Forcefield shipping charges to Canada - ??

[AndreTheGiant]

I ordered magnets from Forcefield a few weeks ago, and today I finally got the little slip that tells me where I can pick up the package. What surprised me is that the slip says I owe $ 9.09  C.O.D.   Where did this come from? When I placed the order, Forcefield added over $15.00 USD on my bill for shipping and handling. So why do I have to pay another 9.09?

In total, this makes the shipping charges more than the magnets themselves! If someone else lives in Canada, can you tell me what this extra charge is for? And if it happened to you too? Thanks

Finally, I have another question for people who have ordered from http://www.gaussboys.com:  

Their webpage says this about shipping:

"International orders are shipped via air. Your international order will ship within 48 hours (2 business days). Rates to Mexico and Canada are $7.50 per order. Rates to the rest of the world are a flat $10.00 per order. Again, order as many magnets as you like. If the actual shipping costs increase, we'll cover the difference."

That would lead me to believe that its only $7.50 to get my order shipped to my house. Does anyone know if there is going to be a mysterious $9.09 extra with gaussboys like there was with Forcefield?

Thanks for your reply. Im kind of frustrated over here.

[ADMIN]

Hi Andre...

Sorry for the delay, we didn't see your posting on the board until TomW pointed it out to us today. You should immediately contact our shipping office via email, phone or both. If you paid $15.00 in shipping & handling, there should be no COD charges....it's  an error by either our shipping department or the US or Canadian Post Offices.

email our office manager: ff@wondermagnet.com

or call at (970) 484-7257

and they'll get you fixed up.

International shipping is very expensive (and includes lots of paperwork to fill out) and varies wildly, and our shopping cart simply tries to make the best guess as to the shipping cost. With all but the smallest orders, we also have to include heavy and expensive steel box liners to comply with postal regulations, that's why there's a handling charge.

In any case, the $9.09 looks like the actual shipping cost (which we'll refund to you, since you had to pay it twice). We'd lose money if we could ship it for $7.50....and we've seen charges on international orders get to over $400--so better check the fine print on "anywhere in the world for $10".

Sorry for the postal hassle.

DANF

cc: forcefield shipping office

[DanB]

Like DanF said.. contact the shipping office.

But occasionally...  on foreign orders, customs will open the box (Ive seen this happen on occasion in Canada) and attach a customs fee to the order which we... or nobody else, could've ever predicted.  My guess, thats that the $9.09 is and it could happen with any order from the US to canada.

[brett]

I live in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada and have shipped many different items across border. Items shipped from forcefield for me (1 package with anemometer parts) have not had extra charges. For some items (technology, computer stuff) a broker is needed to get the item across the border. This is where unexpected charges can come from. That is from my experience. I am not sure which items are classified as having to be "brokered" to cross the border. I have seen extra shipping charges resulting from "broker fees" at the border though in the past on items such as digital camera, computer monitors, various computer parts. The north american free trade agreement is working hard for us I guess .