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FedEx iPhone 4 from Canada to USA

sammy2066

sammy2066

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 3, 2007
942
589
127.0.0.1
I will pay for the phone with a US credit card and ship it to my buddy in Canada. He then ships it to me in Chicago via FedEx.

Do you guys see any reason why this wouldn't work? Would there be any customs issues? (I will declare the fair value while shipping.)

Let's stay on course here, I hate digressions.

Thanks,

Sam
 
get ready to pay some killer brokerage fees!! And why not just buy in the USA?

I hate when people send me stuff through fedex! The brokerage fees tend to cost more than a smaller item at times.. :mad:
 
It should work... why not :)

I was planning to do the same thing as well but I decided to go ahead and get the US version this year since I can't get the white one why spend ~$700 for black one


esadb said:
get ready to pay some killer brokerage fees!! And why not just buy in the USA?

I hate when people send me stuff through fedex! The brokerage fees tend to cost more than a smaller item at times.. :mad:
Click to expand...

What the heck is brokerage fees? Custom fees?
He probably wants to get an official unlocked version...
 
esadb said:
get ready to pay some killer brokerage fees!! And why not just buy in the USA?

I hate when people send me stuff through fedex! The brokerage fees tend to cost more than a smaller item at times.. :mad:
Click to expand...

Who charges brokerage?
 
For people who are curious to know why I'd be doing this ...

I'm absolutely against the policy of locking phones. AT&T won't unlock the phone even if I buy one without a contract. If I pay full price for a phone, I'd damn well be able to use it wherever on the planet I please.

So there you go, since iPhones sold in Canada are unlocked (and I travel a lot), this is something which is extremely important for me. I'd hate to get into the whole jailbreak scene, because software updates thereafter are a hit and miss.
 
I think your plan is also flawed as I believe the credit card address needs to match the shipping address. So, your buddy would have to buy it and then ship it to you and you pay him back or whatever
 
Cynikal.Mindset said:
I think your plan is also flawed as I believe the credit card address needs to match the shipping address. So, your buddy would have to buy it and then ship it to you and you pay him back or whatever
Click to expand...

Good point ... if that turns out to be the case, my buddy can pay for it and I'll pay him via PayPal or send him a check. :)
 
Cynikal.Mindset said:
I think your plan is also flawed as I believe the credit card address needs to match the shipping address. So, your buddy would have to buy it and then ship it to you and you pay him back or whatever
Click to expand...

Actually, my friend from Singapore purchased 3G iPad with his credit card but under my name and my address. It went through and I received it :) (and of course shipped it to him afterwards)

I guess it depends on the credit card.... Worse come to worst, just ask his friend to buy it and the OP can pay his friend back
 
Fedex has brokerage fees on top of duty fees.

What does this mean? When you order through fedex items arrive extremely quickly! Why you ask? Well fedex is a nice company so they have a broker that evaluates your item, does all the border paperwork beforehand so the trucks arrives at the border and drives straight through customs no hold up nothing, so your package arrives real quick.

How do they determine brokerage fees? Based on a certain $$ bracket that the item falls under you get charged.

So basically few weeks down the road when you get your package you get a nice bill.. It includes the brokers pay basically its like 30-40$ and on top of that you get your custom fees which depending on the value of the item

Lets just put it this way.. i ordered a speck case.. came with fedex.. the case was 17$.. At the end of it all the case ended up costing me 60$, I had 43$ (brokerage&customs)

I also had this happen before when i purchased some rocker panels which were 100$ i ended up with brokerage fees&customs ~ 90$.

Ive spend a lot of time arguing with them over this on the phone and trying to cancel the charges. And sorry to inform you their not included in the shipping cost!
 
sammy2066 said:
Brokerage is included in the shipping cost eh? It's gonna cost about $100 USD for shipping it via FedEx ... not bad at all.
Click to expand...

$100 for shipping and then to get it released from customs there is a third party broker involved with fedex or UPS shipments where you pay another $150 on a $1000 phone to ship to Canada that's what my personal experience is
 
Check out this site to get a rate:
Code: 
[URL="http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/personal/farUS?execution=e5s1"]http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/personal/farUS?execution=e5s1[/URL]

Hope this helps :)
 
sammy2066 said:
Brokerage is included in the shipping cost eh? It's gonna cost about $100 USD for shipping it via FedEx ... not bad at all.
Click to expand...

with UPS you pay shipping and then they slap you in the dick when it comes to your door with brokerage fees usually almost the same amount as the damn product you bought...its brutal!!

