Looking for your input on brokerage fees.

[fkshiu]

Option 2! Option 2! Option 2!

[banditpowdercoat]

Acctually, I just got off the phone from chewing out a UPS rep. $87 rokerage and other fees for a $295us item. I chew UPS out regularly. Maybe if I stress all their call people out, they realize that they NEED to reduce the BRokerage. Its legalized Extortion. Canada Post, Our Govt who loves to take our $, only charges $5 no matter what the value, for doing the paperwork(Brokerage) Why does UPS get tp charge a % of the stated Value?? Paperwork doesnt change because somehting is more expensive.........


OK, Im done ranting, off to beat my head against the wall

[fencer]

The charges bother me too. It only takes a short walk to Canada Customs to clear your parcel for these courier services. I wouldn't be surprised if it is done electronically. If you really want to rag on someone....ask your supplier not to use a courier service but insist on USPS or don't do business with them.

[littlesilvermax]

FWIW I clear customs myself with UPS, it is a pain, but worth it IMO.

[snarkys]

Originally Posted by fencer

ask your supplier not to use a courier service but insist on USPS or don't do business with them.

Believe me , we would do it if it made sense at all. USPS has a variety of issues from both customer and business standpoints. We are trying to find a way to let the customer have the best of both worlds.

1) USPS often charges more for postage than other services but the low brokerage fees make up for this. If there are no brokerage fees (like in option 2) it simply costs more.

2) USPS's tracking is next to worthless. Most the time it only says it left here and then updates that it has been delivered. This is no help when you are trying to figure out when a package is going to arrive. It also doesn't help when the package got held by customs and it has been two weeks with no delivery ...

3) Our experience is USPS is really unreliable. One shipment will arrive really fast and another shipped on the same day mysteriously takes three weeks. This can be pretty distressing it if is your new $500 skimmer.

4) International packages over a certain weight need to be hand delivered to a post office employee, this is typically all of our packages. Sometimes the wait there is 10 minutes and sometimes it is an hour, Most businesses simply don’t have time for this type of shinanigins.

5) the USPS’s API for integrating their shipping costs into a websites calculator is poor at best. Often results in the customer being both drastically over and under billed because of limited weight and box size options. It is also incapable of telling you that this item is to heavy or to large to be shipped with USPS

6) They also have size and weight limitations. USPS doesn’t take packages over approximately 2 cubic feet which isn’t that big and certainly doesn’t lend itself to our “bulk packaged” idea.