Ordering from Canada

A

AdamReally

New member
Hi,

I'm considering ordering a Protoboard here and wondering if any other Canadians have been hit by tariffs with their shipments? I have an option of $17 for UPS and $24 for USPS. Any experiences with tarrifs for either option would be appreciated!
 
UPS will most likely charge brokerage fees on top of any customs fees.

USPS will take longer to arrive but I suspect will end up being the cheaper option, despite what the quoted prices suggest...

Unless of course, it slips through customs without any added fees being applied.
 
AdamReally said:
Thanks for your reply, Robert. I suspect the same too, and probably worth the extra $$
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Hi Adam--I order fairly regularly from Ottawa.

USPS usually takes a couple weeks to arrive, but I rarely (never?) have to pay customs.

UPS is more like two or three days, but it's $20ish dollar brokerage fee + HST.

I've never had to pay any tariff beyond brokerage + HST (and I've done a few orders in the last couple months).

Lately, with the Canada Post rolling strikes, I've just been eating the customs fees and doing UPS.
 
angrylogger said:
Hi Adam--I order fairly regularly from Ottawa.

USPS usually takes a couple weeks to arrive, but I rarely (never?) have to pay customs.

UPS is more like two or three days, but it's $20ish dollar brokerage fee + HST.

I've never had to pay any tariff beyond brokerage + HST (and I've done a few orders in the last couple months).

Lately, with the Canada Post rolling strikes, I've just been eating the customs fees and doing UPS.
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Hi Angry Logger! That's super relevant , as I'm down in Prince Edward county, so pretty close. I'm not in a rush, so the USPS option is probably best.

Do you sell your pedals in Ottawa?
 
I spend a week in the county every summer. It's a gorgeous place and you're lucky to live there!

I don't sell pedals other than the odd one-off for friends. I think at this point I might just be addicted to solder fumes? And I've never really had the patience to deal with artwork (or customers).

Good luck with your pedal building! This forum is a great source of knowledge.. I've learned so much just from lurking over the years.
 
I feel pretty lucky to be here! Its very beauitful, and there is a large community of musicians here. I've got a little vintage shop here, nestled in my hair salon, and I want to learn to design and build pedals for sale here. It will be a long road, I've not been super succesful yet, but I have fun.

If you ever find yourself in Picton, come visit the Proudest Pony PEC and say hi!
 
Partially reviving this thread to warn anyone ordering from Canada (I'm in Ottawa) in the year of our tariff 2026 - I just got hit with with ~100$ in import charges, which is about 50% the cost of the order. I think this may be because after a certain dollar / weight amount, PedalPCB forces you to use UPS - my last 2 orders (in 2025) did not use UPS, and weren't charged any import fees on top of the regular delivery cost.
 
Fellow Canadian here. For processing the import taxes, UPS charges an extra fee for each line item beyond 5 which really balloons up the fees. My last order that used UPS was $70 in fees, but only $10 in actual taxes / tariffs. It would be a 3 hour drive to my nearest CBSA office if I wanted to self-declare so I ended up just paying it.

I would avoid UPS at all costs, even to the point of splitting your order into multiple orders so that you can avoid them.
 
Yea I recall learning this lesson from this and other forums last year, and making sure that my orders were split such that I could avoid UPS. This is a pretty hard self-own, since I was in a rush to order to take advantage of PedalPCB's 15% sale (lol).
Lesson learned (again) I guess - I'm feeling a little gun-shy now about ordering the components from Tayda but I think there is a DHL option that covers all those costs, so fingers crossed I'm not surprised again.
Note to future self looking through these forums - avoid UPS at all costs.
 
eroots said:
Yea I recall learning this lesson from this and other forums last year, and making sure that my orders were split such that I could avoid UPS. This is a pretty hard self-own, since I was in a rush to order to take advantage of PedalPCB's 15% sale (lol).
Lesson learned (again) I guess - I'm feeling a little gun-shy now about ordering the components from Tayda but I think there is a DHL option that covers all those costs, so fingers crossed I'm not surprised again.
Note to future self looking through these forums - avoid UPS at all costs.
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For what it's worth, I have a fairly large Tayda order coming up too and will use the DHL pre-paid option. It's gotten more expensive in the last while, but is still better than dealing with exorbitant surprise fees at the door.

That's too bad about the latest PPCB order. I'm stocked for boards for a while, but would also avoid UPS at all costs (or any courier that doesn't specify pre-paid duties).
 
eroots said:
PedalPCB forces you to use UPS
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UPS has never been a forced option.

If USPS wasn't available it was either due to an issue with their live rate system, shipping suspended to your area, or the shipment exceeded their maximum limits (First Class International is limited to $500 or less declared value, for example).

If for some reason that does happen you can shoot me an email and I can change it.
 
Robert said:
UPS has never been a forced option.
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Yes, testing it out again now I see now that you're correct. Adding a certain number of items (>4?) to the cart gets rid of the GlobalPost option, and sets the default to UPS, but the USPS option is still available below that.
Being a Canadian who doesn't normally use either of those services, who was in a bit of a rush and who had apparently forgotten the lesson already learned last year (i.e., don't use UPS), I didn't think to change it. An expensive self-own on this one.
 
Robert said:
UPS has never been a forced option.

If USPS wasn't available it was either due to an issue with their live rate system, shipping suspended to your area, or the shipment exceeded their maximum limits (First Class International is limited to $500 or less declared value, for example).

If for some reason that does happen you can shoot me an email and I can change it.
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PedalPCB forces me to buy PCBs........
 
Robert has never forced UPS upon me. I might have forgotten to ask a few times for going postal.
I (almost) always request Robert and other suppliers to ship via USPS for a hand-off to CanPost.

The only forcing being done is by bullying Couriers demanding BullShit-Borkerage fees such as oUoPS, DHeLL and FuddleDuddle Express.
F'em all.




@eroots — don't be surprised if DHeLL tries to ream you for brokerage fees on your Tayda order.
Other Canuckian forumites have had mixed interactions, some have been hit with borkage-fees and some not — sometimes it's been hit & miss for the same individual for different orders.


I've got loads of back-log PCBs to build and trouble-shooting backlog to boot, I'm only building for me and my friends — I don't need to meet a "customer's" nor anyone else's deadline so mostly I'm okay with waiting a few extra weeks for whatever I order. CanPost strikes are a pain, but paying for broke-ridge fees for something that's less than CanCash$150 is pure bullshit. There is no need for such a disservice for orders under C$150.


Last time I checked, Canadians are permitted up to CAD150 duty-free for online orders.


I generally try to keep orders under CAD150 including postage. Very occasionally, I have to give Canada Post some digital money for GST (nobody accepts cash anymore WTF don't get me started "What if I don't have a CreditCard you F*@$%*%#^*&..."), but I don't recall EVER having to pay Canada Post "brokerage".


/rant
 
UPS in the tapehead and hi-fi audio world has always lovingly been referred to as 'United Parcel Smashers'

I've never had a problem with DHL ordering from Europe, other than regular Customes fees or import duties. Things run smoothly.
 
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