Hello KKFers.
I wanted to make a quick post about shipping from the UNITED STATES to CANADA.
After searching, nothing has been posted about this since 2013!
I was recently dinged $285.00 because somebody here wanted to insure (without telling me ... Point 5) their international bound package to Canada.
Here is my instruction manual about shipping from the (Lower 48) US to Canada.
Rules:
1. Do not Fear Shipping to Canada, Yes it costs more but if your making a sale on that drawer queen, sometimes the money is better in the bank than the drawer.
2. YEAH USPS. Canadians Favourite postal service is "Canada Post." This is good news, as they have an alliance with USPS! Both rely on Government money to run properly, and deliver to the most remote locations. Best of all they are designed for personal package delivery. UPS is to Canada what the Carrier Pigeon is to the United States of America, Useless. I know UPS is great on that side of the border but they don't give a flying F*** about us. Fedex is good, but only as an alternative to USPS, as they and UPS make huge amounts of money when they screen for Dues, where as USPS/Canada Post simply don't care as much. If you like your buyer for buying your "like new in box barely used to cut one carrot" knife, be nice to them and ship USPS. IF YOU USE UPS and to a lesser extent FedEx, THEY LOOK FOR EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A DOLLAR.
2.a) Some places in Canada HATE FedEx, but only slightly hate UPS. (Think Quebec... ) BUT Everywhere is HAPPY with USPS.
3. DUES, Canada has taxes on all goods above the $50 dollar range. If you mark your item at $15 but pay $20 in shipping THEY WILL OPEN IT (if its a knife or is heavy like a stone), and do their own assessments on pricing. Usually by looking at the paper work in the package to lend a clue about where to search the interweb. There is always the possibility for them to open through a random screening, but thats fine. Admittedly its best to mark down the Package between the $50-$100Cad .. even $120 range, so they can do their X-rays for drugs, see its a knife, feel good about tacking on their 5-15% dues and we can all be on our merry way.
4. ITS OK TO PUT "KNIFE" I would say ok to putting knife, but using adjectives really helps the situation here. USED, KITCHEN, CHEF, COOKING, VEGETABLE ...KNIFE. Use your imagination.
5. DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU MARK "GIFT." Canada boarder patrol doesn't care what you mark it as, they still will inspect it, or tax it the same. BUT DO Mark it as a GIFT, because that is all we remember that is on the forums.
6. INSURANCE. DONT USE INSURANCE. THE PACKAGE WILL ARRIVE. In my experience, of over 50 knives coming from the states, never came close to loosing any of them. Not to mention the Hundreds of other gizmos coming in from there, Amazon prime FTW baby. Its becoming increasingly LESS common for lost packages to just disappear. This loops back to point 3. if there is a duty on the package, you can bet your grandmother they will not loose that package. You may want insurance as a seller, Negotiate this with your new buyer, For me, its not needed. IF YOU MARK THE VALUE AT $100 and INSURE FOR $1500.00 CANADA BOARDER WILL ASSUME ITS VALUE IS $1500.00.
7. TRACKING: This should be negotiated with your buyer. To me it makes me feel better as a buyer, knowing it was only shipped yesterday though I've checked the status of the shipment 47 times. It always seems longer than it really is. AGAIN it always comes, see point 5.
7a.) To my fellow canadians, the more you check the status before its been processed (this is my suspicion) the more likely it will be flagged for duties. Where Lay off the status checks until its entered our borders.
8. OUR BORDERS/ Like your borders, an introspective take: Canada border patrol has a list of priorities Just like the US. 1. Stop drugs from coming into canada. 3. Stop guns, weapons etc. and after all that 3. Collect some taxes, Canadians are typically happy to contribute to taxes, mainly because of healthcare. But unlike America, Canada only likes Foreign Millionaires, so they will remember who buys what and what you were previously taxed at.
9. ENJOY. Be nice to your neighbours from the North, Sell to us please! Our currency kills us, 1.34Cad to USD now, plus Paypal conversions. OUCH. We don't want to come over there, but lets keep the BST section open to us.
10: OH, if you do insure for some insane dollar value, they might not bill everything upon delivery, but will comeback after delivery upon assessment, to BILL MORE. (See point 8)
Feel Free to Disagree with me,
IN SUMMARY ...
SHIP USPS / WITH TRACKING/ NO INSURANCE / $75-$100 VALUE / MARKED AS "GIFT" & "USED CHEF KNIFE" ... easy!
