Why is shipping to Canada is so expensive?

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Ruso

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2013
Messages
2,041
Reaction score
671
The selection of knifes and knife related gear is so much better in the US then Canada that it does not even worth describing.
What does shock me, is the shipping costs to Canada from most of US knife retailers. The shipping cost is around $35 usually. How come it's so expensive? Most Canadian retailers that ship to US charge less and even offer free shipping on purchases more then $XX.

I know many business owners visit this site so may be they can provide the insight on such elevated shipping costs and no free shipping options to the Northern neighbors...?
 
Shipping costs are what they are. I don't know if it is Canada Post or the USPS that are to blame, but I recently shipped the same weight package to both a US and a Canadian address. The postage to the US address was $5.15; postage to the Canadian address was $19.95. Expecting that a vendor (or even a private individual) to eat that cost is ingenuous.

Rick
 
I just shipped a 12lb box of PIF knives, etc. to Toronto and it cost me $60.00 !!!!
Ouch!
My wife is gonna kill me!
 
If costs from the US to Canada are like that, I'd suggest Canadians buy directly from Japan if possible.
 
Shipping across the border the other way is a little pricey too. And shipping overseas? Man, that can get seriously expensive :)
 
About shipping from the US to Europe, I noticed great differences according to the exact conditions, like insurance, declared value, tracking etc.
The cheapest way seems to be USPS First Class, but that's without tracking, and so is a little tricky from the sender's point of view because of his liability.
The cheapest way from The Netherlands to the US is still twice as expensive as the USPS First Class, both without tracking nor insurance.
 
Yup. I feel badly about my shipping charges, and often do swallow some of it. It sucks, but there's nothing we can do about it, really....
 
Recently shipped a package to Toronto from Los Angeles, USPS quoted me about $30 while FedEx was at a more humble $21. Guess who got the business?
 
I wonder how come some Canadian retailers mange to offer free shipping to the US then. I bet the prices of Canada Post to US is roughly the same. That sux tho, so many goodies missing :( And if you think about it, from NY to Ontario is so much closer then from NY to Cali for example :-/

And thanks for offering to Live in US or becoming a 51st state, but I will kindly refuse the offers :p
 
Also don't forget the dreaded "brokerage fees" some companies (most notably UPS) screw you you with...
I once had to pay a $19.95 brokerage fee for free t-shirt from California...

Keep in mind also, that for products not under NAFTA (ie made in Japan or anywhere other than Mexico, US or Canada) us Canadians will have to pay 8% duty on top of GST/PST.

My order from a popular Yusuke vendor on Ebay arrived from Japan, with no duty, no tax and very reasonable 13 dollar express trackable 4-day shipping. I've read that JCK manages similar shipping/customs declarations but I haven't ordered anything from them yet. (I do have my eye on a Masa KS Deba from them so I might find out soon).

As someone else suggested, ordering straight from Japan seems to be the way to go.
 
I think FedEx actually ships some of USPS international packages. Maybe FedEx could be cheaper than USPS for once.
 
My order from a popular Yusuke vendor on Ebay arrived from Japan, with no duty, no tax and very reasonable 13 dollar express trackable 4-day shipping. I've read that JCK manages similar shipping/customs declarations but I haven't ordered anything from them yet. (I do have my eye on a Masa KS Deba from them so I might find out soon).

That's shipping price and timing is veeeery reasonable and no duty is big bonus. I will have to check that ebay shop. If you do get something from JCK, let the public know how did it go. Its good to have a good reference of "Canada friendly shipping knife suppliers" :p
 
What I find weird is that its cheaper to get something shipped from Japan using EMS over the air then to ship something from the US via truck.
 
JCK shipping is beyond awesome. $7 flat rate. Last order Japan to deepest darkest Wales (passing through 5 offices) = 3 days.
 
JCK shipping is beyond awesome. $7 flat rate. Last order Japan to deepest darkest Wales (passing through 5 offices) = 3 days.

I agree. They use EMS, right? I think it's the same with other sellers in Japan as it is good and cheap even compared to their own airmail. Basically, if you don't live in the US and you want something Japanese, always best to look to the source country. (Or JNS - DHL is great.)
 
I agree. They use EMS, right? I think it's the same with other sellers in Japan as it is good and cheap even compared to their own airmail. Basically, if you don't live in the US and you want something Japanese, always best to look to the source country. (Or JNS - DHL is great.)

Totally agree with this.
 
That's shipping price and timing is veeeery reasonable and no duty is big bonus. I will have to check that ebay shop. If you do get something from JCK, let the public know how did it go. Its good to have a good reference of "Canada friendly shipping knife suppliers" :p

I've ordered many knives from Koki at JCK and it's always been $7 US flat fee with tracking and it gets to Toronto within 7 days. It's quite amazing compared to the Us-Canada cross border rates and brokerage fees.
 
I just received a package from Metalmaster from Japan. It took about a month and a half, but that was due to the vendor not the shipping company. It was shipped by EMS and was VERY reasonably priced and did not get hit with any taxes or brokerage. In my experience, do not ship from the US with UPS as the brokerage fee will far surpass the cost of the shipping, and maybe the cost of the product. If the vendor does not offer USPS from the US, I will not even consider the purchase.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top