Customs payment on an order from Grin to US

[kevinscargobike]

I just ordered an All-axle, Phaserunner and the new Dyol throttle to add throttle and regen to a Bosch bike (fun weird project not related to my question) and ended up having a $190 payment to UPS because of customs. Has anyone had that happen on a Grin order shipped to the US before? I can’t quite figure out what changed, but Grin did let me know that it has to do with an $800 limit.

Has anyone seen this before? Does everyone already know to order in smaller batches now?

 

[smitty2k1]

I just ordered an All-axle, Phaserunner and the new Dyol throttle to add throttle and regen to a Bosch bike (fun weird project not related to my question) and ended up having a $190 payment to UPS because of customs. Has anyone had that happen on a Grin order shipped to the US before? I can’t quite figure out what changed, but Grin did let me know that it has to do with an $800 limit.

Has anyone seen this before? Does everyone already know to order in smaller batches now?

I just did a big $2000+ order for a full all Axle kit and battery from Grin. As per their website checkout system they suggested paying for the more expensive DHL shipping to reduce the likelihood of customs surcharges. When buying a battery it ships separately, but the battery came packed with the baserunner I ordered so that still exceeded $800.

Yes $800 is the cutoff, anything less doesn't have import fees.

 

[Kottbullar]

Be mindful as well that is likely a UPS charge for the service of clearing customs - not an actual customs charge.

Canadian buyers of items from the USA learned to avoid UPS for this very reason many years ago.

 

[neptronix]

That's brutal... somehow i have avoided the road pirates this whole time.. possibly because i make small orders..

 

[kevinscargobike]

Ohhh! When I did big orders before it was always CanadaPost to US Postal! that explains it!

...and yup, it was like $70 customs and $120 to UPS. UPS has been WAY faster, which is awesome, but now I know the rules of the game better.

On the project side, I was all excited about having the DYOL (which, hello luxury $180 throttle, so smooooooth) plug directly into the Phaserunner with a 3-pin jst to higo adapter that I pulled off of an old throttle, but sadly both the adapter and the throttle are male higo plugs. I think ordering a female to female higo adapter is probably the easiest fix, and then only bothering to get into the pins and wires if things don't line up.

(edit because apparently I'm easily confused about male vs female for higo plugs)

 

[biphaeboh]

The customs brokerage fee (as opposed to the actual customs duty) is a huge rip off. There may be ways around it. If they send you the invoice by e-mail, you can print it, take it to your local customs office and pay the duty yourself. That way it has already cleared when it is delivered. I have heard of people doing this, but I haven't tried it myself.

 

[nicobie]

What a PITA. Maybe it's time for Canada to conquer America.

 

[999zip999]

Si me to like for everything east of the Rockies to be more like B.C. very nice people. And behavior.
I've never got dinged by customs after ordering from Grin.

 

[molybdenum]

I recently got dinged for a $40 brokarage fee plus $8.00 duty on a $45 US order from USA to Canada delivered by UPS, so it gouges both ways. UPS is a huge ripoff, and I'd avoid having items shipped by them at all costs.