music123

[SnowBlind]

Has anyone ordered anything from music123 before? For the thing I want to get, the price listed there is $180. Will I have to pay any additional fees on top of that?

[Accept2]

Ive ordered from them. I have mixed views on them, but they do have great prices. On any US purchase, you will pay any duties, GST and brokerage fees once it hits the border. 123 ships USPS, so brokerage is only $5..........

[SnowBlind]

Ive ordered from them. I have mixed views on them, but they do have great prices. On any US purchase, you will pay any duties, GST and brokerage fees once it hits the border. 123 ships USPS, so brokerage is only $5..........
The item im looking at costs 180 dollars. So all I will have to pay is 5 dollars and thats it? No taxes or anything?

[Rumble_b]

On any US purchase, you will pay any duties, GST and brokerage fees once it hits the border.



:rockon: :DevilGuitar:

[SnowBlind]

Where do they mention how much these fees will cost?

[Rumble_b]

Music 123 won't know how much. GST is, well the same as we pay on anything else, brokerage fees are only $5 with post (alot more with UPS) and duties I couldn't tell ya. It seems to me it changes all the time, it never seems to be the same anytime I get something from the states. I think it might be a percentage thing.

[hoser]

I bought an electronic drumkit from them and got hit with ups' "brokerage" charge and customs.

[SnowBlind]

Ok so If I buy what I want at steves, It will cost 241.5 dollars with tax. Now, On music123 it costs 180 dollars on the site. Now how much can I expect to save if I go with music123?

[Rumble_b]

How much is the shipping from music 123?

[SnowBlind]

They dont say. You have to give your credit card number first.

[Rumble_b]

Hmm, ok whats the item. I can make a somewhat educated guess(I ship alot at work). Got a link??

[SnowBlind]

Here you go:)
http://www.music123.com/VOX-AD15VT-i126904.music

[Rumble_b]

Go to Steves. Heres why, $180us is $208 CDN, plus GST is $222. I found out shipping is $28 us/ $32 CDN. Plus $5CDN brokerage fees you are at, $259 CDN. That doesn't even inculde any duties you might get nailed on. Plus Music 123 is out of stock till March 31. :DevilGuitar:

[SnowBlind]

Alright thanks.

[Rumble_b]

No problem. :rockon:

[Accept2]

123 isnt the best packer either. They cut corners to get the shipping costs down..........

[Robert1950]

I'm assuming you've already converted the 123 price to Cdn. Shipping depends on the size of the item. I'm going to assume it is small and shipping $15. Taxes will be around $27. Brokerage is $5. If it covered under Nafta - no duty. So it will come to $227. Now,... warranty. You'd have to pay to mail it back and you'd probably have to pay to have it returned. Pain in the ass too. Won't cost you anything to walk into steve's.

Music123 will have no idea what Revenue Canada will do at the border, so call them.

[SnowBlind]

Im going to go to Steves. Every other guitar shop sells the item for 20 dollars more...

[turbobusa]

Hey fella's,

I have dealt with Music123 in person. They are an actual store in South Bend Indiana, I'm in the RV business and that area has most if not all the manufacturers so I was there on business anyways. It is an awesome place. Nicer than any shop I have ever been in. I found them on-line and called to see if they were an actual store and the guy wasn't sure if I was joking or not, I know why after going there. I bought a MIM strat from them and their professionalism was great.
I know I'mnew on here and therefore you gotta take my word for it and dealing with them in person is different than on-line but I'm happy with my experience. And no, I didn't declare it when I crossed back in Canada so I don't know what duties are applied but you could call UPS and they'll tell you what it'll be door to door.
Thanx,
Greg

[Emohawk]

I ordered a Duncan JB w/ nickel cover from them a couple of years ago. I will agree that the packaging wasn't first rate by any stretch. They do ship USPS, but I think only within the continental US. They use UPS for international orders (or they did when I ordered from them). I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but I think the total charges crossing the border came to about $25 or $30 - no duty (covered under NAFTA). GST & brokerage fees only.

If they're only charging $5 for brokerage these days, that's substantially less than I paid 2 years ago. It was more like $20 or $25 then, and that was on a relatively low cost item.

[theelectic]

Canada Customs charges $5 for brokerage. UPS charges whatever they like. Technically it's based on value for duty, but there are bunch of other fees they can tack on.

[Mahogany Martin]

Canada Customs charges $5 for brokerage. UPS charges whatever they like. Technically it's based on value for duty, but there are bunch of other fees they can tack on.

So I'm looking at buying a guitar not from 123 but from a similar store in US. He replied that he can do the guitar for 1200 (us) and said that he can ship it to me for about 40 (us) through USPS (ground?). Am I to assume that this 40 $ includes Canada Custom? Is 40 US about the right amount to ship a guitar from Wisconsin to Toronto?

