Conan Ford wrote:
I emailed a seller who is selling the ICF-SW7600GR, asking about shipping
to Canada. His response?

"Hello,
shipping will be $45plus canadian custom and duties.
however brockage fee and taxes must be paid up front."


My response:

"No, no, I didn't mean for same day air. How much for ordinary shipping?"

...

Now I know that he means to charge me $45 + brokerage fees + customs (about
$60) and ship it ground or as a small parcel by air, taking either 4 weeks
or 10 days to deliver, and earning him a tidy profit on just the shipping
costs. I also know that I could ship this same radio to the United States,
in its full box, for $30 Canadian, with delivery within 2-3 days, or $15
with delivery within 10 days.



UPS is the worst offender. They take payment for shipping from the sender.
That's normal. When they deliver the the package in Canada, they charge again. I
once paid around forty dollars shipping for an eBay oscilloscope 'win'. When the
package got here, it was ANOTHER seventy dollars. Some bargain. If it wasn't a
Tektronix 7904 I would have told them to keep it (in an unsunlit place).

United Parcel Service turn into thieves as soon as they cross the border. I
won't buy anything shipped via UPS any more.

The postal services of both countries have been pretty good, though. They have a
postal money order agreement between them, with low charges. You can cash the
order in most postal outlets. Convenient. You have to tell the postal person
that it's an international money order, going to the US or Canada to get the
right form. If you don't tell them, you will get the wrong form and the thing is
uncashable.

mike