cross border shipping....hidden fees?

Whatch out which carrier the dealer uses to ship the amp. Some of them charge you a brokerage fee on top of any duty and tax Revenue Canada charges you. I recently had to pay an additional $135.00 in brokerage fees and duty for an amp I bought in the U.S. - big surprise when the bill came!

Sales Tax both PST and GST.

Brokerage fees dependent on the service you choose.

USPS will be the cheapest. UPS/Fedex ground is the worst. UPS/Fedex air or expedited include the brokerage fees already.

thanks for the tip, do you remember the shipping company? you also mentioned tax.......you dont have to pay full GST and PST once it gets into this country do you? sorry about the ignorance but im a complete shipping noob.

PST and GST?

Really? you mean on the shipping charges or on the amp itself?

ok

Thanks alot for the help, its still in my price range :banana: but geez, i wish there were more handwired amps like this availiable in Canada that didnt cost over a grand (or two in most cases) US to begin with.


cough........tumbleweed

The last handmade amp I got from the States got through customs with no taxes. You can count on that happening, but using USPS it's a possibility.

Also, there is no duty on a USA made amp. Or anything USA made. That won't stop USP and Fedex from charging you brokerage fees on it though.

torndownunit said:

The last handmade amp I got from the States got through customs with no taxes. You can count on that happening, but using USPS it's a possibility.

Also, there is no duty on a USA made amp. Or anything USA made. That won't stop USP and Fedex from charging you brokerage fees on it though.

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And if the shipper doesn't include the proper declaration of origin, UPS and Fedex will try to charge duty anyway. It can turn into a hassle to get your money back.

jroberts said:

They just need to write the country of origin on the export form, though. And even that's not required of non-commercial shippers.

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Maybe for lower value items. On two different larger value items I had to get the shipper fill out a NAFTA certificate of origin form and fax it to Fedex. Fedex then creditted my account for the Duty they charged.

Get the seller to claim it as a repair.............no tax or brokerage!

jroberts said:

They should be filling that out as part of the FedEx shipping forms. The paperwork is actually extremely easy. If the shipper can address an envelope, they should be able to do it.

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They should but more than often don't. The problem might even be with Fedex or UPS agents they don't have a clue themselves what has to be filled out.

Jeff Flowerday said:

Sales Tax both PST and GST.

Brokerage fees dependent on the service you choose.

USPS will be the cheapest. UPS/Fedex ground is the worst. UPS/Fedex air or expedited include the brokerage fees already.

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+1 - USPS don't care much though, they lost 3 of my packages last year and when you call them, it's like you're bothering them during break time. Gotta agree with UPS ground, they are the worst but your stuff gets delivered quick and safe. UPS and Fedex are pretty safe. My Mesa Boogie power amp came from California, shipped with UPS and when I opened the box, not a broken tube - they were all sitting in their sockets quietly. I did spit a lot of cash for brokerage fees though...

Be sure Reeves insures the shipment, and also ask them to include a Nafta Certficate of Origin; it's simple to fill out.

Can you give us a review after you've played with the amp? This one interested me too, I just have no idea what kind of sound to expect -mostly sweet cleans?. I also saw you can order it with a London Power Scaler for extra, or an 18 watter with the LP included.

Brian

dufe32 said:

+1 - USPS don't care much though, they lost 3 of my packages last year and when you call them, it's like you're bothering them during break time. Gotta agree with UPS ground, they are the worst but your stuff gets delivered quick and safe. UPS and Fedex are pretty safe. My Mesa Boogie power amp came from California, shipped with UPS and when I opened the box, not a broken tube - they were all sitting in their sockets quietly. I did spit a lot of cash for brokerage fees though...

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See everyone's experiences are different. I have had USPS/Canada post ship me 3 guitars and 2 amps with no issues. Fedex damaged a guitar on me, and UPS destroyed and amp cabinet on me. And every other package I have got from Fedex and UPS has had significant damage to the boxes even if the item inside wasn't damaged. Which basically means I was lucky the items weren't damaged. And to add to that, I have had both UPS and Fedex deliver items late. In fact, a Fedex package was 2 weeks late getting here once.

Just an FYI for you guys, if you are shipping via Air with Fedex or UPS (which probably is unlikely as its pretty expensive) you can request to clear the shipment yourself. All that is required of you is that you go to a Customs Office of clearance with your ID, invoices, and airway bills/shipping docs. There really is no need to pay that brokerage fee when this is something you can do yourself. On the other hand if its crossing via ground, unless your prepared to to go the border or you live near the border you can still clear your own shipment and save that bogus brokerage fee however probably not worth your while.

I have never had problems with UPS, FEDEX or USPS damaging a package, and I had two vintage guitars and five vintage amps shipped last year. UPS & FEDEX were horrible with their extra fees, though. USPS didn't even charge me taxes on a couple of the amps. If I am given a choice I pick USPS, but some dealers/sellers will only use FEDEX or UPS.

Here's a cool site for all you UPS fans. www.unitedpackagesmashers.com/

I hate UPS, but some of the damage photos also show ridiculous packing jobs. There is one of a Strat thrown in a box with no case and nothing protecting one side of it.

On the other side of that, they show a Gretsch that was cleary wrapped in shrink wrap, then put into a hardshell case, and boxed and the headstock is still smashed off. It's amazing to think of the impact that some of those boxes must have taken.

mario said:

Here's a cool site for all you UPS fans. www.unitedpackagesmashers.com/

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This has got to be the scariest web site... Some images are really painful to look at...

Duties are sometimes added too. I had to pay over $100 with tax, and duty for my amp and cab when I picked it up at the border.