[Accept2]

You also have to pay $5 brokerage plus GST on the declared vlue which is most likely the insured value...................

[Mahogany Martin]

No. The US seller has no control over what Canada Customs charges you at the border for GST (or tariffs, if applicable - usually not). Nor does he have any control over how much Canada Post will charge you for customs clearance ($5).

Someone should do up some kind of "facts and fictions of shipping from the US" FAQ. It's astounding how much misunderstanding and misinformation there is out there.

Thanks for the info guys. Good idea teleman but it doesn't seem to be *standardized* (different size packages, different carriers, ...). So what you're telling me is the 40$ is for USPS to bring this package to the border. Then Canada Post picks it up from there, clears customs (assuming 5$) and charges me again to bring it from the border to my house?

I hear and read about UPS all the time. They would take it from reseller, bring it to border, and UPS (Canada) picks it up and delivers it to me in Canada and they charge a lot of money to clear customs?

[bischbd]

Howdy, I'm a first time poster from Calgary. Great site!

Some experiences I've had importing from the U.S.:
- USPS is generally preferred for smaller, less expensive items since, as many of you have pointed out, the brokerage fee is only $5.00. Note that this fee does not change with the value of the goods imported.
- I have bought several items from the U.S. costing under $100 using USPS and they have come straight to my mail box without any additional charges.
- UPS/Fedex charge a brokerage fee on standard/ground shipments. This fee is usually based on a percentage of the declared value of the goods (irrespective of the fact that it's no more work to process a $2,000 guitar than a $200 guitar).
- You can choose higher levels of service from UPS (e.g. UPS Express - around $95US to ship a guitar) in which you can opt for UPS to be your customs broker and you will not have the surprise brokerage fee to deal with when the guitar is delivered.
- Both USPS/Canada Post & UPS/Fedex charge GST based on the $CDN value of the goods.
- Duty is a percentage of the $CDN value of the goods imported and is based on 2 things: 1) The country where the merchandise was manufacturered (e.g. U.S. made guitars & merchandise, 0% duty under NAFTA while Japanese & Korean instruments attract duty) and; 2) what you are importing (guitars, amplifiers, etc. may all have different attributable rates.

Search the government of Canada site for information on tariffs.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/general/publications/customs_tariff-e.html

Cheers!

[Emohawk]

Hopefully James Peters will chime in here at some point. He knows this stuff really well. He really saved a buddy of mine some serious coin when he bought his Bogner.

[JamesPeters]

USPS charges $5 for brokerage for items of $1500 or lower in value (USD, I believe). Beyond that they may charge more so don't be surprised. It's been a long time since I've shipped anything to the USA or vice versa which has cost over $1500 using USPS, so I don't recall if the brokerage charge is higher or not (although I highly suspect it is, and that it's a lot more than $5).

UPS and FedEx have separate brokerage charges on ground shipments which are quite high. Their rates can be found on their sites by using the search engines there (or you can even use Google for "UPS brokerage fees" and find the links on the site that way). Note some extra charges apply for COD and whatnot (a few bucks extra). Air shipments by UPS and FedEx don't have extra brokerage fees--they're included. That's why I usually ship by UPS air (express, expedited) nowadays. When the cost of brokerage is added to the ground shipping charge, sometimes it's close enough to the air fee that it's worth it. So consider this when doing quotes for shipping on their sites.

Getting around paying GST/PST is pretty much not going to happen. It's as though you bought an item at a store in Canada. The government charges this and the broker collects it for the government--so don't blame the broker or assume one broker would charge you while another wouldn't. They would all charge the same amount for tax.

Duty--if the item qualifies under NAFTA, you won't have to pay duty. But the correct paperwork has to be done properly or you'll be charged duty by default. You can get this money back later if you provide the paperwork later, but it's a bit of a hassle to do this of course. Again, this is charged by the government and it's the broker's job to collect and remit it to the government. So it'd be the same with any broker.

So, that's basically it in a nutshell. Remember to keep your bill if you get one when receiving an item, and look over the bill to see if you were charged extra things like duty (which might be covered under NAFTA but they charge anyway) so that you can get your money back for that. Don't just look at the total at the bottom, sigh and say "darn these UPS fees" or something--know what you're paying for. :) It sucks having to pay tax on things for instance, but you'd pay the same amount of tax whether the item shipped by UPS or USPS or FedEx. Same with duty--if you have to pay it, the amount would be the same no matter what way it were shipped. Brokerage is where the "extra charges" varies.

USPS can be painfully slow, btw. Never rely on shipping estimates from USPS to Canada. They're almost always inaccurate. If they say it'll arrive in a week, it'll probably be two to three weeks. I don't know why this is, however I suspect their broker used for ground shipping gets backed up.

I hope that helps.