Well I hate to go against the guy who has provided this place for us but I feel I have to disagree...partly.

I agree that the owners of UPS stores aren't gouging...they have nothing to do with who UPS charges for brokerage. I could go on about the service I've received at certain UPS store locations but that's now what this is about...completely different argument.

Brokerage is nothing more than a surcharge for UPS processing your package through customs without customs ever having to lay their hands on it. This used to be a service worth it's weight in gold because Customs (on this side of the border at least) was famous for slow processing times and losing packages (I once had a package take 8 months to arrive here from Scotland because of Customs).

But when their brokerage fee is 3 times what the duty and sales tax combined are, I think the rates are excessive. I've experienced examples where UPS brokerage fees have been triple what the sales tax and duty on the item were, nearly doubling my overall cost (My $160 Scott eVest order cost me over $300 in the end). I've had UPS brokerage decide on it's own what my item was worth. I once bought a broken laptop off of eBay. UPS decided that $5 was an impossible price for a notebook computer and charged me duty, sales tax, and brokerage for a value off $1500. My $5 notebook became a $100 notebook. Because they had already paid Customs for it on my behalf, they washed their hands of the situation and forced me to appeal the charge with Canada Customs. I never did get the brokerage fees back. I have many stories like this but I think a couple of examples will suffice.