Some of you may remember that I purchased a Copeland Low D whistle from a fellow chiffer last week who had fallen on hard times.
Well the whistle arrived today and I was charged $177.48 in duty and taxes. I would never have been charged this if the product was shipped USPS.
Don’t let this happen to you!! 
WOW, that’s incredible!! That’s highway robbery! What makes the difference between UPS and USPS?
Gerry,
I thought NAFTA was supposed to do away with this kind of tariff. It’s probably not United Parcel’s fault though. They are just following the rules made up by the idiots in Washington and Ottawa. It makes no sense at all that small transactions like that should be taxed to death. Sheesh!
Mike
UPS is a Transport Company, who deal mostly with merchandise, and USPS is a postal service. That is the only difference that I can think of. When you ship by USPS the chances are that the product will not get held up at customs ~ hence no duty or taxes or ridiculous Broker fees.
Cheers
Gerry
Think before you Think before you Talk!
[ This Message was edited by: WhistlingGypsy on 2002-12-19 11:45 ]
i would protest, appeal or something. that has to be an error.
meir
Outrageous, Gerry. Hope you’re not regretting your generous impulse. The perils of UPS were discussed in an earlier thread - http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=2493&forum=1. But it’s good that you remind us.
From my point of view as a free-trade skeptic, there is worse. Quoting myself from the earlier thread:
On 2002-02-05 08:09, StevieJ wrote:
Here you can read about another good](http://www.stopftaa.org/organize/org_naftacort.html%22%3Egood) > reason for Canadians to boycott UPS.
Go back and question them. I believe your brokerage fee should be about $18.00 I import from Canada all the time and the brokerage bill is between $18 to $35.00.
Make sure you tell them it is a not a new item and it is for personal use.
UPS Canada is not near as good as the company in the states. You are lucky they did not loose it on you.
Yeah, same happened to me when I received my Copeland about two years ago. I got taxed for about 80$. Actually, got taxed 15% of 400$US. I don’t understand why you had to pay 170$. I’ve been told that it’s possible to contest the tax, you need a letter from Jim saying that he sent you the whistle as a gift or sample.
By the way, I’m sure that there’s different rules based on who does it, where it’s being done, etc. Different part of Canada seems to have different understanding of the “law”, 'cause all of the people I know that ordered from the states had to pay different fees. I’m sure there’s lots of opportunities to contest the taxes as most of the border dudes don’t seem to exactly know how to tax whistles.
Following a lead from this thread to the Bishop one a bit further, I found this pictorial testimonial to UPS on the Copeland site:
It’s part of a pair of “before and after” photos advertising Copeland’s repair services, and the title is “Before (thanks to UPS)”.
An Pluiméir Ceolmhar
[ This Message was edited by: Roger O’Keeffe on 2002-12-19 12:11 ]
I have been burned much by this through buying & selling on ebay. UPS ground shipping you have to pay brokerage fees and then the taxes on whatever the declared value is, no exceptions. UPS air you do not BUT the initial shipping cost is outrageous!
USPS you would still have to pay the same fees (lower brokerage fee $5.00) BUT if the item is marked as a gift you may get by without the charges! I have still be nailed even with it marked as a gift. The post office said that if it is a gift they should not mark down a value amount, then they cannot tax you on anything? Also I have read that if the item is marked as a tin flute/whistle you will not be charged but if it just says whistle - that is a whole different tax bracket?
Sorry you got nailed so badly, that really sucks!!!
Cheryl
On 2002-12-19 11:54, Wizzer wrote:
Go back and question them. I believe your brokerage fee should be about $18.00 I import from Canada all the time and the brokerage bill is between $18 to $35.00.
Make sure you tell them it is a not a new item and it is for personal use.
UPS Canada is not near as good as the company in the states. You are lucky they did not loose it on you.
I’d hardly call UPS in the States “good.” We stopped using it years ago because the number of items that arrived broken or were lost completely was way beyond reasonable.
I hate it when people use UPS to ship to me, because a) it’s highly likely (almost inevitable) that, if the object is at all fragile, no matter how well packed it is, it will be broken and b) UPS likes to dump deliveries in the middle of my driveway rather than carry them up to the porch. My bank ships checks via UPS, and I once even arrived home to find that they’d left my box of checks at the BOTTOM of my driveway, where any Tom, Dick or Harry walking down the road could have picked them up. Nowadays I pay the extra fee and have the bank ship them Airborne Express.
