FeeVerdict — Methodology
Last updated: August 2026
Scope: Carrier brokerage / customs handling fees · observed vs published barèmes
What we measure
FeeVerdict compares what you were charged (brokerage/clearance fee only) against published carrier schedules and crowdsourced medians for the same carrier × country × parcel value band.
We do not calculate import duty or GST/HST — those are government charges. We focus on carrier administrative fees (entry preparation, disbursement, processing, transaction, ICOD).
Data sources
| Source type | Use |
|---|---|
| Official carrier PDFs | DHL Rate Guide CA, UPS/FedEx rate guides — baseline « published » |
| Government | CBSA CLVS program, Canada Post handling fee ($9.95) |
| User submissions | Anonymous « I paid X on carrier Y » — feeds observed median |
| Public forums / press | Seed only · URL cited · not republished verbatim |
Every displayed figure links to its source class: PDF URL, « n submissions · period », or CBSA/Canada Post page.
Verdict rules (v0)
| Verdict | Rule |
|---|---|
| NORMAL | Observed fee ≤ published baseline × 1.15 |
| GONFLÉ | > 1.15× and ≤ 2× published |
| CONTESTABLE | > 2× published · or opaque invoice lines |
| INDÉTERMINÉ | Service tier unknown (Express vs Ground) — upload invoice |
Published baseline = entry preparation + disbursement + applicable line fees from official schedule for your value band.
Submission moderation
What we never publish
Aggregated pages only: e.g. /ca/dhl/brokerage-fee/100-cad-parcel → median, n, verdict type.
Limitations
dateModified on each page; IndexNow on updates Contact
Questions on methodology: [contact TBD pre-launch]
Report data error: [form TBD]
Express vs Ground brokerage
Published carrier schedules on FeeVerdict refer to ground/standard entry-preparation fees billed separately on many invoices. Express and air services usually bundle customs brokerage into the shipping price paid at checkout — those totals are often not comparable to the ground tariff lines we cite. When you submit an observation, select Express if that applies so we segment medians correctly. Carrier pages flagged in the country catalog include an additional FAQ when ground vs Express tariffs are not directly comparable.
U.S. inbound baseline (J1)
For United States inbound, the published baseline is entry fee (if a value grid is published) + disbursement minimum. We never add Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) as a FeeVerdict line, even when a carrier’s percentage is calculated on duty + tax + MPF. We also omit the FedEx U.S. Inbound Processing Fee ($2.65 / $1 Connect Plus) — a third layer, neither entry nor disbursement. That omission slightly understates the full carrier bill and keeps the comparison conservative on the layers we actually measure. DHL US publishes no entry-by-value grid; the J1 baseline is Duty Tax Processing only ($17.50). UPS US stays undetermined until official entry-prep amounts are sourced.
Moderation policy
Submissions go through a human moderation queue. Comments with URLs, disposable emails, or outlier fees (>5× band median) stay pending. See our public moderation policy.
Anti-scrape canaries (honeypot)
FeeVerdict inserts decoy values (canaries) in the internal database. These improbable amounts (e.g. $17.37 CAD) never appear in public medians, API exports, or llms.txt assertions. Bulk reuse of these values signals unauthorized scraping.
Verified comments (UGC)
Approved verified comments appear on carrier pages without fine PII — generic city only, phone numbers masked, no URLs. We never buy or solicit reviews.