[kumar402]

I have a somewhat off-topic question about shipping to Canada. I recently sold my Verite Closed to a buyer in Canada, and the transaction went smoothly up until yesterday when I got a notification from UPS about import fees due on the shipment before it can be delivered. Without getting into the specifics, it is a shockingly large fee!

I have never sold anything to anyone outside of the US before, and this fee really caught me and the buyer off guard. Should a Canadian have been well aware of this import tax before buying something from a US seller? At no point did we have any discussion about what to put on the “declared value” section of the customs form. I proceeded to put the exact amount that he bought the headphones for on the form. It’s also the same amount that I insured the package for. Needless to say, I do feel very bad for the buyer in this situation. I don’t feel responsible though, if that makes sense.

I’ve let the buyer know of the import fee due and sent him the link so he can pay it online if he chooses to do so. I’m just a little worried he might opt to refuse the shipment and request a refund through PayPal. This would not be a big deal if we were talking about PortaPros, but this is a LTD Verite Closed and involves a relatively large amount of money. The buyer did respond to my email and acknowledge his shock with the amount of the fee, but he has not paid it or told me explicitly that he plans to pay it. Any advice for me as the seller in this situation?

Custom duties and charges are not easy to decode and if the shipment is shown as gift or something of larger value then it can shockingly high.

Also check with UPS in case duty is not paid. Will it be returned to sender for some fee or way forward in such cases. They will be able to assist for sure.

 

[xero888]

I have a somewhat off-topic question about shipping to Canada. I recently sold my Verite Closed to a buyer in Canada, and the transaction went smoothly up until yesterday when I got a notification from UPS about import fees due on the shipment before it can be delivered. Without getting into the specifics, it is a shockingly large fee!

I have never sold anything to anyone outside of the US before, and this fee really caught me and the buyer off guard. Should a Canadian have been well aware of this import tax before buying something from a US seller? At no point did we have any discussion about what to put on the “declared value” section of the customs form. I proceeded to put the exact amount that he bought the headphones for on the form. It’s also the same amount that I insured the package for. Needless to say, I do feel very bad for the buyer in this situation. I don’t feel responsible though, if that makes sense.

I’ve let the buyer know of the import fee due and sent him the link so he can pay it online if he chooses to do so. I’m just a little worried he might opt to refuse the shipment and request a refund through PayPal. This would not be a big deal if we were talking about PortaPros, but this is a LTD Verite Closed and involves a relatively large amount of money. The buyer did respond to my email and acknowledge his shock with the amount of the fee, but he has not paid it or told me explicitly that he plans to pay it. Any advice for me as the seller in this situation?

Yeah they should've been aware of it unless they have never bought and had stuff shipped from the US before. You can find lots of posts on reddit about Canadians avoiding UPS or finding other options to avoid high import fees. So yeah responsibility for the fees fall on the buyer.

UPS is known to charge ridiculous import fees for us Canadians at least (especially if it's through UPS Ground). I've used UPS Ground once and was charged $40 in fees for an $80 item so even a small declared value like $80 can still incur a massive fee.

For future sales with Canadians, try to avoid UPS or at least use UPS Worldwide Saver if you have to as it includes the brokerage fees and usually all they need to pay is ~$10 bond fee and tax. I've learned that UPS ground will always get hit with brokerage but Worldwide Saver will include it. Not sure about UPS expedited or any of the like but I've used Worldwide Saver 3 times for graphics cards from evga and have only had to pay the ~$10 bond fee and tax each time.

Ideally USPS would be preferred as it transfers to Canadapost and their custom fees are much more reasonable as it's usually just tax if it gets hit (sometimes no fees at all). If speed is a concern, DHL express is my preference as the import fees are way more reasonable than UPS ground (tax and maybe $10-20 for brokerage). It's also a lot easier to pay for fees online (can view the fee breakdown) vs FedEx where they always tell me to call and pay over the phone or sends a letter 4 weeks later asking for payment.

Others experience may vary but I've been happy with USPS and DHL.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

Yeah they should've been aware of it unless they have never bought and had stuff shipped from the US before. You can find lots of posts on reddit about Canadians avoiding UPS or finding other options to avoid high import fees. So yeah responsibility for the fees fall on the buyer.

UPS is known to charge ridiculous import fees for us Canadians at least (especially if it's through UPS Ground). I've used UPS Ground once and was charged $40 in fees for an $80 item so even a small declared value like $80 can still incur a massive fee.

For future sales with Canadians, try to avoid UPS or at least use UPS Worldwide Saver if you have to as it includes the brokerage fees and usually all they need to pay is ~$10 bond fee and tax. I've learned that UPS ground will always get hit with brokerage but Worldwide Saver will include it. Not sure about UPS expedited or any of the like but I've used Worldwide Saver 3 times for graphics cards from evga and have only had to pay the ~$10 bond fee and tax each time.

Ideally USPS would be preferred as it transfers to Canadapost and their custom fees are much more reasonable as it's usually just tax if it gets hit (sometimes no fees at all). If speed is a concern, DHL express is my preference as the import fees are way more reasonable than UPS ground (tax and maybe $10-20 for brokerage). It's also a lot easier to pay for fees online (can view the fee breakdown) vs FedEx where they always tell me to call and pay over the phone or sends a letter 4 weeks later asking for payment.

Others experience may vary but I've been happy with USPS and DHL.

