Shipping Parts to Canada-best way?

[tom winter]

Jon wrote:
I'm located in Portland, Oregon, and I have agreed to sell a set of
BBS wheels to a chap in eastern Canada. Unfortunately, the boxes I
want to ship the wheels in exceed the size limit for USPS
international parcels. UPS will gladly do it, but I understand they  charge
the receiving party all kinds of bogus fees, which I would like
to avoid. Whats the best way?

Tom wrote:
I think the fees come into play in regards to customs taxing the value of
the goods. So you have to list to value of the goods as 0 and not insure
them to avoid customs duties. This may be hard to do, given the size of what
you're  

Stephane wrote:
Not entirely correct.  There are duties and taxes payable, but UPS does
charge additional customs clearing fees and they do absolutely nothing for
it, and the fees are not low. USPS on the other hand, will ship directly
from the US to my door in Canada with no extra fees.

Hmm, well, Portland is pretty close to the border, and those wheels are
pretty big. Maybe have a friend who is heading up to Vancouver for a weekend
put 'em in his trunk and then ship them from inside Canada to the recipient?
I also know that if you have a corporate UPS account, it's much cheaper to
ship large items (I had a friend ship a kayak for me once, and saved a
bundle). Don't know if a corporate account would make a difference on
international shipments, though.

Tom