Shipping to Canada

m3ta1head

m3ta1head

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Feb 22, 2006
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I just confirmed a deal with someone located in Canada...I'm in Wisconsin.

Just wondering, what are the general things I should know for shipping internationally? I've always traded domestic, so this will be my first time ever trading outside the lower 48.

I'd like to receive more information about customs, insurance, etc. Would it be *safe* to ship a package worth $230 (video card) just across the border with no insurance? Neither I nor the buyer has the money to pay for insurance :(

Thanks in advance
 
Neither you or the buyer can afford $3.00? or whatever it is.

Anyways. Just know whoever the buyer is, if you ship the thing with a high value, the buyer gets charged customs fees. Normally most of the people ive dealt with always ask me to ship as a gift and low value to avoid that, but the downside is you cant do insurance that way.

I dunno, I tend not to do insurance much. I ship all the time international and always put a low value and as "gift." Actually, strangely enough, the first time I did do insurance on a $380 cpu I shipped to France, it did get lost/stolen so I ended up getting my money back. Weird cause I never do insurance, only that one time. Pretty lucky.

Just make sure the buyer knows hes going to get hit with customs fees. On $230, I dont know the percentages but, It will probably be like at least another $20-$40 in fees. I know I sold a guy in Italy a Opteron 165 for $400 and did put the correct value and I think he paid $60-$70 in customs fees.
 
Shipping to canada fees:
USPS and FEDEX: 14% + $5
UPS: $20 + 14%

Avoid UPS.

When filling out the customs forms, don't be too descriptive. "computer hardware" works a LOT better than "athlon64 cpu, asus motherboard, BFG 7950GX2 video card".

Pack like there's no tomorow. If you don't feel safe dropping the item off your roof onto cement, don't ship.
 
Retsam said:
Anyways. Just know whoever the buyer is, if you ship the thing with a high value, the buyer gets charged customs fees. Normally most of the people ive dealt with always ask me to ship as a gift and low value to avoid that, but the downside is you cant do insurance that way.
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The other downside is that it's illegal.
 
you can always ship to him as a "warrenty return" and have your name as some company or have his name as a company name, thats how I avoid taxes on packages with values of 600-4000$ values on them. And NEVER EVER Ship through UPS for Canada, they will rip people blind on taxes which isn't cool.
 
always ship with USPS
even if you write down true value, $230 whatever, that doesn't mean buyer will always be charged tax. I've bought many stuff from US via USPS with true value decleared, I didn't always paid tax. there are times, often, custom guy gets lazy or something and just slips through and I never pay a penny.
dont ever use UPS, avoid fedex if possible.
If you are not going to insure, just write down $30 or something. you are not supposed to do that It's no big deal.
if you are going to insure, write down true value and tell the buyer the he'll probably be charged with duty/tax
From my experiences, item sent with insurance, tracking, express etc... has higher probability of getting taxed, almost all the time.
but when it's sent by just regular, no insurance, no tracking etc.. there is very good chance of not paying any tax
 
Is it a big risk sending it as a "gift" with no insurance?

Thanks for the info guys, it's made me a lot more confident about this trade :)
 
m3ta1head said:
Is it a big risk sending it as a "gift" with no insurance?
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It's theft, and you would be out of luck if anything happens along the way (loss, damage).
 
Vertigo Acid said:
The other downside is that it's illegal.
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Yeah and it should be illegal for those Nazis in customs to charge you "brokerage fess" on top of duty. Especially on something that is 2nd hand.

Me have hostile feelings towards Canadian customs? Nah :D
 
Vertigo Acid said:
It's theft, and you would be out of luck if anything happens along the way (loss, damage).
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Point taken. But, realistically, how much of a gamble is it? What are the chances that it will actually get lost? Realise that I'm shipping from WI to Ontario, so it's just a short trip across the border...
 
I wouldnt worry. Youre just being paranoid. Ive shipped probably 30 packages international to various places(Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey) this year alone. Out of all those, only 1 got lost/stolen. I only did insurance on a few of those packages.

Dont worry too much.


