Golly....Let's go back to Donald's administration where tariff's became his hallmark of Making America Great...in 2020 Canada imposed at $2.7B worth of tariff's in retaliation of imposing duties on our trading partners. This also happened through parts of Asia and Europe. I was in the high tech industry and we lost a considerable amount of business....when you throw a hammer at somebody, be prepared to have an anvil thrown back at you. But we got a lot of nice hats.

 

UPS is brutal for their import fees and crappy service when importing into Canada. I will refuse to have anything shipped to me using UPS from another country; I'll find a way around it. Fed-Ex is pretty good and you can pay duties on the phone.

 

I found this out a few years ago with UPS shipping into Canada. Have always tried to use USPS/Canada Post and don't see any extra charges. The problem is a lot of places use UPS in the States and I am sure get some deal from them. Trying to explain about cross border shipping is often lost on many businesses.

 

My guess is it's your tariff fees. Go online at USPS and pick their zip code. Put yours in for receiving. Then since it throws up a set of parameters for postage and fees. It's easy if it's
a check. It gets really complicated if it's parts.

Australia is totally insane. met a guy who later I was trying to ship a Duece fender rack to. Tariffs and shipping were three times what it was worth on eBay as a used part here. For years, I had two landlords living in Canada that I rented two winter places in MX. It was close to $9000. I always paid them in MX. It was hundreds of dollars to mail a check if I declared it. I could send them a Christmas card for a $1.25 or so. Best I can tell, coming the other way, this country doesn't do that.

 

yeah the brokerage fees in some cases have been ridiculous (I found DHL the worst when importing) to the point that I stopped buying from the US for a while. That being said I have no problem keeping it local if I can. I recently found out that while I was on the search of some hard to locate parts (during Covid) that some US Ebay sellers use the Global Shipping Program that sets the duty/tax price up front so at least you can see/compare pricing (including the fees) before you buy and nothing extra to pay when it arrives.

 

I feel bad for our Canadian friends on this. It is ridiculous that two countries that share such a long border can't ship items back and forth without so much red tape and money involved.

 

I've learned over the last 20 years or so when getting bike parts shipped from the US or England, that you only want to use the Postal Service of either country. Sometimes you might get charged the standard 5 % GST, but more often than not then don't even charge that on bike parts. If the parts are over 25 yrs old, then their are no tariffs. Tariffs and taxes like GST or PST are different and usually you will only pay an actual tariff on an item from a country that Canada doesn't have a trade agreement with. Any of the courier companies, use brokerages and then seem to charge a flat $ 35. fee no matter what. So if the outfit I'm buying from won't ship via USPS, then I go to one that will. Just not worth the brokerage fees.

For the last 11 years I've lived within 60 miles of the US border so I often just us a US shipping address and then bring the item across the border myself. Most of the bike items I bring across are in the $ 200 range and I have yet to have to pay anything. It does help that a lot of the stuff is used. Tires are an interesting one. If it is a dunlop that is made in the US then there is no tariff. If it is a tire that isn't made in the US then there will be a tariff. Same goes for clothing etc.

 

I've ordered parts from Italy and had them sent to Florida. Sometimes I have to pay customs fees, other time not. I never could figure it out. One order was several thousand dollars, and it came straight to me. Another order was a couple hundred and cost me custom fees.

That was also back in 2000-2004.

 

All about protectionism and we pay the price !!!!!

 

Well if it was up to me, you'd pay nothing. Mercantilism should have died with the people who coined the term. It is one of the most foolish ideas in the history of capitalism.