I have been dinged pretty bad by UPS in the past as well.
Yup! In one case I had to pay 30 dollars brokerage fee on a 40 dollar item. How that made sense donāt ask me, I just paid it and went on my way. I was young and it was my first experience with ordering anything from the US.
UPS in notoriously bad for brokerage fees. Iāve had better experience with FedEx in the past.
Be careful about pickup up the GF in Washington State - I thought of doing what cwilson21 is doing, but if the GF ships to Washington State, you pay Washington State taxes. Add in the fact that you will pay GST/PST when you import the GF and the shipping cost to Canada suddenly seems more reasonable.
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As for Brokerage fees, you never have to pay them. Brokerage is a separate service and there is always an option to do it yourself. Hereās how:
- Delivery guy shows up at your door demanding $$$ in fees. Say no - refuse delivery, tell him you will self broker.
- Call the courier company, tell them you want to self broker. They will update the package notes.
- Go to the shipping facility in your town (where the courier is holding the package). The package legally must be there (in case the CBSA wants to inspect it). Ask them for the clearance paperwork for self-brokerage.
- Take the paperwork to your local CBSA office (usually thereās one near the airport).
- Provide the paperwork, tell them what it is and pay the GST/PST and any duties they assess.
- Return the stamped paperwork to the shipping facility and collect your package.
Itās a hassle, that may not be worth the fees, but on higher cost items, you can save a couple hundred dollars.
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Thanks for the info. I did not know you could do that.
Hereās a few notes about this topic Iād like to highlight:
The CBSA tariff code for calculating duty and tax will be 8456.10
84.56 Machine-tools for working any material by removal of material, by laser or other light or photon beam, ultrasonic, electro-discharge, electrochemical, electron beam, ionic-beam or plasma arc processes; water-jet cutting machines.
8456.10.00 00 -Operated by laser or other light or photon beam processes
Brokerage fees: Itās true, you can do it yourself. I learned to do it myself. I personally ship computer test equipment around the world for my company. You have to have:
- a commercial invoice,
- the proper tariff code (see above)
- any appropriate regulatory documentation. In the GFās case, because it includes WiFi, it has to have FCC (if going into US from out of US) or CRTC (if coming into Canada) radio emissions declarations. https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf08655.html
As for the Glowforge evaluation units, they can likely ship them out of the US into Canada duty-free to testers as long as they declare them not for resale (NFR) and on loan for under a year. In CBSA terms, this is a āB13A Exemptionā. For me, I usually loan test equipment from Canada to the US using No Declaration Required (NDR) 14. But I believe Glowforge has to claim NDR3 for the loans coming into Canada and returning to the US. http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/export/ndr-adr-eng.html
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Has anyone recieved their GF shipped to canada yet?
I originaly ordered mine in november 2016 but upgraded to the Pro march 25th 2017. Estimated shipped date has moved about 5 times now. Now says september 1st 2018
The only GF units in Canada are those that people crossed the border to bring over themselves. 
still doesnāt have CSA certification and are thus not shipping to Canada yetā¦
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I had mine sent to a UPS drop off spot and picked it up there - in Sumas WA. Noted that the large arrows indicating it was not to be on edge were ignored (I guess they think it is just a company logo or somethingā¦
All good though. I would recommend doing this - I love my Glowforge and happy to have expedited things by doing a USA run (did have to take two ferries thoughā¦). On the way down make sure you say you are just going shopping - or they charge you for crossing the border - as a commercial vehicle, even if you are in your own car! I said I was picking up a laser cutter and apparently there is a fee for thatā¦ who knew?! On the good side there was a great ice cream shop just south of the border - yum!
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Nice! If only I had the luxury of being close to the US borderā¦ Itās 6 hours for me to get to Sweetgrass MT, which is not a drive Iām willing to make. Iād be half asleep before get to Lethbridge.
Iām glad to hear that everything went well with your unit.
I really do just wish GF would be a little more forthcoming with the certification process rather than just seeing repeated delays with no explanations.
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Agreed about the certification, normally the USA certification is fine for Canada - I import a lot from Taiwan and we certify to the USA standard and CSA is usually the same, so few problems. They should be harmonizedā¦
6 hours - ouch (with the ferry ride and waiting for it, and waiting in the line at the border - it probably took me that long too). Canāt wait for drone deliveryā¦
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Donāt they have to be UL-certified (or equivalent - CE doesnāt cut it) to be imported?
Wonder what testing mark the EU units have stamped on them?
CSA for Canada. CE mark for the EU.
CSA is normally not much different to UL but they donāt have UL either.
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I drove Edmonton to Lethbridge, which was close enough, and slept overnight at a hotel. Another hour or so (if I recall correctly) to then go to Sweetgrass, circle around and head back. But yeah, it was tiring.
This. But I can attest once you have the unit you just stop caring anymore. 
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