Redwolf
Here’s UPS’s response as to why this happened. The inquiry was made by the seller
"Thank you for your inquiry. We apologize for any inconvenience
caused by this matter. UPS automatically brokers all shipments
that qualify as gifts. In order for a package to be considered
a “Gift Shipment,” the following conditions apply:
The words, “GIFT SHIPMENT” must be added to the commercial invoice
as well as the to the Special Instructions box of the UPS International
Waybill.
The package must be sent from an individual to another individual
only.
The gift limit is $60CAD ($42USD) per commodity regardless of
the number of individuals receiving the gifts.
The invoice or declaration must include description, unit value
and total value for each item. If one commodity is over $60CAD,
the import duty and taxes will be determined by the total shipment
value and may be charged.
For UPS Standard/Ground packages, if any commodity is over $60CAD,
brokerage fees would also apply. If the shipment qualifies as
a gift shipment and is under the gift limit, no brokerage fees
will be assessed.
The policies and procedures regarding the import charges are
determined by the government of the importing country and beyond
the control of UPS. For this reason, we are not able to guarantee
they will not be assessed. If you feel that the receiver was
incorrectly charged, please contact have your receiver contact
their local UPS for assistance.
Thank you for using UPS Internet Services."
On 2002-12-19 12:03, Azalin wrote:
Yeah, same happened to me when I received my Copeland about two years ago. I got taxed for about 80$. Actually, got taxed 15% of 400$US. I don’t understand why you had to pay 170$. I’ve been told that it’s possible to contest the tax, you need a letter from Jim saying that he sent you the whistle as a gift or sample.
The reason for the difference is that although the product was marked ‘Gift’ the seller wanted to insure it so he gave a value of $500 US. Therefore I have to pay the tax on that amount. If you know anymore about contesting it I would appreciate the info. I will be calling Canada Customs when I get a spare minute.
Thanks everyone for the information
I’m really sorry for you, Whistling real Gypsy. I remember you bought that whistle on a whim and mostly to help the fella out, and were yet to finance it.
Is Canada customs getting bonkers? Or is it you have the worst possible UPS subsidiary ?
I got today a tube through UPS from Ohio. This carried two whistles and an extra tube. Paid $300 odd for it, plus shipment UPS “Express” (not Plus). It took +2 days in all from middle of nowhere, OH, to tip of land’s end, Brittany. No customs charge bullshit and just the usual smile from the man in brown.
Details : the “Description of goods” was left void. The “declared value of shipment for Customs only” has the honest $310.
Last week, I got a USPS tube. Wasn’t worse, just slower by 5 days.
From what I read, it seems importing from the US here is easier than from Canada. Do you protect local whistlesmiths? None I can think of, beside NA flutes 
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2002-12-19 18:19 ]
Why any Govt. thinks they should get a penny for things crossing a line only seen on paper is beyond me!
If I had been standing at the boarder and handed Gerry the whistle in front of the boarder guard nothing would have happen… other than the sound of someone playing a whistle moments later…
So why then do they (both Govt.s) feel the need or right to gouge people for accepting items from the other side of that line on the map is insane!! Or we are if we sit back and put up with it…
I’ll be sending a letter to help erase at least the (extortion) tax…
Also, if I ever ship items that I feel should be insured… I’ll contact a private insurance company. That way the package will be safe, and tax free.
I refuse to allow this act of kindness to turn into the fleecing of a kind man.
And we all at least from what I can see have the tools needed to contact our govt. officials and let them know the people they work for will fire them if they don’t get this issue fixed soon.
For every person that writes about a issue the Govt. figures 100,000 others feel the same way but refuse to put down the remote long enough to tell them…
If everyone that reads this sends a letter, email…
I got my original Britton set of pipes back in 91, and was ABSOLUTELY appalled when I got charged close to 300.00 in duties and taxes by Canada Customs(and yes, they were sent UPS).
Never never again…
Morale :
If you like Brittons,
Live in Brittany.
Zub’s popular sayings and ethnic proverbs, wholesale.
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2002-12-19 19:19 ]
On 2002-12-19 11:46, StevieJ wrote:
Outrageous, Gerry. Hope you’re not regretting your generous impulse.
Well Steve, after playing the Copeland for most of the session last night, I am certainly not regretting buying it. It is an amazing instrument. I can honestly say that it is the first high-end whistle that I have actually loved from the minute I put it to my lips ~ amazing responsiveness and a beautiful tone.
I had no regrets either way, however. I have made a new friend in Portland and now own the instrument that I have always coveted. This was just a small bump in the road.
On Azalins advice I have filled out a B2G form where I can at least try to claim back the taxes (the $60 in brokers fees is most likely lost). I am hoping this will work, but knowing our Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, I wont be banking on it.
What would happen if you refused it at customs? Would they return to sender and the sender could then try a different shipping method?