Fedex has never done that to me though or purolator...just UPS
 
Cynikal.Mindset said:
with UPS you pay shipping and then they slap you in the dick when it comes to your door with brokerage fees usually almost the same amount as the damn product you bought...its brutal!!

Fedex has never done that to me though or purolator...just UPS
Click to expand...

You got that correct dude! The shipping cost doesnt include brokerage.. And mind you their real tight when it comes to evaluating items.. So a iphone 4 im sure will get the 500-700$ price bracket which then will add up A LOT!
 
Does it matter if you report the item as "Gift"? Because I always mark my item as gift when shipping it overseas with USPS...

I remembered shipping a couple laptops to Canada and UK via FedEx but I don't think the buyer paid any crazy brokerage fees or anything like that...
 
illutionz said:
Does it matter if you report the item as "Gift"? Because I always mark my item as gift when shipping it overseas with USPS...

I remembered shipping a couple laptops to Canada and UK via FedEx but I don't think the buyer paid any crazy brokerage fees or anything like that...
Click to expand...

nah the "gift" wont work with fedex trust me! I got into quite the mess with them when i received my charges!

The guys best bet is to go with like Canada post or something, but then the item may take longer to arrive but hes still got the chance of high duty fees because it is a brand new product and im sure the border guys will realize.
 
esadb said:
nah the "gift" wont work with fedex trust me! I got into quite the mess with them when i received my charges!

The guys best bet is to go with like Canada post or something, but then the item may take longer to arrive but hes still got the chance of high duty fees because it is a brand new product and im sure the border guys will realize.
Click to expand...

Yeah... I think Canada Post is the best bet. Duty fees are probably not as bad... I shipped the aforementioned iPad to Singapore with USPS Express Mail... Declared it as iPad with $500 value and all my friend needs to pay is the 7% GST tax to pickup the item from Singapore Customs.

I'm not sure hot Canada to US duty fees will go as I never really get anything slapped on me when people ship me expensive stuff from overseas.... I guess I'm lucky ;)
 
Thanks for all the great responses ... I think this is not going to work out. If there's anything I hate more than locked phones, it is uncertainty. And there seems to be an awful lot of it in this scenario.

I'm gonna start school in the UK in October, so I'll just pick one up from there.
 
I don't think the Canadian Apple store will let you buy anything unless your billing and shipping addresses are in Canada-I know we can't order anything from the American site this way. When the iPad came out, we either had to drive across the border to a physical Apple store or wait until it came to Canada.

"Gift" is only for something under $50, but if you put "phone" on the package they'll probably open it up. I've shipped things like purses sold on eBay, and someone even had the corner of the package ripped open by customs to make sure it wasn't a fake bag inside. I think in the US you're allowed a higher import limit than Canada, but you would still pay very high fees. But Canada Post is better than UPS/FedEx.
 
Purchasing an IPhone4 in the USA

Hi there,

I heard from someone that purchasing an IPhone4 in the States and getting the phone "unlocked" and then bringing it home to use in Canada was my best option. I have a family member that lives in FLA and is coming home soon. Is this my best option in terms of price? I heard the States price is a lot less than ours in Canada!
I don't even think I would have to pay duty/border costs this way as well.

Any help here would be appreciated.

Thanks
Callan1027
 
Callan1027 said:
Hi there,

I heard from someone that purchasing an IPhone4 in the States and getting the phone "unlocked" and then bringing it home to use in Canada was my best option. I have a family member that lives in FLA and is coming home soon. Is this my best option in terms of price? I heard the States price is a lot less than ours in Canada!
I don't even think I would have to pay duty/border costs this way as well.

Any help here would be appreciated.

Thanks
Callan1027
Click to expand...


The only way to unlock a US iPhone requires a jailbreak and an unlock - and currently there is no unlock for the more recent basebands via jailbreak.

Looking at Rogers.com, I'd pay the minor amount of extra cash for an unlocked phone ($700 for a 32GB vs. Roger's $749; Apple's price is a little bit more than Roger's, and I'm not sure what the terms are for having the carrier unlock your phone; heck, check your carrier and ask if they offer one unlocked, or will unlock after your contract's up, and do it that way).

A "soft" unlock via jailbreak isn't that secure, in that if you accidently upgrade your firmware the wrong way, you're backed to a locked (and if bought in the US to AT&T) phone and having to wait again for a new jb/unlock. My phones only a few weeks old, and I've only the teather JB option available to me at the moment since I'm on 4.2.1
 
Last edited:
Thx for the reply

i'm currently w/ Rogers so it might make sense to just buy the phone thru them.

Cheers!
 
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