Regards,
L
I wanted to make a quick post about shipping from the UNITED STATES to CANADA.
After searching, nothing has been posted about this since 2013!
I was recently dinged $285.00 because somebody here wanted to insure (without telling me ... Point 5) their international bound package to Canada.
Here is my instruction manual about shipping from the (Lower 48) US to Canada.
Rules:
1. Do not Fear Shipping to Canada, Yes it costs more but if your making a sale on that drawer queen, sometimes the money is better in the bank than the drawer.
2. YEAH USPS. Canadians Favourite postal service is "Canada Post." This is good news, as they have an alliance with USPS! Both rely on Government money to run properly, and deliver to the most remote locations. Best of all they are designed for personal package delivery. UPS is to Canada what the Carrier Pigeon is to the United States of America, Useless. I know UPS is great on that side of the border but they don't give a flying F*** about us. Fedex is good, but only as an alternative to USPS, as they and UPS make huge amounts of money when they screen for Dues, where as USPS/Canada Post simply don't care as much. If you like your buyer for buying your "like new in box barely used to cut one carrot" knife, be nice to them and ship USPS. IF YOU USE UPS and to a lesser extent FedEx, THEY LOOK FOR EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A DOLLAR.
2.a) Some places in Canada HATE FedEx, but only slightly hate UPS. (Think Quebec... ) BUT Everywhere is HAPPY with USPS.
3. DUES, Canada has taxes on all goods above the $50 dollar range. If you mark your item at $15 but pay $20 in shipping THEY WILL OPEN IT (if its a knife or is heavy like a stone), and do their own assessments on pricing. Usually by looking at the paper work in the package to lend a clue about where to search the interweb. There is always the possibility for them to open through a random screening, but thats fine. Admittedly its best to mark down the Package between the $50-$100Cad .. even $120 range, so they can do their X-rays for drugs, see its a knife, feel good about tacking on their 5-15% dues and we can all be on our merry way.
4. ITS OK TO PUT "KNIFE" I would say ok to putting knife, but using adjectives really helps the situation here. USED, KITCHEN, CHEF, COOKING, VEGETABLE ...KNIFE. Use your imagination.
5. DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU MARK "GIFT." Canada boarder patrol doesn't care what you mark it as, they still will inspect it, or tax it the same. BUT DO Mark it as a GIFT, because that is all we remember that is on the forums.
6. INSURANCE. DONT USE INSURANCE. THE PACKAGE WILL ARRIVE. In my experience, of over 50 knives coming from the states, never came close to loosing any of them. Not to mention the Hundreds of other gizmos coming in from there, Amazon prime FTW baby. Its becoming increasingly LESS common for lost packages to just disappear. This loops back to point 3. if there is a duty on the package, you can bet your grandmother they will not loose that package. You may want insurance as a seller, Negotiate this with your new buyer, For me, its not needed. IF YOU MARK THE VALUE AT $100 and INSURE FOR $1500.00 CANADA BOARDER WILL ASSUME ITS VALUE IS $1500.00.
7. TRACKING: This should be negotiated with your buyer. To me it makes me feel better as a buyer, knowing it was only shipped yesterday though I've checked the status of the shipment 47 times. It always seems longer than it really is. AGAIN it always comes, see point 5.
7a.) To my fellow canadians, the more you check the status before its been processed (this is my suspicion) the more likely it will be flagged for duties. Where Lay off the status checks until its entered our borders.
8. OUR BORDERS/ Like your borders, an introspective take: Canada border patrol has a list of priorities Just like the US. 1. Stop drugs from coming into canada. 3. Stop guns, weapons etc. and after all that 3. Collect some taxes, Canadians are typically happy to contribute to taxes, mainly because of healthcare. But unlike America, Canada only likes Foreign Millionaires, so they will remember who buys what and what you were previously taxed at.
9. ENJOY. Be nice to your neighbours from the North, Sell to us please! Our currency kills us, 1.34Cad to USD now, plus Paypal conversions. OUCH. We don't want to come over there, but lets keep the BST section open to us.
10: OH, if you do insure for some insane dollar value, they might not bill everything upon delivery, but will comeback after delivery upon assessment, to BILL MORE. (See point 8)
Feel Free to Disagree with me,
IN SUMMARY ...
SHIP USPS / WITH TRACKING/ NO INSURANCE / $75-$100 VALUE / MARKED AS "GIFT" & "USED CHEF KNIFE" ... easy!
Regards,
L
