Canadians: Amazon.com adds "Import Fees Deposit" ?

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

gonna have to have one of us USA residents forward your mail. Its cheaper that way

Possibly.

But, then you could be dinged for duty and taxes erroneously, and have to go through a recovery process. Plus, you still end up paying the unrecoverable $5 fee to Canada Post for them making the mistake.

I guess labelling it as a "Gift" would be the way to do it. But, then they better not forward the invoice in the box.

Gary

[Blu4me]

here is the reply I got for my pre orders and orders shipping now that were placed before October 15th

Hello from Amazon.com.

For orders placed after October 15, 2008, Amazon Export Sales will estimate and collect an Import Fees Deposit for orders destined to Canadian addresses. Previously, Amazon was unable to provide customers an import fees estimate for all shipping options.

For orders placed before that date, we will not collect the Import Fees Deposit, even if the order is shipped after October 15. For those orders, you would need to make arrangements to pay any import fees that are charged on these packages.

In your case, this means that we will not collect import fees for Order # , since it was placed before October 15.

Regarding how orders will be shipped, for those placed before October 15 and for which Standard and Expedited Shipping are selected, we will continue to ship them via USPS and Canada Post. For orders placed after that date, we may also use DHL Global Mail for Standard and Expedited packages.

Since you selected Standard International shipping for Order #***** and it was placed before October 15, it will most likely be shipped via USPS/Canada Post, as before.

In either case, UPS is used only for Priority Shipping packages only.

To learn more about the Import Fees Deposit, please visit our Help pages:



Finally, I did want to let you know that you might find it more cost efficient to order from our Canadian partner site, www.amazon.ca. If you do so, you will not have to pay import fees, since the order is shipped from inside Canada. Further, you will have lower shipping costs for Amazon.ca than for those ordered from Amazon.com. You will even qualify for free shipping on orders of $39.00 or more.

If you would like more information on ordering from Amazon.ca, please visit their Help pages at this link:


I hope that this information helps. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

[Jimbo976]

Originally Posted by Blu4me

here is the reply I got for my pre orders and orders shipping now that were placed before October 15th

Wow thanks for that. It makes me feel a little better.

[dialog_gvf]

^^^ It does? It means the carrier could try to collect. And that is a royal pain.

This crap about Amazon.ca being cost efficient is rediculous. Amazon.com has suddenly made Amazon.ca more competitive, by making Amazon.com much more expensive for Canadians.

How about lowering Amazon.ca prices?!

Gary

[Jimbo976]

Well if all of my existing pre-orders still get shipping the same way then I should be fine with all them (i.e. no fees on my end) - that is my main concern. After i get all them i'll likely stop buying from amazon.com. I doubt amazon is going to change their mind or anything - we're just screwed.

Yeah the fees on amazon.ca are lower but the prices certainly are not.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Amazon.com obviously didn't see 'Tropic Thunder' and didn't listen to Robert Downey Jr.'s character...


THEY WENT FULL RETARD!!!

And now it's costing them the Oscar (the Oscar being potentially millions of dollars worth of business). My wishlist of 43 items just vanished like a fart in the wind!!!

[jw]

dang, Amazon done went and got Gary all roweled up That is pretty crappy. I ordered 700.00 from Amazon.ca and they shipped dhl and they dont charge us duties? Is this a Canada thing ? And does anyone know what amount the US would charge duties on?

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

dang, Amazon done went and got Gary all roweled up That is pretty crappy. I ordered 700.00 from Amazon.ca and they shipped dhl and they dont charge us duties? Is this a Canada thing ? And does anyone know what amount the US would charge duties on?

Amazon.ca uses official Canadian releases and ships from Canada.

That will mean:

- Possible bilingual packaging
- Loss of a bonus DVD (like Sleeping Beauty)
- Alliance releases, instead of New Line
- Some earlier releases (e.g. Sin City) some later (e.g. Kill Bill)

At this point I don't think any of the Digital Copy discs work in Canada, so losing that probably isn't a big deal.

Gary

[jw]

oh see i didnt realize all that

[Jimbo976]

Some releases don't even show up here at all.

[dialog_gvf]

Where Amazon.com shipped from has always been a bit of a mystery.

The label has always had this:

"DPGM_XPRESSPOST_CANADA - DHL GlobalMail"

... and a return address in Mississauga, ON.

The label also used to have this:

"Canada Post - Postage Paid Parcel"

This seems to have disappeared at some point. Perhaps indicating a new mechanism for getting the product through the border.

I wondered if they were mass shipping to Canada, and then Canada Post took over and re-shipped.

