Canadian Buyers of US Parts Beware
 

Since my car will be out of storage soon I thought that this would be a good time to start ordering parts that I need/want for my car when I get it back. I have ordered from a couple of Porsche parts dealers both near the border and far from it and both via UPS and USPS. I just wanted to let Canadians out there know what I have learned from my experience. These may seem obvious but here they are anyways....

1. If you want it quick order UPS
2. If you want it quick you'll have to pay $$$
3. If you want to save $$ order USPS
4. What seems like a good deal now might not be so hot when the shipment shows up at your door and UPS wants brokerage fees of 25%-30% of what the total shipment cost

Bottom line is just to make sure you know who your order is shipping through so you don't get a 30% added fee surprise at the door. I am in no way affiliated with UPS or USPS. Just an unhappy customer who should have done more homework on shipping.

I hope this can help someone

I've pretty much ordered all my parts thus far through Pelican Parts, both the shipping and the service have been spectacular..

I always try to look for items that will be shipped by USPS. UPS fees are way out of line, not to mention you need to have someone home to sign and pay for the package.

I also found this site useful to determine fees related to ebay purchases

http://www.myborderpro.com/2006/

There are a few threads here about this. I'm another that has been ripped off by UPS and their ridiculous brokerage charges.

Someone said you can act as your own broker, although I haven't done that myself and am not sure about the practicality.

I like to order from Suncoast Porsche in Florida, but up to my last order a year or two ago they would only sent by UPS and not USPS. Apparently that has changed, and USPS is always the way to go if the alternative is UPS.

This might be useful.

http://www.myus.com/

You may be thinking of Sunset parts in Oregon. I just ordered from both Suncoast in Florida and sunset in Oregon within the last 2 weeks and Suncoast lets you choose between UPS and USPS but Sunset doesn't. Sunset will only ship UPS, that's how I got hosed.

Thank you ekam and brian325is. Those sites should come in handy next time I place an order. :cheers:

i too despise ups, and resent lazy vendors that will only ship ups. usps rocks; you still have to pay customs, but it's a fraction of what ups charges.

not many canadian vendors of parts that are competitive even with customs added. i've used lne, pelican and suncoast previously; good to hear that suncoast is allowing usps now.

No, it was definitely Suncoast. They've changed, which is good.

I'd also considered Sunset (when UPS wasn't the only option), but they'd been ripped off by some Canadians and refused to ship without a lot of private information.

Looks like it'll be Suncoast when I need my new water pump, front engine mount, fuel filter, oil filter, plugs. But the new 160 thermostat will come from LN Eng! (And maybe the spin-on filter adaptor.)

Unfortunately that'll all have to wait until my own personal piece of the North American economy recovers!

:cheers:

Have you tried this?

I haven't tried the site but if it is legit it seems pretty bad ass. I don't know if I would try it until I knew it was legit though. :confused:

No I have not tried that website.

Just ordered the X51 oil pan & deep sump spacer from Suncoast this morning. No problem with shipping USPS. I love those guys, I wish there are more businesses like them in Canada.

2 years ago I bought a wall mount for a TV ($35) not knowing that it was shipped via UPS. when it came to the door I had to pay $22, which I thought was ridiculous because I could have just walked into best buy and gotten it for cheaper. After that I learned my lesson. I just had a 2000$ laptop shipped via USPS and paid no duty or taxes. How I do not know I guess I got lucky, but USPS is the best.

Canadian orders from U.S. parts suppliers
 

Folks,
My experience goes a long waaay back, paying extra freight charges or Custom duties, taxes etc...
So what i've been doing eversince was order the parts needed, tires etc.. have them shipped at my U.S.address, go there for our annual trip coming back with shipment in my vehicle and cross the border with no hassle and extra expense whatsoever!
thx

You make a good point. Right now it might be cheaper to buy a house in the states then to ship items via UPS for the life of the car. :D

Haha, first off I don't have a US address to ship to. Second, even if I did I couldn't wait until I made a trip down there to get my parts. Seems like a difficult and painful way to avoid customs.

Canadian buyers
 

Hahaha ! you guys are right , might be cheaper to buy a house in the States than to get ripped of by these Shipping companies? oh the pain we all go through just to get the best possible price for our toy !
anybody tried opening up a P.O.Box across the border it maybe possible?
or maybe try this place called GermanParts.Ca in Toronto... haven't tried them yet, but have spoken to them for some parts for Benz before, they seem to be knowledgeable and helpful?
good luck !

I know we hate these guys but an alternative is to ship and pick-up if you are close enough to the border and the fees seem worth it. There are a lot of other services like this too.


http://www.needausaddress.com/

I've done the self-broker thing. Basically, you refuse to accept the package at your door and tell the driver you will broker it yourself. He will give you a form and drive away with your package. You take that form down to ups to get another form which you take to customs. You pay the gst there and then customs will give you a form that you take back to ups where you pick up your package, gratis. You drive home with your package.

That's great as long as you have a handy customs office.

I've shipped parts to a PO box just across the border in Buffalo (I live in Toronto so the drive isn't bad) and they charge $5 per item. I got to know the people there so they let me pickup all of my items for the flat $5 rate. Then I cross over the border and declare nothing (I understand this is illegal) and get home without having to pay shipping (as long as you purchase from websites that offer free shipping within the US) or tax.

Do you have contact info for your place in Buffalo? I have been burned too many times!

The website is: http://www.usaddressinc.com/

Register yourself as a non-renter its free and easy.

Just always use USPS. I have never paid anything at the door when using them. The shipping fee you pay up front includes everything. Do not use UPS, Fed x etc..

Perfect example, broke a fog light on the wifes Eclipse Spyder. Canadian dealer price $275 plus HST. Ebay $75 plus $25 to ship. No other fees when it arrived.