Shipping items from US to Canada..

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-- Shipping items from US to Canada..

Posted by Durafei on Nov-29-2004 21:03:

Shipping items from US to Canada..

There is a bunch of stuff that I acquired here in the US that I now need to ship to Canada(i would've brought it with me on the plane, but unfortunately it won't fit in the 2 bags that are allowed with my plane ticket).

So the question is - what's the cheapest way to ship stuff to Canada? I realize that paying GST/PST is probably unavoidable, but how do I avoid customs/duty charges ? I also don't require the items to be delivered quickly(ie. if shipping items ground is cheaper, I will consider it)

Thank you !

Posted by Orko on Nov-29-2004 21:11:

i get a shit load of stuff delivered to here from the US, cause of ebay.

If you bought through a private seller, then get them to mark "gift" on the parcel, for customs, and it should get through.

if an actually business is shipping, then you are gonna pay customs/duties. when i bout my mp3 player from the Creative Labs store off ebay, i got charged, pst/gst from customs.

how big are the items? because if they are big, and you ship ground...it could take weeks, months to get them. anytime i order posters, it takes FOREEVER!!!!!! the longest it took was like 1.5 months one time. i though it got lost!

hope this helps, if you got any more questions, ask away

Posted by Durafei on Nov-29-2004 21:29:

Yeah... I just read though that package marked as gift only covers the first 60$ value of the package, and receiver has to paid gst/pst/customs on the extra value

As far as length of time of delivery, I don't really care. It's not urgent for me to receive them(besides I only return to Canada a month from now).

Posted by Slag on Nov-29-2004 22:27:

Declare the items cheap <60 CAD. If you want to ship fully insured though, you cannot avoid marking down the price, unless you want to take the risk.

Posted by StereoPrincess on Nov-29-2004 22:29:

well, i would just go into my local post office and find out the cheapest rate. Maybe your best bet would be to ship a bunch of smaller packages.

I think Greyhound Buslines also does shipping for bigger items. My mom used to ship stuff from Timmins to me on the bus.

Posted by matty on Nov-29-2004 22:41:

Be prepared to pay massive duty/customs. If you're gonna ship with a courier go with FedEx. They are the most reliable as opposed to UPS or DHL.

Posted by rabbitjoker on Nov-29-2004 22:44:

If you're really concerned, pack a 3rd bag and pay the extra $50 for it.

Posted by Miss Julia on Nov-29-2004 22:45:

Maybe you should ship it to Buffalo, NY, or any other surrounding US cities... and drive over there to pick it up. Seems like it would be alot cheaper that way.

Posted by rabbitjoker on Nov-29-2004 22:51:

quote:
Originally posted by Miss Julia
Maybe you should ship it to Buffalo, NY, or any other surrounding US cities... and drive over there to pick it up. Seems like it would be alot cheaper that way.

We used to ship gifts and such to the Buffalo UPS station and then drive down and pick it up.

Worked fine. Great idea.

Posted by monishb on Nov-29-2004 23:19:

quote:
Originally posted by rabbitjoker
If you're really concerned, pack a 3rd bag and pay the extra $50 for it.

but thats the best, 50$ extra bag, its worth it.

Posted by Durafei on Nov-29-2004 23:28:

quote:
Originally posted by rabbitjoker
If you're really concerned, pack a 3rd bag and pay the extra $50 for it.

Yeah, I already investigated this, and I just might do that. Hopefully 50$ will cover it(I've accumulated quite a lot of pretty heavy books here, so I don't know if that 3rd bag will qualify weight-wise)

quote:
Maybe you should ship it to Buffalo, NY, or any other surrounding US cities... and drive over there to pick it up. Seems like it would be alot cheaper that way.

Hm.. yeah, that's another good option !

Thank you !

Posted by Crazy Serb on Nov-30-2004 00:30:

One word of advice -> stay away from UPS, Fedex, Purolator and other courier companies... unless you wanna get raped for customs fees.

Use USPS, and either declare the items as gifts (send separate packages if you need to), or declare them as goods from Canada (originating from here) and being returned for some ghey reason (damaged items)... if it's some mechanical/technical stuff then you can declare it as being repaired and returned to the customer in Canada.

Either way, even if you have to pay customs, with USPS that should be A LOT less than if you went with UPS/Fedex/etc.

Posted by Ninjapimp on Nov-30-2004 02:48:

quote:
Originally posted by Crazy Serb
Use USPS, and either declare the items as gifts (send separate packages if you need to), or declare them as goods from Canada (originating from here) and being returned for some ghey reason (damaged items)... if it's some mechanical/technical stuff then you can declare it as being repaired and returned to the customer in Canada.

Either way, even if you have to pay customs, with USPS that should be A LOT less than if you went with UPS/Fedex/etc.

I agree. USPS all the way over couriers.