[jdcross]

I think we'll find that all couriers have an agreement with the Govt of Canada to charge PST, GST duties etc. and are allowed to charge a customs clearance fee.
Couriers get to keep a share of this revenue in exchange for providing a service to the Government.
This is standard procedure from Govt to merchants who collect taxes like GST on behalf of the government
They will always charge fees as they are required to and they get to keep some of it.

So, there is no point complaining about various couriers. They all charge fees.
Ship by Royal Mail, USPS, Canada Post etc. exclusively if you want the best chance of minimizing taxes and duties.

If you leave the decision to a shipper they will usually use the shipping method that is easiest for them to use.
It may not be the postal system.
You have to specify to the shipper to use a Govt postal services.
If they won't do that then either don't buy or be prepared to pay duties and taxes and fees.

 

[raspberry-patch]

My experience and ranking, when buying personally for me in Canada from retailers outside of Canada - which typically means ~ DAP (Delivered at Place, using Incoterms) FOB is a maritime term, often used, but usually incorrectly used and DDP refers to the originator owes the taxes and duty.

Remember you have the right to refuse an order, based on carrier. If you do, politely and with respect explain why, you are not giving them business.

And the seller does not or may not be able to support other options. A sale is a negiotated agreement.

You also need to understand.. the seller pays for shipment (DAP), but you are still responsible for VAT (HST+ and Duties) and the really painful part the administration fees, which can sometime be hideous and often hidden until the end. (Like AC fuel charges, et cetera)


the experience in 2020 from good to worst

* Postal system - including PostNord (Sweden), USPS, RoyalMail, Japan Post and Canada Post - best value, dependable, but you have to be comfortable with no tracking, and you may or may not be charged for duties and taxes.

* Fedex - you get tracking, reliable and always billed for taxes and duties. Process is not unified, sometimes I get a call, sometime hard mail. I sometimes get two separate bills for the same shipment. Cost adder to handle transaction is often <30$. Challenge is, UPS does a better job than Fedex to make them attractive to the retailer.

* DHL - which is part of GermanPost - their changes to automated billing was BAD! I got returns from Korea, Singapore and Finland due to their failures. I am thankful the retailers at the other end, resent it, accepted the fault was with DHL Canada. It is gotten better, and I do not shy away from DHL lately. DHL in a previous job (Operations Director), was a reliable global provider. I see their handling fees variable and typically 20-40$.

* UPS - in my old job, UPS performance for lost was bad - real bad. So in working with our suppliers, we provided different terms based on shippers, given the poor performance of UPS. As far as personal activity, charges are typically mid 30s to 90s. Yep, I received a new tool from Lie-Nielsen this spring, and UPS added 88 Cdn (plus the 13$ for duties and taxes). LN agreed this was outside their policy and agreements with UPS as they posted in their policies, so I got a 50 US$ credit (which I have used), and their recommendation - do not use their website for an order - call. I since did, and took my 50$ with a couple of new low-angle jack plane blades.

UPS does a great job to integrate with other retailers, and they reward themselves by killing it with a hidden transaction fee to the end consumer.

As above, I carefully look at the shipper - try to get Postal, will call them if necessary. If I do not like what is propose (and it is unacceptable) and they will not alter, I will politely say, given the poor and expensive performance of xxxx, I will not buy. Sadly sometimes UPS is to engrain with a sole source.

....

it is not international, but Purolator is good.

....

morale of the story .... duty and taxes are a legal requirement, but some carriers are abusing the times and charging horrendous handling fees, which are hidden until the unit-sale is complete.

 

[DDB]

I'm sorry but Danielsson is NOT the problem here! The title of this thread is misleading.

Living under Canadian import regs is the issue. The same problems obtain if you buy something anywhere else outside Canada.

Its not up to Danielsson to fix Canada. Only Canadians can do that.

 

[Back Eddy]

I'm sorry but Danielsson is NOT the problem here! The title of this thread is misleading.

Living under Canadian import regs is the issue. The same problems obtain if you buy something anywhere else outside Canada.

Its not up to Danielsson to fix Canada. Only Canadians can do that.

Being a Canadian I have to agree... Just another tatctic by the government to add a tax and not call it a tax because products here already have layers of tax..

I am with another poster be quick on the trigger for one posted here and save some pennies. The quality is so good new/used makes no difference

 

[sevilla315]

An important thing raised here is that with postal services it's untracked and unless you declare true value on the customs form and pay for extra insurance you're sol if it goes missing in transit.
The 4 things I've lost over the years were all sent national post. 3 were sent np by the sender, the last I elected to send np because a tracked method seemed very expensive (over $30 for a $100 fly line).
All were valued at over $100 USD and 2 senders resent another but really had no obligation to.
I will always use a tracked method in sending or receiving goods now, its not worth the risk, even if it means I will definitely get nailed for VAT/duty.

