Canadian Shipping
I think I can help you understand this a little better. UPS has been sending consultants to our company over the last few months to help us prepare for the rapid growth we expect in our business this year.
Last week, UPS sent their international expert in to help us reduce our costs in shipping packages to other countries. Most of the time was spent talking about Canada because Canada is the most difficult country to ship to.
As a Canadian customer receiving packages from the USA you are responsible for your national sales tax (7%), brokerage fee ($4.50 minimum) and an import duty. Now if the product was made in the USA and is not on the restrictive list, it will be import duty free as long as the company fills out a NAFTA form. We are now doing this on all Canadian shipments. This means that you will now only be responsible for sales tax and brokerage fees. You can avoid brokerage fees by having your package shipped by overnight since this includes brokerage fees.
UPS is in the process of helping our company become a licensed Canadian importer. This will mean that you will no longer be responsible for fees, taxes or duties. You will also no longer get a phone call from the brokerage service. Once this happens we will have to raise our Canadian shipping costs, but since you will no longer have to pay the taxes and fees - your savings will be substantial!– Now if we could only do something about the exchange rate!
You can also order our product from CK Sales in Canada. They sell most of our products and you will not have to worry about import fees or the exchange rate.