Shipping from US to Canada

E

Eureka!

Gawd
Joined
Jul 10, 2009
Messages
573
Hey,

I have someone who is looking to buy some of my stuff, however he's in Canada and I'm in the US. International postage is alright (more expensive than domestic but not by an extreme amount). However, what else do I need to know about shipping internationally (and making international transactions by Paypal)? Will customs be a problem? How about insurance?

Thanks.
 
Depending on the courier of choice, brokerage fees may apply. I've only encountered them when getting something ups. Never had to pay them getting something via usps.
 
I shipped once via USPS, didn't have any trouble. Just filled out the customs form saying I wasn't shipping anything dangerous and that was it, buyer got it no problem.
 
I've shipped a lot of things over the years international and received a lot as well.

The big thing you have to worry about I think is tracking and paypal. You need to make sure you get USPS with tracking for international, as some don't offer real tracking only tracking so far as when it leaves the country and that's where it stops but not when delivered. Especially concerning paypal and your protection, you need the tracking to prove it was shipped/delivered etc.

I learned the hard way that new tracking isn't tracking like it was when we had the green slips.For US stuff and priority mail it's the real tracking but for first class packages you get a tracking number but it's not the real thing like the priority is, you have to ask and pay for extended tracking to get the 'real' tracking like when it was dropped off, where it is and when it was delivered.

The post office changed some stuff around so make sure you ask questions to make sure you get the correct shipping options.
 
USPS will not have brokerage fees, but don't forget about duties. Someone who bought a 2500k combo from me got hit pretty bad. I don't know if I did something wrong when declaring its value.
 
Did this once, although on a different forum. I used a Small Flat Rate Box for the item (some MiniDVD-Rs), packed it well, and it arrived two weeks later without issue.

The flat rate boxes are --I am told-- cheaper for international use than sending it in your own packaging. Further, you get decent tracking with them, as well as a (loosely) guaranteed deliver-by date. With First Class Int'l, all you get is a guarantee that it will indeed arrive someday. No tracking, no guaranteed it-will-be-there-by-this-day anything. (They will tell you that it typically takes two to three months to find its way to its new home, but they will also tell you that it's not guaranteed to arrive within that timeframe, either.)
 
Why do you have a hello world loop in your Sig? And thanks for the info... turns out I found a US buyer but it may come in handy in the future.
 
Just to be silly, lol. It's in the only programming language I know -- MS QuickBASIC.
 
We have shipped several items to Canada and never had a problem. We shipped our items the cheapest way and filled out the customs forms. They always received their packages.
 
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