Thank you for the info! To be clear, I shipped via UPS Worldwide Expedited. I got a breakdown of the import fees, and the brokerage fee is only like $10. The huge amount is what I deem to be taxes. It looks like it’s about 15% of the declared value, so it’s a very large amount of money. Would this tax have been avoided if I had marked the package as “gift” or if I had used USPS instead of UPS? I just want to understand what I should have done, if anything, to avoid having the buyer hit with such a large fee.

 

[xero888]

Thank you for the info! To be clear, I shipped via UPS Worldwide Expedited. I got a breakdown of the import fees, and the brokerage fee is only like $10. The huge amount is what I deem to be taxes. It looks like it’s about 15% of the declared value, so it’s a very large amount of money. Would this tax have been avoided if I had marked the package as “gift” or if I had used USPS instead of UPS? I just want to understand what I should have done, if anything, to avoid having the buyer hit with such a large fee.

Ah good to know worldwide expedited is like wordwide saver, opens up what options are available if I have to go with UPS. Can't escape the tax man hahaha so the best you could do to minimize it is undervalue the headphones on the form, though that becomes a gamble for both buyer/seller since if it gets lost then the best you can get that much. Marking it as "gift" will still be taxed if it's above $60 CAD which I think is the max before duty and taxes are charged.

USPS has a chance of sneaking through without fees but again, it's a gamble on whether or not customs will charge fees. Usually they do for high value marked packages but sometimes I've been lucky with some $300 - 500 CAD packages.

I don't think there's really much you could've done since you've at least lessened the damage by using worldwide expedited that only has the $10 fee. It could've been a lot worse if you used UPS ground. I think the buyer was just not aware or it was their first time having high value stuff shipped from the US as I've had to pay import fees most often than not for high value items. Next time I'd ask the buyer what value do they want it marked as if you aren't too concerned about getting that amount back in the event the package is lost or damaged.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

Knowing all this now, I think I would have done things the same way that I did. I don’t like the idea of putting a smaller value on the shipment because that puts me, the seller, at risk if the package is lost or damaged. I certainly wouldn’t have felt comfortable taking that gamble on $2000+ headphones.

Hopefully the buyer will pay the fees and use this transaction as a learning experience. I know I will be more careful entering into a transaction with an international buyer in the future. I’ll make sure all the details of shipping and fees are understood by both parties before finalizing the deal. It’s nerve-wracking for me at the moment since, so much money is on the line with a LTD VC in limbo.

 

[duranxv]

Hey everyone, just a heads up: Since I'm keeping Saimaa, I've put up my Acastris IX epoxy stabilized set up for sale in the Classifieds. To avoid any issues with shipping fees and customs, I'm only selling to people based in the US (sorry Canada and Europe )

I hope to sell it fast before I change my mind, lol. It's like tearing off a bandaid real quick

 

[DeweyCH]

Anyone else feel like this run of stabilized is lighter weight than previous?

 

[dougq]

Anyone else feel like this run of stabilized is lighter weight than previous?

do you have a kitchen scale to actually weight it? I would be curious and if it ended up being in the 400g territory that would push me to consider it next run.

 

[DeweyCH]

do you have a kitchen scale to actually weight it? I would be curious and if it ended up being in the 400g territory that would push me to consider it next run.

581g. Guess I'm imagining things. Feels light as a feather... obviously isn't though.

 

[zach915m]

581g. Guess I'm imagining things. Feels light as a feather... obviously isn't though.

Its the new crescent band playing with your mind.

I'll have a vid and we will have those on the site in the next week or two.

 

[QuantumQ]

Certainly a surprise how light it feels.

 

[Zojokkeli]

Knowing all this now, I think I would have done things the same way that I did. I don’t like the idea of putting a smaller value on the shipment because that puts me, the seller, at risk if the package is lost or damaged. I certainly wouldn’t have felt comfortable taking that gamble on $2000+ headphones.

Hopefully the buyer will pay the fees and use this transaction as a learning experience. I know I will be more careful entering into a transaction with an international buyer in the future. I’ll make sure all the details of shipping and fees are understood by both parties before finalizing the deal. It’s nerve-wracking for me at the moment since, so much money is on the line with a LTD VC in limbo.

Yep, it’s definitely buyer’s responsibility to know if there will be any taxes applied to the purchase. I’ll get slapped with 24% VAT whenever I buy something outside EU so I know the pain.

 

[ctaxxxx]

That's a great combo indeed! Loved my time with it.

Let us know what you think once you give the stack a listen!

I finally got around to listening to the Cayin C9 after being sick for the holidays (ugh...). Compared the stock DX300 amp12 and the solid state Timbre with Class A. I heard modest improvement, but wasn't enough for me to say the extra cost was worth it.

But then I compared the DX312 with the Tube, Class A options and WOW - It absolutely blew me away! The vocals were by far the standout for me. They become absolutely magical and so smooth, yet clear at the same time. I have a better understanding now why everyone loves the Verite through tube amps.

 

[Bkido]

Received my custom made type 6 litz cable for my stabilized VC a few days ago and finally got around making some pictures. I couldn't be happier with the result.

 

[fuhransahis]

Received my custom made type 6 litz cable for my stabilized VC a few days ago and finally got around making some pictures. I couldn't be happier with the result.

Nice! Where did you get the cable from if you don't mind sharing?