Radion,duty fee?

[Motorfranco]

Ordered my radion thru marinedepot,together with nextreef reactor and other stuff.
Wondering how it works for duty fee? Anyone have experience ordering stuff from MD? Percentage? How they collect it? Thru UPS?

Have seen some post saying duty fee and brokerage fee could be unreasonable like almost the same amount what you purchased,is that ture?

Any input will be appreciated,i could still have chance to cancel it.

Thx

[Veng68]

Yup........ UPS will collect all taxes (HST) and then charge you a "brokerage fee" which can be $30+ to do all the paper work to clear customs.

Cheers,
Vic

[marie]

Or you could have them send it by usps and then you only get charged $5 brokerage fee.....and the taxes of course

[thanhjenn]

If you want to see how much ups charges. Go on their site and search brokerage fee. If you can USPS is best.

[Motorfranco]

Thanks for the reply!
So I can just ask them to use USPS? How about tax rate?
If USPS takes more tax,it's probably ends up almost the same?
I'll do some search for detail,if anyone can give a quick reply,that will be great,thx

[Myka]

Taxes are always the same, based on the province you are shipping to. UPS brokerage starts at $54 from my experience and goes up depending on the value of the item. Fedex and Purolator have lower brokerage fees than UPS. UPS is the highest.

On another note, be aware when you buy items with warranty from the US you will acquire US warranty which means you have to ship the item back to the US in order to get any warranty work done. I don't care how cheap an item is in the US I will buy it in Canada so that shipping for warranty work is actually worth it. Shipping to the US for warranty costs too much for the warranty to be useful...you may as well count it as no warranty. I would rather pay a little more in Canada and have a warranty that is actually worth something. ;)

[hillegom]

as mentioned usps is the way to go. Postal service!
Taxes will be the same no matter which route you take. But I thought Alberta was tax free?

[mike31154]

No provincial tax in Alberta, but the Feds still take their cut. It's an international purchase, not an inter provincial one. And from my experience, UPS is the devil. Many US companies use them exclusively, they do not give you the choice of using USPS, so be aware of that before you click the "Buy" button.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

UPS are rip off artists, they take like 23% of the value for duties and taxes, then charge a brokerage rfee too.

If I remember the code, there is 13% duty on imports, plus GST

By the time you get it, a local supplier would have been able get it cheaper.

BTW the warrenty issues will force you to resend to the US supplier ot the USA warrant depot too.

Just my findings.

[Motorfranco]

Thx,guys,make the great point,I will try get my stuff from local.

[unclesalty]

Myself I will be saving $1000 by buying my 4 Radions from the US
so buying US is a no brainer for me. Each to their own though!

[doch]

In looking at the prices on Marine depot, and comparing them to some off our sponsors prices, I think you'll be better off going with Canadian dealers. Most of these places will give you free shipping. UPS will rape you. USPS is decent, but you'll pay for shipping which will offset the savings.

unclesalty... where are you buying from and what are you paying for them?

[Motorfranco]

Already cancelled with no charge,thx guys for the info.

[unclesalty]

In looking at the prices on Marine depot, and comparing them to some off our sponsors prices, I think you'll be better off going with Canadian dealers. Most of these places will give you free shipping. UPS will rape you. USPS is decent, but you'll pay for shipping which will offset the savings.

unclesalty... where are you buying from and what are you paying for them?

Sorry I can not say exactly where I got them or they get busted by the "Radion police" for not following the MRSP. What I will say is that there is numerous places selling them for way below the MRSP in Canada and the US. The MRSP is just the price they have to post in their ads. Cheapest in Canada that I found was $675+tax w/free shipping. In the US best price I found $650 tax in w/free shipping, with a few places just a bit over that.

[mike31154]

So you're saving $25 per fixture between US & Canada, which is great, provided you're willing to wait a little longer by having the vendor ship via USPS, if the vendor provides that option. If vendor does not provide that option and uses UPS, you will get a nice little shock, probably a month or so after receipt of goods in the form of a hefty brokerage fee, negating any US/Canada savings. Even if the vendor sends USPS, & the tax at that end appears to be included, you will still be paying duty & probably GST once the goods cross the border.

I've purchased quite a number of items from the USA, mostly using USPS which usually works out to my advantage. Got burned by UPS once & learned that lesson. Also have been getting a number of LED related items from China, generally making sure shipping is included. Been buying small items of relatively low cost, so the duty ends up being negligible. I truly hope the Radion purchase works out for you in the end, if so great, but there is also the warranty issue mentioned in some posts. If you need to send them back for warranty, more shipping across the border nightmares.

[unclesalty]

Myself if any vendor ships UPS only I say no thanks and find one that will ship USPS. Most US vendors will ship how you want it shipped as it doesn't matter to them at all.

[Seamazter]

Once you have your UPS tracking number, call UPS tell them you will handle the import with yourself as the broker. You then goto the Customs and complete the required forms. This will save you the hefty brokerage and lending rate that UPS charges.
Caution tho, if you fail the import forms you can try again, but the customs agents are very unforgiving for wrong answers.

[unclesalty]

Once you have your UPS tracking number, call UPS tell them you will handle the import with yourself as the broker. You then goto the Customs and complete the required forms. This will save you the hefty brokerage and lending rate that UPS charges.
Caution tho, if you fail the import forms you can try again, but the customs agents are very unforgiving for wrong answers.

Thats 1 way of doing it, but myself I can't stand UPS due to getting bent over once so I totally avoid them 100% and refuse to deal with them!

[globaldesigns]

USPS is the way to go, with only $5 fee. That is it! I have had many things shipped by Postal, without issue. However be careful, many companies won't ship USPS, but UPS or other, then you will incur very high costs.

One time I bought 2 laptop batteries, they were around $30 each, but they over doubled in price because of them being shipped by UPS. I am not a fan of that company.

As others stated, warranty is kinda voided in Canada, or called grey market. If something happens, you are on your own, or have to ship back to the US, if they will allow it.

[Motorfranco]

Great info from you guys,thanks!
I cancelled my order from MD and finally get it through my local fish store.
They will be in town in a week.