipping fees? I'll pass thank you.
FedEx, UPS, DHL and such are a different kind of worse as they pretty much all charge you extra custums fees on products that should not be taxed per the various custums agreements between our countries. These surprise fees are not known beforehand so it's pretty much whatever they feel like charging you.
If a US seller sent a comic book to Canada by USPS as merchandise (instead of trying to get it through as a document) and paid USPS counter rates, the cheapest they could get it done for is now US$17.00. Sellers doing it for cheaper are either trying to get the item through as a document/letter, which is getting harder to do, or else they're going through mail consolidation services that operate similarly to DHL Global Post.
And of course "surprise fees" aren't known beforehand. That's why they're a surprise. 😋 There's actually a lot of stuff that comes as a surprise in life, though. After my last couple of dinners of KFC caused me a lot of gastric distress, I thought to check the ingredients of their "original recipe" coating online, and it turns out there's something in that stuff that does a number on my digestive system. As with brokerage charges by UPS, FedEx, and their ilk, the ingredients for that stuff isn't posted front and centre and you have to do some digging to find them. Not trying to justify either DHL's or KFC's practices, but there's currently nothing legally in place to impel them to be more upfront and we have to do diligence as consumers to combat this.
@zamuler wrote:
In closing, if you're a Canadian buyer and want to buy from a U.S. seller, ask a lot of questions beforehand and brace yourself for the ride. Will it be UniUni who delivers? Will you have surprise custums fees? Will it be left on the porch for theives? Will you get what you paid for?
Welcome to the world of casual imports. The kicker is, as Canadians we've had a very good relationship with the United States that's developed since the end of the Second World War that's largely simplifed the process of consumer-based imports. Many countries have it a lot worse than us, and believe it or not, services like the old GSP and the present eIS actually make it a bit easier for buyers living in those countries. No, eIS isn't a terribly good fit for sales to Canada, but unfortunately, a lot of US sellers won't ship to Canada without it. eIS is about making things better for them, not us.
