Issues Selling/shipping To Canada?

[Art]

Just a note about shipping and delivery conformation, both overseas or here in the US. Just because the Post Office SAYS the delivery is confirmed, doesn't necessarily mean it was delivered to the right address/person.

I recently had a knife sent to me and was getting a little worried about the delay in receiving it. Well, I hadn't paid for it in advance, so no worry, I would get it when I got it. I get an irate call from the vendor wanting his money, and he says he has a delivery conformation from the Post Office, and indeed he did; problem was, I didn't have the knife. Now this vendor, wants ME to go to the Post Office and see what happened. This has happened to me before, and basically the Post Office wants to hear from the PERSON WHO SHIPPED THE PACKAGE. I told him this and got a very POed reply and a hangup. Ok, I wasn't out any money. The knife did arrive about a week after the Post Office confirmed they delivered it, and I made payment to the vendor.

The moral of the above story is that the Postal Services do mess up, often quite badly, by delivering something that is lost or destroyed in a clear plastic bag (containing just an envelope or box or pieces picked from a sorting machine) or even worse delivered to the wrong person. It is not the recipient's problem, but the senders, and if you do enough shipping, it WILL happen.

Put the recipient's email into the delivery confirmation system, then you and he will be the first ones to know if something was miss-delivered.

Don't EVER tell the recipient that he paid for the postage, so it is his problem (exact words).

Art

[McJeep]

No such fees through the post office. If people are not aware of this it is a very nasty surprise when they receive their item.

Actually, the post office can and does charge those fees on occasion (random and dependent on individual post offices I believe) so the surcharge thing "could" still happen. But when it does, it's still no where near the exorbitant fees that UPS etc charge ;0)

Overall, if there's no rush involved, the posties are a better bet $$$wise

[Denise]

McJeep,

The only fees I am aware of are the customs charge for checking out the item (recently gone up from $5 to $8.50 - nice 70% raise in pay all at one step!) plus the appropriate GST. I know sometimes I get things without those charges but I always count on them. I have never been charged anything other than that, but then we don't order in a lot from the US. What do they call the other charges, do you know?

[McJeep]

I'll check - got a BUNCH of stuff coming up right now - gearing up to get some stock put together for bike shows next year.

"Startup" phase of turning things into a business is he77! LOL

[Northmount]

McJeep,

The only fees I am aware of are the customs charge for checking out the item (recently gone up from $5 to $8.50 - nice 70% raise in pay all at one step!) plus the appropriate GST. I know sometimes I get things without those charges but I always count on them. I have never been charged anything other than that, but then we don't order in a lot from the US. What do they call the other charges, do you know?

Both UPS and Fedex charge brokerage fees on items shipped from the US to Canada. The lowest charge with UPS is about $47. You get hit with this charge at the door. The fee may be larger as it is also based on the declared value. People should be able to clear the items through CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency) according to all the rules and regulations, but UPS really doesn't like to give up their fat fee for doing next to nothing. If you are interested in people's experieinces, take a look at http://trueler.com/2...ating-avoid-it/ You will find others too if you Google for brokerage fees. I don't like paying the fee, but my time is worth more to me than driving out to the airport and standing in line arguing with a CBSA agent (or UPS).

If you ship via USPS, then Canada Post does the customs clearance for you. They charge a $5 (now $8.50 according to Denise, thanks Denise) transaction fee plus any federal and provincial sales taxes that are applicable depending on the province the importer is in. Many times Canada Post just goes ahead and delivers with no fees; nice when that happens. I have had free or next to free items delivered by Canada Post and still charged transaction fee plus a few cents GST (Goods & Services Tax (Federal Government)).

After being stung a few times recently by UPS, I try to remember to always ask for shipment to be by USPS and preferably Express. I much prefer the lower cost for brokerage and if I miss the postman, the local office is just a few blocks away.

Edited December 13, 2011 by northmount

[Denise]

Northmount,

Thank you for saying much better than I did. By the way, it is the transaction fee that has gone up from $5 to $8.50 on our last two shipments. Still a whole lot better than courier brokerage fees!