posted on August 3, 2000 07:20:23 PM new
I'd guess that 99% of eBay sellers in the US are not aware that, when they use UPS to ship cross-border, UPS adds on a substantial brokerage charge.
This is a hidden charge and UPS never seems to disclose it up front to sellers. The result is that sellers quote a shipping rate to their international customers, but when the item arrives, UPS collects an additional amount at delivery time from the buyer.
This is not Customs duty, nor is it taxes. It is a UPS charge for doing the paperwork at the border. USPS does not charge such a fee.
The fees are quite hefty. For example, a $90 US item was levied a UPS brokerage fee of $34 Canadian. These fees are listed on the UPS site but they are buried in an obscure location and it would never occur to a seller to check.
Bottom line: UPS is not up-front about disclosing its full fees. It's worse than being attracted to a service because of a low-ball price then traded-up by the salesperson. The seller, in this case, is never advised. If they were, they and their buyers could make a better-informed decision (to use a service other than UPS). As it is, buyers are cornered by this unscrupulous tactic.
By the way, international buyers are not the only ones that are dinged with brokerage fees. US buyers (with cross-border sellers) are just cut a little more slack by UPS, which gives them free brokerage up to a certain dollar amount.
UPS' significant fees are no guarantee of superior service. Read some of the posts in the Shipping area of Auction Watch and your hair will stand on end. And UPS couldn't care less.
