lane

Hello, I am a mechanic up in Jasper AB and I regularly box bikes for people who have toured the Icefields Parkway so they can ship them home. Usually we just pack them up, and hold them for the courier to pick up without a second thought. Today I encountered a couple who had some genuine concerns about shipping their bikes back across the border. They heard through the grapevine about someone who'd been charged a hefty brokerage fee upon receiving his bike. After a few phone calls to various courier companies and both Canada and US customs they were even more confused as they got several different answers to their questions. None of which were overly reassuring. My own inquiries got a similar result. Has anyone out there shipped their gear cross border and encountered any additional brokerage fees beyond the original quote from the courier?

Cyclesafe

Last year when I tried to ship a 26x26x10 (inch) suitcase that my bike fits in to Owen's Sound Ontario from Mobile Alabama the UPS store tried to charge a total of more than $400, much of which was a "customs fee". I sent the case back to my home in California, whereupon it was forwarded by the local UPS store without the fee.

However, the bike store in Owen's Sound rejected delivery when along with the suitcase they were presented with a collect bill for a "customs broker fee", not mentioned in California. The suitcase was held at the receiving shipping agent facility until this fee (I think about $50) was paid over the phone by credit card.

The lesson I learned from this that a non-commercial casual shipper of goods across the Canadian border is at the mercy of having his packages held for an arbitrary ransom by private party customs brokers. Now, I don't know whether this fee is actually earned for some sort of service rendered, but it was unexpected and annnoying to have to pay more than what was originally quoted for transportation. I wouldn't be surprised that the scam works both ways across the borders.

lane

Interesting. I spoke with 2 people at Purolator and 1 at DHL. The first guy from Purolator didn't even mention the possibility of a fee. The second only mentioned it when asked. When I asked DHL, I was told that the only way the fee would be charged is if proper paperwork hadn't been filled out to declare that the item wasn't purchased abroad. Anybody else got anything? I'm going to be calling a broker today to see what they say.

bclc4life

I just shipped my bike from New Jersey to Aviano AB Italy, using the Post Office. I put the bike frame in a box I received from my LBS, and the rims in another box. I also put some extra stuff in it. I shipped it priority with $1000 insurance and confirmation. All this cost me around $50 and it took less than 5 days (3 if I remember right) to get here. The bike was not a light weight either, Jamis Aurora set up for touring. No issues with customs no hidden fees and the post office held it for me till I picked it up

Cyclesafe

I think that this is a US / Canada thing.....

spinnaker

It has been my experience that the customs in Italy is fairly lax. I'm not surprised you did not have a problem.


Sorry to hijack the thread.

That is amazing it only costs $50 and it only took 5 days!

Why did you break the bike down that way? Does the PO have some restrictions on size?

How did you get the bike back from Italy?

How did you know they would hold your bike at the PO? Did you contact them somehow?

smd3

Shipping it to the APO at the base is a bit different of a story. It's pretty much like shipping the bike to another U.S. address. Customs can look at it if they want, and they can ask for proof of U.S. purchase, but they don't.

When you get here, feel free to drop me a message. I should be able to show you a couple good routes.

spinnaker

Oh I see AB = Air Force Base. This doesn't sound like an option open to the vast majority of us.

bclc4life

The main point I was trying to make is that the postal service is a cheap and good option if it is available. I looked into Fed Ex, UPS, DHL and even just putting it on the plane with me but the post office was the least expensive. Shipping a bicycle across the US will cost $50 through UPS.

Any way the reason I broke it down that way was because the box I had just did not seem quite large enough. I did not want to break my bike down to far that I might not get it back together the right way or mess up the gears. Plus rims weigh next to nothing and I was able to use a lot of padding in the box to protect them.