So had a recent sale (different site, not DPW) to Canada from US. The automated calculator gave me the shipping correctly but I had forgotten about duties/VAT and I paid an additional $10. After this happened, I did some reading on the subject which said that I should offer to split these fees or add to my listing that they are up to the buyer to pay. Which in my mind, is right. They pay shipping/fees.
I had another sale, I did not pay the duties/VAT/Customs or whatever they call the fees…since I had put in the listing that it is up to the buyer to pay…and UPS tracking reports:
“THE DRIVER WAS UNABLE TO COLLECT FUNDS ON THE FIRST DELIVERY ATTEMPT. A SECOND ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE.” then " THE RECEIVER REQUESTED THIS PACKAGE TO BE HELD FOR PICKUP AT THE UPS FACILITY. / THE RECEIVER AGREED TO PICK UP THE PACKAGE THIS EVENING.Sep-21-16". And now no updates. Not sure if they will send back to me or keep in the ‘forever lost pile’…unsure if buyer will request refund…or eventually go pick it up. They have not contacted me, I was going to give it couple more days and contact them.
Anyone have similar experience? I only recently started to sell outside of U.S. recently…always hated to for reasons like these.
I sell most of my paintings to the US and I live in Canada. Canada and the US have a tariff agreement that exempts original art. Frames would be a different matter. It requires a customs form. I ship by Canada Post through USPS. They include the declaration on the package label. I include another one page declaration form inside. So for customs duties, I don’t think there should be any for small un framed work.
Customs is federal in Canada, so I don’t think it matters what part of Canada. I am not an expert on this so perhaps others could comment on their experience selling to collectors in Canada. I know that I have bought a number of small paintings from US painters.
@savocado
Maybe it has to do with what you declared it as, e.g. commercial sample, gift, etc… I can’t remember the other categories off the top of my head.
I wonder if the problem was brokerage fees charged by UPS. I have heard that UPS makes more from brokerage than from shipping. USPS and Canada Post are not likely to charge anything more than shipping for small original works of art. I don’t know how long it takes from the US but from Canada, it takes from one to two weeks to get to the destination. I think USPS has a first class small parcel rate of less than $10. To Canada.
As it turned out, I am being notified by UPS that the buyer refused shipment. I assume it will come back to me but I have never had this happen before.
I had thought it said on this listing that buyer assumes shipping fees/vat etc. but I see now that it didn’t say on this one but does say on all the others. Odd, I don’t know if I just missed it or not. It used to say on all of them… Anyway, I tried contacting buyer, am waiting for response.
And if it does come back to me, will they charge me for shipping it back?
NOW I see it was won by best offer, maybe that is where I needed to re-include the vat info etc.
Update: UPS called and asked me to pay the $44 vat fees or $38 to get item back.
So…buyer answered my email and said she picked it up yesterday because of her work hours and their open/closed hours, and never told them she wasn’t going to accept it.
