Shipping to Canada. Question for you folks up north

Shipping to Canada

  • Pay the extra charges for an item

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Pass on an item because of the high charges

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    1
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gliderider06

gliderider06

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So I see often the debate on shipping to Canada. I personally don't just because I pay the shipping on items I sell. The USPS does do flat rate postage, which is generally around $30.00 more. It's not that I don't want to sell parts to you, just the shipping price. The paperwork is a snap and takes seconds to fill out. Maybe this post can help us out down here about your thoughts on the high (to me) shipping costs.
What are your opinions about this?
 
If its something i need, im usually willing to pay the extra.
However, its like extortion when the parcel arrives and i have to pay a ridiculous fee for duty.
And if there is no declared value stating they are (used) auto parts you are at the mercy of customs officials when they inspect the parcel.
That’s what makes me think twice about a purchase. there is a pair of corner windows and framework i would love to have for my fargo. Way to far,and i would have to pay a small fortune to get them.

I have had stuff sent to the border,then a courier service takes it to the city through a broker.
Corner parcel service and runnin red courier work together. Its about the easiest way to go.
 
It is best for us if u ship it thru the mail. U guys have cheap shipping down there. Look at it this way. Ur ad says free shipping in the USA. Say it costs $20.00 to ship there. Then to ship up here $50.00. Then 9 times out of 10 the charge is $50.00 to us. This is my thinking. It should cost $30.00 to ship to me as that is the difference in shipping dollars. If I need it right away I pay the piper. If I don’t I get it sent to my sister in ND. I have to pay duty and taxes when my sister brings it across the border for me. I had a crank sent FedEx. $350.00 value. Buy the time I got done with brokerage, duty and taxes It was s as mother $95.00. So now I have $445.00 into the crank plus the $175.00 to ship it it comes out to $620.00 usd. Now it’s money conversion time. 1.40 X $620 =$868.00 Canadian. Then there is a polish job that I haven’t been billed for yet. Kim
 
I have had best of luck with postal.

I agree with oldkimmer.
oldkimmer said:
Ur ad says free shipping in the USA. Say it costs $20.00 to ship there. Then to ship up here $50.00. Then 9 times out of 10 the charge is $50.00 to us. This is my thinking. It should cost $30.00 to ship to me as that is the difference in shipping dollars.
Click to expand...

Most Canadians know it's expensive to get stuff sent up here.
 
I will ad that with our screwed up postal system that I can send the same part as I’m shipping in Canada down to the States for hardly anymore $. That’s totally screwed up. Kim
 
Kim explained it pretty well. I as a buyer expect to pay the difference between flat rate within US(if thats what seller is doing) and the difference to ship to Canada. Its unfortunate our 2 Postal systems cant operate together better to keep pricing down. I have had very good luck with receiving and sending parts. 1 or 2 hiccups but thats it.
The news last week stated Canada Post lost $150 million last year. Prices have gone up and will continue.
Thanks for being willing to sell to us. There really is no more paperwork/packaging.
 
oldkimmer said:
It is best for us if u ship it thru the mail. U guys have cheap shipping down there. Look at it this way. Ur ad says free shipping in the USA. Say it costs $20.00 to ship there. Then to ship up here $50.00. Then 9 times out of 10 the charge is $50.00 to us. This is my thinking. It should cost $30.00 to ship to me as that is the difference in shipping dollars.
Click to expand...
Kim, that's why I have recently added in my listings that I'll ship to Canada if the extra 30.00 is added. Personally, I will do this on the flat rate services. I think anything outside of that, the prices may go extremely rogue and ve outrageously expensive.
Thanks for your input!
 
Meh. Use to paying more for shipping. I am close to the border so anything I get usually get it shipped to Po box with.a service that brings it to Canada side. I pick it up in person. Saved thousands over the years
 
mini said:
Meh. Use to paying more for shipping. I am close to the border so anything I get usually get it shipped to Po box with.a service that brings it to Canada side. I pick it up in person. Saved thousands over the years
Click to expand...
I basically do the same thing....have items shipped to a border town, have a freight forwarder bring it to my city, clear it myself through customs, and bring my bounty home. Saved $$$ over the years, and, works for EBay peeps who won't ship to Canada.
 
As others have said, USPS is the best method to ship things across the border so we don’t get soaked on duty/brokerage charges. UPS and Fed-ex charge outrageous rates for clearing the package across the border.

Like some others, I live near the border so have a P.O. Box just across the border and haven’t been hit for years with duty when I cross with the items at the border. Most of the time I have it shipped there but if it’s a small item and my wife doesn’t have anything being sent there around the same time, I’ll have it shipped across (asking the seller to use USPS) and I haven’t been dinged with customs (not even the usual $5).
 
less than $100 - USPS by all means - usually zips through and Customs don't even look at it; otherwise, drop box in Port Huron worked just fine until they closed the border.
 
4spdragtop said:
The news last week stated Canada Post lost $150 million last year. Prices have gone up and will continue.
Click to expand...
Interesting..... The US postal service lost around $8.8 BILLION USD, or $12.3 BILLION CaD in 2019, or around.

That is part of why the USPS is cheap here.... it is subsidized. Oh, But not by a ton..... their 2019 revenues were $71 billion. So a 15% rate increase would fix the problem here.

Not sure what it would take for the CA postal system to break even. You guys have a very widespread ares to cover with 1/9th of the population, so the operating costs just for that are gonna be higher. (IDK on the other CA operating costs for businesses....)
 
Between the currency exchange rate and brokerage fees, shipping costs are brutal. I live an hour from the Montana border, most of the time I use a P.O. box in Sweetgrass and pick up myself. I have found that if I am bringing back items that are valued at less than about $250.00 that I rarely have to pay anything at customs. If it's something that I need quickly then I bite the bullet and have it shipped to my house. When I am buying an expensive part or a lot of parts, I try to make it coincide with my vacation and bring it back as my personal exemption. Last year when I bought my TTI headers, cost was $925.00 USD with shipping, which converted to CAD $1253.00. I was away for a week and picked them up before crossing back into Canada, paid nothing at customs.
I have had UPS and FedEx both hold items for me while I did the paperwork for customs myself to avoid being charged their ridiculous fees, but they are not happy when that happens because they are losing out on easy money. For them it is only a matter of a few minutes on a computer and they make $40 or $50.
 
I live close to the border and always have my items shipped to the Ogdensburg UPS, then pickup myself. Even counting gas, bridge tolls and Customs charges it always costs much less than trying to buy in Canada. This is especially true for speed or specialty parts where buying in Canada is probably way more (double or triple $$$). Oh and if I do try and have something shipped directly to me I can usually more than triple the shipping time.

Mike
 
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