# Shipping from the US, Fedex vs UPS



## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Anyone with post pandemic experience with either option? I am going to order a guitar from Weir Guitars in California. He told me he used to ship USPS to Canada but has had problems since the pandemic so he won't use them anymore. He normally ships UPS but says he could also do Fedex. In the distant past I have been hit with large fees for customs brokerage from UPS. I'm fine with paying the PST and GST but they added on a $50 charge for brokerage. Do they still do this? Does Fedex do the same?


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

I do FedEx with stuff I buy from mojotone. It always comes quickly, and all I've ever paid is the tax and a $15 border fee. I feel FedEx is way better than UPS.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

The only difference between Fedex and UPS is when they ding you. UPS want the money up front. Fedex sends you the bill a few weeks later. Personally I would ask for DHL. Flat rate plus tax.


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## Jeffery Young (Mar 5, 2019)

Shipping with UPS Standard or Fedex Ground, vs. their other services, incurs the highest brokerage fees, and the amount depends on the value of your package. All of these services (and USPS) will charge something like a $10-20 fee on top of the duties/taxes regardless (should only be your provincial/federal taxes on a US made guitar).

Here is the UPS schedule of brokerage fees by service type and value of package: Rates for Customs Clearance into Canada: UPS - Canada

I can't find the Fedex schedule, but it's similar (just replace "UPS Standard" with "Fedex Ground"). It is possible to do the brokerage yourself, but there's a process to this that you can look up.

I'm happy using UPS/Fedex (unlike some others), but I do like to know what I'm in for before hand!


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## Jeffery Young (Mar 5, 2019)

And one more thing... I've found Fedex/UPS slightly better than USPS/Canada Post during the pandemic, but there can be delays with any service right now.

As for UPS vs Fedex - I think that might depend on where you are located. Depending on who has the better infrastructure near you (and maybe even the better drivers) likely makes a difference. For me (I live on Vancouver Island) the UPS facility is close by and I like my driver, so I find UPS to be great and slightly better than Fedex (or Canada Post).


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## teleboli (Aug 19, 2009)

From multiple experiences during pandemic. Do not use USPS/Can Post for anything other than green bananas. Even then. They were fine before the pandemic but not since.

UPS and FedEx will each pop you for something. The biggest $ will be tax on the declared value of the instrument, so.....

Either is good but not USPS/Canada Post currently. IMHO


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## Tom T (May 3, 2016)

I’ve probably had 30 guitars shipped up from the US over the years and have found that FedEx and UPS are similar in terms of service, and as mentioned above they charge a fee for their in house brokerage.
I usually ask the vendor to put a lower price on the instrument to avoid larger duties (if they are willing), and with the in house brokering there is a far lesser chance that there will be any scrutiny. 
I received a guitar shipped via Fedex from Seattle this past Friday and it was fine.
I wouldn’t use USPS/Can Post right now.


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## numb41 (Jul 13, 2009)

knight_yyz said:


> The only difference between Fedex and UPS is when they ding you. UPS want the money up front. Fedex sends you the bill a few weeks later. Personally I would ask for DHL. Flat rate plus tax.


mmm, DHL is just as bad. I've had to arrange a border fee payment before they even arrive.
Conclusion: They all suck at some point. My least favourite is UPS


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## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

StewMac sent me a package using Federal Express Mail Service. It sat for weeks waiting for a trailer to fill up before they would start moving towards Canada. It has been weeks since the tracking updated, and StewMac can only tell me to keep waiting. On top of that, the website showed me a price in CDN, but they then converted to USD, so my bank could convert to back to CSD, charge me a service fee.....bottom line was I ended up paying $25 more than I was expecting. 

I have now asked them to resend the order, or refund my money. If they do neither, I will contact my CC company and dispute the charge.

I'm quite disappointed with StewMac.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

numb41 said:


> mmm, DHL is just as bad. I've had to arrange a border fee payment before they even arrive.
> Conclusion: They all suck at some point. My least favourite is UPS




Dhl has a flat rate of 15 dollars CDN plus the required taxes, and yes, they require you to pay ahead of time. I'll take 15 bucks over UPS or FEDEX brokerage fees any day of the week. Purolator does the same thing as DHL, flat rate fee plus applicable taxes. But Purolator is not very big in the USA especially if you go too far south.


