Canadian EF Users... Is there any way to avoid custom charges. They are a B!

Hey there, Serene!

This was one of Ilya's recent posts about what we are doing to try and get around these very nasty fees for the future order(s).

We are shipping orders to Canada via "Express". This means you will not have to pay for those high fees upon delivery of the order. This solution is temporary, since it is a bit costly from our end.

Currently, as we work with this temporary fix, we are working on other methods of shipping to Canada that will work out for all of us!

Just let us know if you're order is being held up by UPS! The best way to do this is by ticket or by calling 888-506-5516.

Since we aren't dealing with customs for the US, no. Also, since it's a po box, only USPS would deliver there. But honestly, I wouldn't be sure about what he would have to go through to send it to you, and whether or not customs would just get it the second time around. I would say stick to getting it shipped to Canada, since we have a temp fix that seems to be keeping the packages from being delayed at all, and then once we have a permanent fix, it won't be a problem. I hope that makes sense?

I don't pay enough attention to my points to be sure, but my affiliate commission for the order I'm waiting for is still showing as order pending. was going to wait until I received the package to see if it goes through once the order is 'complete'.

I'm sure they will get it sorted out through your ticket!

I have 2 since this ordeal that are still sitting at the processing screen so I had no tracking info for it.

Yep, that happened to me too. Luckily I wasn't home when the UPS guy came, and they left me the tracking info at the door. Like you, I'm still getting import charges.

Thank you. I know for myself, I can't speak for everybody, I am totally willing to pay more shipping charges at check out if it means I don't have to pay at the door. I don't have a credit card and I don't have checks so it is a huge hassle to get the package when there's a charge.

That's why they are shipping with express, but that doesn't appear to be working either

I think Express covers the brokerage fee, but not the taxes on the package value. All packages crossing the border into Canada that are valued over $20 can be taxed, which is the buyers responsibility.

It's when the packages are hugely overvalued that it becomes a problem. (My $130 package was taxed as being valued at $1100 and so on) There must be something wonky with the system that's doing this?

i have 300 pending points from a shipment 2 weeks ago too. does anyone know how long it usually takes to go through? i've received my shipment and i don't want to submit a support ticket because i don't mind waiting, it's no big deal...just wondered if it takes awhile?

he drives over there from canada to pick stuff up from the po box but not sure how he would go about bringing it back over without having to pay any charges. i don't have a passport so no clue there. yep that makes sense! i didn't mind paying it just caught me off guard but the points system is awesome, no complaints here thanks for your response (and super fast shipping!)

He could at least wrap it up and call it a gift, lol.

I hear ya. I need my summer job back so I don't feel like a burden asking them to cover charges... As much as I love reviewing, I think I'm going to hold off on ordering and accepting new assignments.

Same here!

$1100!? Holy moly. Is there a place in the customs form that you can see what the value of the package was put at? I've never checked this before.

Usually once they ship it, the status turns to "shipped" and that is when you receive your points. There has been an issue lately with points not being transferred because they have not been changing the status to "shipped" and instead they sit at "pending" ... If you go check out your order statuses, it should still say pending.

As long as the shipment still says pending, you won't have your points. You have to open a ticket.

Thank you!

They had it at $1100 on the customs slip, and wanted $140 or something like that in taxes. If they would just let me open the box I could show them the invoice inside!

The invoice inside don't show the prices, unless they changed it very recently. You have to print your own receipt or send them a copy.

Well, be prepared to be charged at some point. I'm in Canada too, and I've *never* been charged any customs for EF purchases either...but lo and behold, this morning UPS made a delivery attempt and informed me that there was a $20 COD charge that needed to be paid before they could release the package to me. Yeah...I don't think so. There's obviously a way around it, because as I said, I've *never* been charged customs fees before, even with EF. Sorry to say I won't be ordering anything else from EF if I'm going to be hit with customs fees on top of my order purchase price.

