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Purolator Ground Brokeage Fee (Shipping From US)?

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  • Dec 14th, 2010 2:42 pm
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Deal Addict
Jul 1, 2007
1884 posts
124 upvotes
Calgary

Purolator Ground Brokeage Fee (Shipping From US)?

I am about to buy some stuff form BH Photos in the US and the shipping options are as such:

$25.29 Purolator Ground
2-6 days delivery

$47.71 UPS Worldwide Expedited
2-4 Business Days Delivery

$53.15 UPS Worldwide Saver
1-2 Business Days Delivery

My question is how much brokeage fee would Purolator Ground charge? I know to avoid UPS ground when shipping from US at all costs but I have no idea how Purolator charges brokeage. There's something online saying now I can chose to us who to break the package but it seems to relate to only shipping to US not from?

Thanks.
11 replies
Deal Addict
User avatar
Feb 6, 2003
2158 posts
518 upvotes
COU
darklord700 wrote: .... I know to avoid UPS ground when shipping from US at all costs ....Thanks.
And there's your problem. No brokerage fee on Expedited. Not sure about Worldwide Saver.

What are you buying? I ordered from them a few years ago and didn't get hit with duty, but I wouldn't count on avoiding it every time.
Deal Fanatic
Oct 26, 2008
7022 posts
2907 upvotes
Victoria, BC
I didn't think Purolator had any presence to speak of in the U.S.

http://www.purolator.com/media/corporate/faq.html

Maybe B&H can ship out of a Canadian warehouse under some arrangement they have?

Or, if you choose the Purolator option, it really means USPS Priority Mail Intl. or Global Express to the border, then it gets delivered to you by Purolator.
My guess would be that taxes and any duty would be collected with a $5 or $8 "brokerage" fee.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Dec 9, 2007
955 posts
31 upvotes
Riffer wrote: And there's your problem. No brokerage fee on Expedited. Not sure about Worldwide Saver.

What are you buying? I ordered from them a few years ago and didn't get hit with duty, but I wouldn't count on avoiding it every time.

Same, no fee.
Deal Addict
Nov 11, 2007
1114 posts
137 upvotes
GTA
http://www.photoprice.ca/article/bh-che ... g-tax-duty

Taxes and duties are included in the final price when you order on B&H using Purolator. It's a new thing.
* Ground Purolator shipping is a much more affordable option, when compared to the previous UPS Expedited option. Our quick check shows that shipping costs are, on average, 50% less! Most items ship for less than $20, which is competitive with Canadian retail store shipping.
* B&H Calculates the Tax & Duty & Brokerage, and charges you at time of sale. That means the final price you pay to B&H is the final price to you. No more surprises, and no worrying about the tax bill from your courier when your shipment arrives.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 9, 2010
1239 posts
697 upvotes
Edmonton
Just a quick question in addition to the great info in this thread: does anyone know if, when using UPS Worldwide Expedited from B&H Photo, HST is added on?

The reason I ask is this. When I select "Purolator Ground" as the shipping method for my order for $9.00, the shopping cart automatically calculates the "Duties and Tax" to be around $65. It even breaks down that amount into parts; of that amount, most of it is HST, and about $5 is duty/brokerage. Nice. The grand total winds up being shown as around $430.

Now, if I take the same order, and select "UPS Worldwide Expedited" as my shipping method for $28, the "Duties and Tax" line simply says "Not available." I went through the checkout process anyway, stopping just short of clicking "Submit" to send the order, and even at that point, it still did not show any HST. The grand total I see, just before I would hit the Submit button, is $385 (because nothing is shown for duties nor tax).

I know UPS Worldwide Expedited includes all brokerage fees and such, but the $28 they were charging for it would not seem to include HST (we saw in the Purolator Ground example that the HST was around $60). So, how does that work for them? The photoprice.ca article, and B&H Photo's own website, clearly say that there won't be any hidden fees or anything when the shipment shows up. So if I order with UPS Worldwide Expedited, does that mean "what I see is what I'll pay", and I won't get any nasty surprises when the UPS man shows up? Surely I'm not getting out of paying HST that way?
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 25, 2008
2042 posts
695 upvotes
Ottawa
I bought from eBay several years ago an item for $15US, shipping extra.. I was charged by UPS brokerage and duty for $35.

I was so mad and almost just say forget my purchase and refuse to accept the shipment.

Lesson is not to ship anything by UPS or Fed Ex.
Member
Apr 29, 2007
215 posts
37 upvotes
canadave wrote: Just a quick question in addition to the great info in this thread: does anyone know if, when using UPS Worldwide Expedited from B&H Photo, HST is added on?

...

I know UPS Worldwide Expedited includes all brokerage fees and such, but the $28 they were charging for it would not seem to include HST (we saw in the Purolator Ground example that the HST was around $60). So, how does that work for them? The photoprice.ca article, and B&H Photo's own website, clearly say that there won't be any hidden fees or anything when the shipment shows up. So if I order with UPS Worldwide Expedited, does that mean "what I see is what I'll pay", and I won't get any nasty surprises when the UPS man shows up? Surely I'm not getting out of paying HST that way?

If you ship with UPS Worldwide Expedited, you'll have to pay HST (and any applicable duties) to UPS when the parcel is landed. Brokerage fees are included. This is how it was before B&H introduced the Purolator.

Read this for more details: http://www.photoprice.ca/article/tax-du ... emystified
Newbie
Mar 8, 2007
76 posts
17 upvotes
Vancouver
That is not entirely true. Brokerage fee is included with any UPS shipping (except Ground) for the 1st 5 lines (items) only. That means if you bought 6 different items from B&H shipped by UPS Expedited to Canada, brokerage fee will be applied on the 6th item. The new Purolator Ground shipping offered by B&H is different. All fee are paid when you checked out from B&H, and that's it, no hidden cost when the package was delivered. The only catch is that sometimes the calculated cost might not be accurate so you have to check the break down carefully before paying.
Deal Addict
Nov 3, 2005
1695 posts
48 upvotes
BH Photo video is a great retailer. This is why all 3 options to Canada will not result in any brokerage. The purposely do not provide UPS/Fedex ground services (and their unreasonable brokerage) because they want to keep customers happy.
For the UPS expedited services, you will still have to pay HST on delivery.
Member
Jul 31, 2009
202 posts
6 upvotes
Purolator using UPS when you ship to or from US.You would have Purolator tracking, but UPS will be one to have it on truck.So most likely you wont pay anything additional.
Would suggest to get more info from seller, later one if Puro will charge you, you can claim from seller in case they mention no extra fees will apply for Canada.

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