Romans; I hope you don't think I agree with the extra charge. It sucks! Maybe this will help explain what the charges are for. Especially the "additional services".

http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipping/cost/zones/customs_clearance.html

the way how to avoid UPS brokerage fees:

-Place your order at US store with UPS delivery option
-Print out your commercial invoice (PayPal invoice, or e-mail receipt from the store). You may want to make sure that shipper will put the correct price on the package for customs (just send them a note about it)
-Wait for item to be shipped and get your tracking number
-Call UPS, give them tracking number and tell that you want to clear your items by yourself in your local CBSA office. They should instruct you what you will need to do
Note: this mechanism can be only applied for Low Value Shipment program (LVS),when order’s price does not exceed $1600 CAD. In case of more expensive goods you will need to present yourself at the port of entry to clear your goods, or find a broker to do this for you.

If for any reason UPS still tells you that you can not clear items by yourself in local CBSA office, and you must go to the port of entry in order to pay duties/taxes – it is illegal! Insist on your rights. Tell that they violate the law. Mention that there is an official reply from CBSA. If you get the refusal from UPS, write down the name of the person you talked to, time, and phone number you called in. Please describe your case to me and I will forward it to the person in CBSA who investigated my case and replied to my inquiry. I’m not posting his contact information here to avoid spam. He advised to contact him if this issue is repeated again.

I believe that it should be applied not only to UPS, but to all other courier services. For example, FedEx brokerage fees must be avoided in the same way.

Updated information as of October 17, 2010.

Canada Customs (CBSA) officially replied and provided procedure of self clearing process which UPS, CBSA offices, and importers should follow:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are planning to have future shipments sent to you by courier from outside Canada, you do have the option of refusing the accounting services offered by the company, choosing instead to clear the goods yourself through your local CBSA office. If you choose to do this, you will not incur any brokerage fees. The two options available to you are the following:

1. Prior to receiving your shipment, you can contact the courier company and inform them of your wish to self-clear any shipments that are addressed to you and on which brokerage fees are applicable. The company will explain their procedures to you.

2. As an alternative, when a casual shipment is delivered to you, you can refuse delivery and advise the courier company of your intention to self-clear directly with the CBSA. In this case, please ensure that you take note of the unique shipment identifier number on the package, as the shipment will be returned to the courier’s warehouse.

With both options, you will need to visit your local CBSA office and provide them with specific details, including the courier’s name, the unique shipment identifier number, a description of the goods and their value so that the CBSA can correctly assess the goods. This information is usually indicated on the shipment’s invoice, which will be provided to you by the courier company. When you have paid the applicable duties and/or taxes to the CBSA, you will be given an official receipt indicating that the goods have been accounted for. You will need to present this receipt to the courier’s warehouse where your shipment is stored, in order for the courier to release your shipment to you.

We may conclude, that in order to self-clear goods in local CBSA office we need following:
- Courier’s name: UPS
- Unique shipment identifier number: UPS must provide
- Shipment’s invoice: UPS must provide
- Place where the package is being held
Let’s stop UPS outrageous behavior and lawlessness, and force them to obey the simple law and allow importers to self-clear without paying brokerage fees!

Tell about this procedure to all people who use UPS (or other couriers with high brokerage fees) to import goods from US into Canada! If UPS will hear about it from importers hundreds/thousands times per day, they will definitely start to use new procedure.

alg8er, All that my head hurt. Would anyone really go through all that listed above for a 50 dollar item?

Like most who have been burned, I will continue to look for the Vendors that DON'T use UPS. That unknown blindsided hit with the EXTRA Fee has made me bitter. I'm pretty sure they have burned me for over a 1000 bucks in the last 3 years. The not so Funny part is, I know I will see the f ing brown truck in front of my door again. Boooooo.

what i figured out is if you want something shipped up from the United States always get it sent USPS, its the cheapest way and they rarely hit you with the bullshit charge UPS gives you. I personnaly have been raped by these bastards numerous times and are fed up with it!!!!!

I have to deal with UPS and their "brokerage" charges (more like extortion it seems) from a couple US vendors i buy products for my business from. In both cases, the vendors will only ship via UPS to Canada. As well, We get royally hosed on the brokerage charges, and the amounts seem all over the place. I've received orders with similar values and weight with totally different brokerage fees from UPS. Fortunately the couple companies that will only ship UPS have very low pricing so it is still affordable to purchase from them, and we incorporate the brokerage fees into our cost of goods.

Personally speaking, I'd poke my eye out with a hot and rusty fork before I ever used UPS to deliver a package here in Canada.
I live close enough to the border that I will order via UPS and have the package shipped to a drop-ship business that holds the thing and I cross the line to pick it up. This little business (Beatta's in Oroville, WA) specializes in drop-shipments and is always crammed to the rafters with packages awaiting pick up from Canadian customers. It is obviously enough of an issue for people to create this business. I'd reckon that half the packages sitting their are either bike or car tires.