As far as I know, UPS would be the same. Every package I've ever received from EF has been by UPS, and I've never been charged customs fees until today. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the fact that this particular order was sent via UPS Worldwide Expedited, when everything else I've ordered was sent via UPS Canada Standard (which wasn't my choice, btw...I chose standard shipping but EF sent it out Expedited.)

I'm just pretty wary of this, because honestly, if I'm going to get hit with customs charges on top of everything else (I mean, this package cost nearly $20 to ship up here in the first place, and now I have to pretty much double that because of customs fees? I don't think so) then I'm afraid I'll have to find somewhere else to purchase my goodies from. Which would suck, because I love EF...but money's tight and I can't afford to pay out more.

(Edited to add: I just sent off an email to Megan to see what's going on and she's checking into things with UPS. Hopefully things can get ironed out...I know EF is great at working things like this out so I have my fingers crossed.)

Just to let you know, though: EF's shipping via Express isn't stopping the customs fees (or at least, not in all cases.) My most recent order was shipped via Express but I still got hit with the customs charges. I'm working with EF right now to see what can be done, but I think that the staff at EF needs to be aware that the Express shipping method isn't working in terms of eliminating the customs charges.

I'm betting that, right now, they will be willing to help you cover these charges this time but these are normally the BUYERS RESPONSIBILITY. Taxes are not the same as duty, and are always the buyers responsibility. (Even with Fed Ex, and even gifts). One exception would be for review products, but not all companies are willing to make up for that when sending a product for review.

The only reason Eden is helping us pay them at this time is because there was an error somewhere in the system and the UPS customs forms were overvalued and people were getting overcharged.

There is honestly no alternate shipping method that would allow us to receive packages without ever getting taxed. A lot of packages do sneak through, and if you were ordering packages valued over $20 ($60 for packages marked gift) and were never charged before than you were simply lucky.

I've been selling and buying online for years. This is just part of living in Canada, folks.

Taxes are the buyers responsibility, unless the seller chooses to pay them.

What Fed Ex says is that the shipper is liable, not responsible.

Quoted from their site:

As per the contract of carriage with FedEx®, the shipper is ultimately liable for any duties and taxes assessed on the shipment. If the recipient refuses the package or the recipient or third party FedEx account holder refuses to pay for duties and taxes, the original shipper will be billed for duties and taxes.

And another quote from their site:

Responsible Party:
Duties and taxes on international shipments will be billed automatically to the recipient, unless the shipper requests that FedEx bill the shipper or a third party. When completing the FedEx International air waybill or FedEx Expanded Service International air waybill, you can select the shipper, the recipient or a third party as the party responsible for payment.

link


As I said, Eden is being great with helping us out right now because several packages came through with inflated fees added to them. What you need to check to see if you were overcharged is the taxable value on the customs slip. If that value is the correct amount for what you bought, the fees you are being given are just taxes. (review products still have a value and do not count as free when it comes to customs)

Actually, I just got off the phone with Megan from EF. She had talked to UPS to see if she could get the customs charges billed to EF's account.

But UPS won't do it. They say that the customs fee I was charged is too small to bill to EF's account.

Now I know that $16.50 is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But still...that's $16.50 I was not prepared to pay, especially not on the spur on the moment like that. I don't have a credit card, I don't have cheques, and I didn't have the cash on me this morning. Plus..I keep going back to the fact that I've never had to pay these fees before, so it's a pain in the ass to have to pay them now.

So now I have a couple options. I can suck it up and pay the fee (which is pretty much the only way I'm going to get my package). Megan did say that EF would reimburse me for the customs charge, though. Or I can have the package returned to EF, at which point they will refund my gift card amounts. (But I really don't want to do that; I saved up gift cards for a while to get this stuff, and one item is showing as discontinued, so who knows how long I'll have to wait to get it again.)

I'm thinking I'm just going to go ahead and pay the damn fee, but I'm still not happy about it. I'm glad that EF is doing everything they can to resolve the issue, but I am NOT happy with UPS right now. At all. Or with the entire situation.