 

[jdcross]

Every parcel I ship with Canada Post has a tracking number.
It comes with the service.
I don't know where people are getting that no tracking is available with the post office.

Am to chime in with other posters, the title of this thread is not fair to Danielsson.
It has nothing to do with them.
It's a self inflicted wound.

 

[raspberry-patch]

Jdcross,

Yes, postal has tracking and canada post tracking with canada does work well. I have had moderate success when it is tracking from one postal service to another. It may be getting better, but when shipping post, I practice patience.

 

[Leo M]

I disagree. As I stated before and another poster mentioned, there is some king of trade agreement between Canada/North America and the EU, not exactly sure who, when the postal system is used. Prior to this I have purchased 5 reels from Danielsson and have never had an issue until now. Never paid any fees 5 times in a row. I'm not that lucky to have 5 reels sneak through Canada Customs. I was also told by Danielsson it would be $11.50 but it was $64.60.

Danielsson makes an excellent product and I'm not saying they are a bad company. I'm quite confident in saying that if they had used the postal system this time it would have saved me $64.06 due to a trade agreement that the couriers don't abide by for some reason.

Leo

 

[raspberry-patch]

Leo,

I believe what you are referring to is a country postal policy specific - Customs Requirements | Canada Post, goto section 2.2. What we have benefited from is that Canada Post and their agents have not always adhered to their policy, and frequently the handling fee is 0. It is a crown corporation, who is expected to make a "mild" profit.

I have yet to experience in years, a mis-application of duty, but I have paid HST frequently.

I do not believe I have ever been charge a duty on fishing gear, including receiving rods from Bob, Kerry, et cetera,

I will still note the 10$ fee for handling is less than Fed-Ex, DHL and UPS. And consider, a shipping charge for retail is broken into 4 components, and keeping to a DAP Incoterm

1. Shipping charge to originator - such as Danielsson, borne by the retailer
2. Taxes - such as HST - borne by us. These taxes are defined by the Canadian Government.
3. Duties - usually 0 for us in fly fishing - borne by us These costs are covered in Trade Agreements
4. Handling Fees by the agent who collects the taxes and duties, and maintains the paperwork for the government - borne by us. These costs are set by the carriers. For CanadaPost it is 9.95 and for UPS is can be 88$.

If you are dealing with CanadaPost - items 2-4 are often waived or dropped, as if they were the good cop (yeah, you were speeding at 11k over, and thus not wave down). This is why you and I prefer postal system. If you are dealing with UPS, DHL, UPS, 2-4 is never waived, and item 4 can be extraordinary high and a bad surprise.

I am not a CanadaPost employee, advocate, et cetera. A explain in a previous set of similar threads, I was responsible for the Operations of a Company that had ship-receive 3000+items a month - globally, where a single component could cost over 30kUSD. As such, I had custom agents on staff, and though an engineer, I learnt-taught the details of Incoterms, costing, et cetera, with a thanks to a dam fine mentor, who taught me how operations was a substantial player in cost-profitability. Though, I am not in Operations anymore, I will help with handling some of the more difficult elements - such as air freight of large lithium (data centers, telecom towers), and regulatory compliance under UN 38.3 and IATA regulation (here I I find Kuhne&Nagel and DHL my gotos) to anywhere (including Christmas Island Yes, that Christmas Island, and though we know it for bonefishing, it is a good location for satellite and oceanic cable landing points.)

There was a dispute in NAFTA 2, where Trump wanted the Items 2-4 to be waived for American business for a purchase of up to 800 US$, to allow for more american retailers to sell to canadians, but this was not agreed to. Of course, Canadian retailers balked at this.

I am not dismissing your disappointment, far from it, but ideally, help in breaking down the how the pain is applied, and who is accountable. If you understand the structure, you have a better chance in controlling your costs.

David

 

[jdcross]

I disagree. As I stated before and another poster mentioned, there is some king of trade agreement between Canada/North America and the EU, not exactly sure who, when the postal system is used. Prior to this I have purchased 5 reels from Danielsson and have never had an issue until now. Never paid any fees 5 times in a row. I'm not that lucky to have 5 reels sneak through Canada Customs. I was also told by Danielsson it would be $11.50 but it was $64.60.
Danielsson makes an excellent product and I'm not saying they are a bad company. I'm quite confident in saying that if they had used the postal system this time it would have saved me $64.06 due to a trade agreement that the couriers don't abide by for some reason. Leo

Trade agreements between Canada, the EU, the UK, and Scandinavia establish the rate of tariff/duty that goods from the exporting country will be charged when they are imported.
You can do a search on the Govt of Canada website and it will tell you the tariff you will be charged on a fishing reel imported from Russia, Italy, the UK etc.
I assume you are aware Sweden is not in the EU so you would have to look up the tariff the Govt of Canada would charge for the reel from there.
Most tariffs are charged on the FOB price not the delivered price so you generally don't pay a tariff on the shipping costs.

