Intertechnik Shipping to Canada

[carseneau]

Hello,

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with shipping speakers from Intertechnik in Germany to Canada. I wanted to order 2 or 4 speakers and was wondering if anyone has shipped large packages like this from Germany and had any issues or not. (Any hidden fees or something?)

Thanks for any responses!

[mickeymoose]

I found UPS the cheapest way to ship. Go to their web site and use their calculator. Air is hardly any more than surface. Have the shipper prepay or open an UPS account (you get a discount). The government of Canada (regardless of the party in power) needs its cut. If the value of the shipment is less than C$20 no taxes or duty. UPS will also charge a brokerage fee if the value is over C$20.
Hope this helps! E

[leadbelly]

Originally Posted by mickeymoose

I found UPS the cheapest way to ship. Go to their web site and use their calculator. Air is hardly any more than surface. Have the shipper prepay or open an UPS account (you get a discount). The government of Canada (regardless of the party in power) needs its cut. If the value of the shipment is less than C$20 no taxes or duty. UPS will also charge a brokerage fee if the value is over C$20.
Hope this helps! E

? I think the general consensus of the Canadians on the forum would be exactly the OPPOSITE of this. Make UPS your LAST choice, and never agree to plain jane UPS, always take the option with brokerage fees included, it only looks more expensive, but saves cost in the end.

I would absolutely positively go regular mail myself.

[mickeymoose]

So lb: where do you get your "general consensus" from? E

[leadbelly]

Originally Posted by mickeymoose

So lb: where do you get your "general consensus" from? E

Been here since 2002 and made 2500 posts. To say this topic has been discussed a lot would be an understatement.

[carseneau]

So maybe regular mail might be the best? I'm not really in a rush for these items and I know from experience even shipping from the U.S. to Canada can introduce some crazy brokerage fees. Duty and taxes I don't mind so much but when a company gouges you for so much just to sign a paper, it's kind of ridiculous.

[leadbelly]

Originally Posted by carseneau

Duty and taxes I don't mind so much but when a company gouges you for so much just to sign a paper, it's kind of ridiculous.

Well, if you go by mail, you are still paying Canada Post $7.50 to "sign a paper", that is, act act your customs broker. This is obviously cheaper than all the courier companies charge. The other benefit is that small packages are often let go through the mail without bothering to charge you brokerage & taxes. You rarely pay duty nowadays, so much is covered by trade agreements that duty is rare. The only time I paid duty in the last 10 or 15 years was when somebody filled in the customs form incorrectly.

[carseneau]

Thanks leadbelly,

I'll ask them and see what their options are for shipping regular mail.

Have a good one!

[Minion]

Having been a rampant Ebay seller and buyer for may years I learned to never use UPS or Fed EX ......
My first ever purchace on e-bay years ago was a $50 Video card shipped from the US to canada through UPS , the shipping price was $20 , when it got here they charged me another $60 for customs and brokerage fees ......

Another occation I had a friend from the UK mail me a toriodal transformer in a box that was about 6in square , it was mailed COD from the UK with UPS , when it got here they tried to charge me $120 in fees , needless to say I told them to screw themselves .....

Just ask them to use the Local mail but with insurance , when it gets here you will only have to pay the post office about 14% of it"s value in duty ....


Cheers