Or maybe the Canadian government started demanding a specific declaration.

Generally, customs forms for international packages will list the value of your order's contents by product type. For instance, orders containing CDs, books, and videos will generally be listed in a way similar to the following example:

Books value: $29.95
CDs value: $9.95
Video value: $39.95

It's possible this is the first step to Amazon.com expanding the offerings to Canada beyond the products that are tax and duty free, which would require them to deal with each package separately, rather than a mass border transit.

But, they've really screwed up their business with Canadians with this new fee.

Gary

[Jimbo976]

My shipment of Bond Set 1, Bond Set 2, and Gangster Gift Set just shipped and the email and order summary page looks just like it did before (no tracking # and just says "1 package via Canada Int'l Shipping ") as far as shipping is concerned.

This order was placed back in September so it didn't get charged the new import fee but I'm still not 100% convinced that something may be different when I get it - like maybe taxes or duty expected at my door.

I'm hoping that for orders before Oct. 15, the shipping is exactly as before like Blu4me's reply from Amazon above.

[driecken]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Possibly.

But, then you could be dinged for duty and taxes erroneously, and have to go through a recovery process. Plus, you still end up paying the unrecoverable $5 fee to Canada Post for them making the mistake.

I guess labelling it as a "Gift" would be the way to do it. But, then they better not forward the invoice in the box.

Gary

LOL, good point.

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Amazon.ca uses official Canadian releases and ships from Canada.

That will mean:

- Possible bilingual packaging
- Loss of a bonus DVD (like Sleeping Beauty)
- Alliance releases, instead of New Line
- Some earlier releases (e.g. Sin City) some later (e.g. Kill Bill)

At this point I don't think any of the Digital Copy discs work in Canada, so losing that probably isn't a big deal.

Gary

Sleeping beauty in Canada have the Bonus DVD, what is changed is that the DTS HD MA 7.1 24 bits track from the US release is replaced by a 16bits version (didn't ear the 24bits track but the 16bits does sound very good for a 50 years old movie)

[martinstraka8282]

This is a very sad thing for Blu Ray enthusiasts in Canada, especially since amazon.ca prices blow balls most of the time. Ive ordered at least 3 quarters of my movies from Amazon.com, but with the declining dollar, and now import fees, I have no choice but to buy from local stores.

[Kyot]

Originally Posted by martinstraka8282

This is a very sad thing for Blu Ray enthusiasts in Canada, especially since amazon.ca prices blow balls most of the time. Ive ordered at least 3 quarters of my movies from Amazon.com, but with the declining dollar, and now import fees, I have no choice but to buy from local stores.

Yeah it's very sad. Band of Brothers will be my last purchase from Amazon.com as i preordered it before and wont get charged the import fee, or so I hope. I got 90% of my blu's from amazon.com, im still pissed bout it.

[Anthony P]

Well I guess i'll flip out on the delivery guy then

My next order is coming next week. I guess we'll see. You guys think they are changing from Canada Post? They just show up in my mail box now. For example I just got The Matrix today and it was the same packaging and in my mail box. It did ship on Oct. 13 though.

I'll have to calculate if it is worth it I guess. Since they are all in 3 for 2 sale groups it may still be worth it for these orders.

that is not how it tends to work. At least for some stuff that I have ordered in the past that had such fees. You tend to get a bill a few days later in the mail.

[silversnake]

Well I won't be dealing with amazon.com directly anymore. I'll have to wait and buy in a huge bundle and ship it to my mom and than have her ship it to me. Mom won't be too happy, lol.

[Anthony P]

It's possible this is the first step to Amazon.com expanding the offerings to Canada beyond the products that are tax and duty free, which would require them to deal with each package separately, rather than a mass border transit.

But, they've really screwed up their business with Canadians with this new fee.

maybe, but still reminds of the Drew Carey show where they said something like
- we will lower the price and raise shipping and handling fees
- what are shipping and handling fees
- that is the greatest thing, no one knows.

BDs should not have custom fees, so that extra money is at worst cash in their pocket (evil and greedy scum), cash in the shipping companies company pocket (Amazon is less guilty but it is still not fair) or redistributing the fees they think will be charged by now adding things that might incur extra fees (why should I pay for the guy that buys a receiver from them?) to make their life easier.

[Derb]

Ahh crap, I just noticed this.

With out dollar slowing declining in value, this only adds to the overall cost. FR&*&^%(&

I've ordered boat loads from them in the past 2 years. I HATE bilingual & is one the main reasons I opt for US releases only. Now if I want that luxury it looks like I'll have to pay $35-40 per title.