These trade agreement tariffs have nothing to do with postal services or shipping/courier rates.
Shipping is a completely separate business.

You state ".....quite confident in saying that if they had used the postal system this time it would have saved me $64.06...."
That is likely true.

However the choice of the method of shipping is the responsibility of the buyer not the seller.
If you tell a seller to ship USPS or Royal mail or no sale then it's clear what is to happen
If you give the seller the option to ship by whatever method they choose, you have to live with the charges.
In this case it seems you gave Danielsson the choice to ship by whatever method they preferred.
As the buyer you accepted those terms and ended up with surprise charges.

I would argue that just about everyone who has ever imported anything has been stung by surprise shipping related costs.
I know I have paid more in custom's clearance fees on FedEx than the goods were worth.
I left the choice to a seller and got stung.
My fault.
Now I would suggest most buyers don't leave shipping methods to chance

 

[Whiskey Dick]

"I would argue that just about everyone who has ever imported anything has been stung by surprise shipping related costs.
I know I have paid more in custom's clearance fees on FedEx than the goods were worth.
I left the choice to a seller and got stung.
My fault."

Same happened to me, Bought a couple of reels from a nice chap in Canada and he wanted to use FedEx for the better tracking and i said sure and paid for FedEx to ship, They delivered the reels on time and a week later i received a bill for Customs and Broker fees for $65.00

 

[sevilla315]

Every parcel I ship with Canada Post has a tracking number.
It comes with the service.
I don't know where people are getting that no tracking is available with the post office.

Am to chime in with other posters, the title of this thread is not fair to Danielsson.
It has nothing to do with them.
It's a self inflicted wound.

For the 4 items that I've lost, 2 were completely untraceable even with reference numbers and one was coming from France to UK.
It is true that tracking has improved for national post but it is patchy at best, especially between countries. Curiously the best tracking was when the item entered the UK for international parcels but it still didn't help me trying to get it found or impossible to make any sort of claim as the receiver.
Of course other national post services may have been better.

 

[Raphael]

I assume you are aware Sweden is not in the EU

Nope, it's been EU member since 1995.

R

 

[sevilla315]

I would say that you should always do due diligence and use a duty calculator and determine what you are theoretically liable for.
If you then get charged 0 then that's a bonus.
There are also limits to what you can insure an item for via some national post orgs.
$1000 CAD for Canada and at one stage a spat between USPS and RM meant items sent national post could only be insured for $85 or so.
I bought some reels from Canadian reel maker who always sent national post saying he never lost one in 20 years. I never lost one nor any of the rods I received from James Reid but I always sweated until they arrived as the value always exceeded the insurance limit by a long way.
The item was always transferred to HMRC for duty calculation and then Parcelforce (RM courier arm) on our side so the chance of escaping vat/duty on our end is quite slim - though I have on a couple of occasions including once for a Charlton Mako reel!
In the UK VAT is always charged on the value including shipping.

 

[raspberry-patch]

jdcross - As noted Sweden is part of the EU (this is also reflected in my residency-work card (a "green" card, but it mostly pink)).

The one notable deviation I have come across within the framework of the EU, is that Sweden still uses Krona for currency. Sweden is nearly cashless, as 99% of transactions are on plastic.

 

[jdcross]

Nope, it's been EU member since 1995.

R

I stand corrected.
It's the Euro they voted against not membership
My bad

 

[Leo M]

I will say one thing, they are quick. Six days and the reel is in my hand. Reel was shipped end of day on the 26th of January.

Leo

 

[dtrap]

To bad for your experience with Danielsson as I've had just the opposite experience with them.
Just this past week I got a new reel from them, ordered it 6PM Jan 29th, received the reel at my doorstep via DHL at 6PM Feb 1st!! Three day service from Sweden, fantastic. Will fish it tomorrow.

 

[Robert Pauli]

For the USA folks reading this thread, my experience with Danielsson and the Postal Service from Sweden to the US has been superb. Regarding the non-postal shipping services my company frequently ships and receives by UPS/FedEx/DHL. DHL is the best for on time performance and good service, and the only service to use if your financial life depends on it, but we use it as infrequently as possible due to its high cost.

 

[sevilla315]

For the USA folks reading this thread, my experience with Danielsson and the Postal Service from Sweden to the US has been superb. Regarding the non-postal shipping services my company frequently ships and receives by UPS/FedEx/DHL. DHL is the best for on time performance and good service, and the only service to use if your financial life depends on it, but we use it as infrequently as possible due to its high cost.

Yes but the whole thread was about import duty/HST/VAT. There is no tax/duty from Sweden to the USA