I like to ship all my international packages USPS Global Express air( EMS) which is expensive, but it includes TRACKING, $100 worth of insurance and is also 3-5 days. If you do Air-letter post, just know that can take up to 2 weeks. Probably less secure than EMS but... of course alot cheaper. Of course, no tracking or insurance either.
 
Also depending on where in Wiscnsin you live you can just go across the border and mail it with all the insurance etc you need and no duties/fees at all

 
Tormond said:
Also depending on where in Wiscnsin you live you can just go across the border and mail it with all the insurance etc you need and no duties/fees at all

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Nah, border is a 9 hour drive....would cost me 10x for gas than for insurance :p
 
Ive shipped some sensitive fragile diesel tools to canada. Just expect it to take awhile for customs to figure things out, my package only took about 1 week longer than USPS said, but ive heard of some people saying that it took many many weeks longer. I expected the box to be run over a few times and tore open at least a half-dozen times and dropped once or twice from a 3rd story balcony. Nope, nothing bad happened to anything... But its stupid not to get insurance.

Unless your shipping out some high-tech electronics, or medical type stuff... Dont worry about it. The US has restrictions on what you can send out, though its stuff that no normal sane person would have.
 
sorry to bud in on this thread.. but whats the longest time you guys have to wait for a package to ship from the states to Canada?

The reason i am asking is that i've made a deal here almost 1.5 months ago and still havent received my item yet. The first time around the package was returned to the sender saying it was undeliverable... but i live in a big city and someone is always at home.
 
Herm. Im not sure what "undeliverable" means. Perhaps he didnt box it up correctly? Maybe the info on the customs form was bad in some way? No clue. It can take up to 3 weeks or so sometimes. So I mean if it took 3 weeks, then got sent back to him, I could see that taking a while..... 1.5 months though? Thats a long time. Thats the main reason I dont like to purchase items from different countries. : / Could be a bad trader. Who knows. Good luck.
 
i am patiently waiting for an item i bought off a member here"LukeK"
a pc power & cooling psu.
he is shipping the item usps to canada, which i requested.i did not do the 'gift" routine.
i made sure before payment was sent in the mail to get his phone #..
the parcel was due the 16th or 17th of june, but no parcel as of yet.
i will wait 1 more week before getting worried :( .
there certainly can be unforeseen delays shipping to canada.i bought a waterpump off ebay,and it arrived 2 weeks late.
i did get a parcel from the us once,through ups and i was pretty much raped on the deal :D
 
I bought a GameCube off of here from a guy in Canada, shipping to Texas. I have a tracking number, and for almost a week and a half now, the package has not even left the Canadian sorting facility. *sigh*
 
duaLife said:
I bought a GameCube off of here from a guy in Canada, shipping to Texas. I have a tracking number, and for almost a week and a half now, the package has not even left the Canadian sorting facility. *sigh*
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dont worry about that.this happens often when shipping within canada.
it won`t update,and next thing ya know the parecel is at your door
 
rj2 said:
dont worry about that.this happens often when shipping within canada.
it won`t update,and next thing ya know the parecel is at your door
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Hah, you were totally right. For 2 weeks it didn't show it even moving from Ontario, then all of a sudden I check and it's here. It must have skipped every state between North Dakota and Texas, how fortunate.
 
I once waited 8 months for a package to make it from the states to Canada, a sweet pair of swords. The seller listed the item as value $452 :( i paid $32 in fees.

I always get things sent as gifts and I have never had a problem, i wouldn't trade otherwise, I am buying a 7950 right now and getting it that way
 
I've shipped tons of stuff from usa to canada and vice versa, i like to use the local postal office for shipping my goods to my clients, although there is better services out there like UPS and FEDex, but they all have there own hiddin fees, I just want to point out that when packaging make sure its tight nothing is lose and use lots of foam and tape, if the box ur shipping is secure, well packed, i have no doubts it will make it to the destination without any problems =D
May i also recommend using USPS AIRMAIL for all canadians as this is the best/ cheapest method of safely recieving an item.
 
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