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## Jeffery Young (Mar 5, 2019)

knight_yyz said:


> Dhl has a flat rate of 15 dollars CDN plus the required taxes, and yes, they require you to pay ahead of time. I'll take 15 bucks over UPS or FEDEX brokerage fees any day of the week. Purolator does the same thing as DHL, flat rate fee plus applicable taxes. But Purolator is not very big in the USA especially if you go too far south.


This is basically the same as Fedex/UPS fees UNLESS it's either the "UPS Standard" or "Fedex Ground" services, which they probably shouldn't even offer for cross-border shipping as it just surprises the receiver... I think DHL is a fine service too, especially from Germany (where they are based, and its an extension of their national postal service).


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## Jeffery Young (Mar 5, 2019)

Paul M said:


> StewMac sent me a package using Federal Express Mail Service. It sat for weeks waiting for a trailer to fill up before they would start moving towards Canada. It has been weeks since the tracking updated, and StewMac can only tell me to keep waiting. On top of that, the website showed me a price in CDN, but they then converted to USD, so my bank could convert to back to CSD, charge me a service fee.....bottom line was I ended up paying $25 more than I was expecting.
> 
> I have now asked them to resend the order, or refund my money. If they do neither, I will contact my CC company and dispute the charge.
> 
> I'm quite disappointed with StewMac.


Agreed - Stewmac should stop offering this service entirely (and subsequently update their membership as I assume the "free shipping to Canada" is based on it).


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Jeffery Young said:


> Agreed - Stewmac should stop offering this service entirely (and subsequently update their membership as I assume the "free shipping to Canada" is based on it).


After being a StewMax member for 2 years, I let it lapse this year. Small items all went to Sweden first for shipping, which takes about 60 days to make the round trip. Anything larger, they want extra postage or they won't ship it at all. I agree they should just drop it completely.


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## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

StewMac agreed on Monday the 1st to declare my package lost. They told me they would re-send, and I got a notice that it would ship on Wednesday the 3rd. 

On Tuesday the 2nd, (you know where this is going), the original box arrived. I _immediately _phoned to stop the upcoming Wednesday shipment. StewMac is not taking phone calls. So I used the email system to try and stop the shipment. They took too long to respond; the replacement order shipped a day earlier than they told me.

I will refuse the second box if/when it gets here. I've got the original shipment in hand, but the tracking still shows it in New Jersey.

This shouldn't be this hard.


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## numb41 (Jul 13, 2009)

Paul M said:


> StewMac agreed on Monday the 1st to declare my package lost. They told me they would re-send, and I got a notice that it would ship on Wednesday the 3rd.
> 
> On Tuesday the 2nd, (you know where this is going), the original box arrived. I _immediately _phoned to stop the upcoming Wednesday shipment. StewMac is not taking phone calls. So I used the email system to try and stop the shipment. They took too long to respond; the replacement order shipped a day earlier than they told me.
> 
> ...


Keep the second shipment. This happened to me also. I was only charged for one order. Maybe if you hit them where it counts (the wallet), they'll see the consequences.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I mentioned this in another thread. Some companies are able to make deals with the couriers. I know for a fact that Rabbit air has a deal with UPS and UPS does not charge brokerage fees when you buy from them. Some sellers are just plain lazy and refuse to use USPS because it means they have to drive to the post office. UPS and Fedex come to your door and you can even pay them to package the item for you. You don't get that service with USPS. Whether a company uses Ground or Express is up to them. Has anyone even looked at how much more Express costs than ground? I just tried an example myself. shipping a 13 lb guitar from Hamilton to San Francisco. Box is 45x20x9. UPS Ground $189.00 UPS Express $533.60. As a seller, do you offer the 1st or the 2nd price? I know for a fact that if I was buying online and saw a shipping price of $533 I would be running like the wind to the next website!! How much are you saving on customs when you pay $533 for shipping? But, a high volume company that maybe ships 10 guitars a day to a certain country can get a deal with UPS because it is always better to "buy in bulk". 
We saw this in another thread where someone got a guitar shipped from Germany for 89 dollars and paid no tax. I guarantee they have a special deal with the courier.


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