Canadian Buyers of US Parts Beware

[coolbreeze551]

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

[tawheed]

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

[brian325is]

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/

[clickman]

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.

[ekam]

This might be useful.

http://www.myus.com/

[clickman]

Originally Posted by ekam

This might be useful.

http://www.myus.com/

Have you tried this?

[coolbreeze551]

Originally Posted by clickman

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.

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.

[coolbreeze551]

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

[clickman]

Originally Posted by coolbreeze551

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.

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!