Topic: shipping out of canada

[dusterdude]

i will be buying a pipe set from a member here who lives in canada.i seem to remember hearing horror stories about shipping into and/or out of canada.what is the best method to use for shipping to the us from canada.thanks

[martini]

I've never herad any of these horror stories and I have had tons of stuff shipped to me in Canada - maybe its different going the other way. Anyway, UPS seems to always find its way to me without difficulty.

[dusterdude]

i think ive read on here about ups charging some kind of surcharge or some such stuff.

[martini]

Yeah, I seem to recall something about that myself but I've never experienced it. Give them a call. Supposedly we have free trade so I can't see what the hang up would be.

[Carbine]

.....the hangup is brokerage clearence fee's.......UPS clearence fee's can be high, almost the value of the commodity. Maybe try Fedex Ground? The had a flat rate of 7.50 for cleanence fee's transborder, at least they did a year ago. The pipes might exceed Canada Post or the USPS size limits, not sure. Suggest splitting the pipes into 2 boxes, and trying Canada Post, they will be the cheapest. 

[clarkjh]

If your Canada seller is close to the boarder, have'm walk it across then ship.  Vintage Honda parts are dutie free coming north but takes forever to clear customs, I'm not sure the other way around.  Give US customs a call, they can tell you the duties if any that need to be covered.

James

[Zane]

A couple of months ago I did some work for a motor cycle business in Canada, for his ebay store.  I also buy items on ebay, and most of those are located down in the States.

The little I've learned is this: (this won't matter to you in this case, but it might be where you heard it).  US to Canada has a better chance of avoiding Canada Customs if the item is shipped USPS rather than UPS.  I don't know why that is, but it is...

During the short time I worked at the shop, it seemed that for Canada to the US, UPS was the best way to ship.  It is a little more expensive than comparable service from Canada Post, but somehow it seems to cross the border easier, and it's usually a little easier for the person doing the shipping.

As far as US Customs is concerned, I believe a declared contents value of (US) $200.00 or more will trigger your Customs people, and you may be charged duty.  That's pretty easy to check at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/duty_rates/

If your vendor is close to the border and a US Post Office, then taking the pipes across personally, and shipping them from the US to you, is actually a good idea.  (If it’s practical, of course.)  Regardless of where you ship from, if you're required to list contents use "used" not "vintage" to describe the motorcycle parts.

The place I worked ebay store is  http://stores.ebay.ca/MOTORBIKE-TORONTO_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

The owner loads up his site with quite of bit of shipping info, and you might find some useful info there.

Finally, you may want to get the dimensions and weight of your item(s), the Canuck postal code of your vendor, and go to  http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/index.jsx and figure it out.

Good luck with it ...

[6pkrunner]

I will never use UPS. Shipping into Canada UPS always charges added fees that are ridiculous. Good old USPS/Canada Post works just fine. And I get lots of stuff sent into Canada from the US. FedEx is fine as are most other couriers. But UPS has a real thing for adding fees upon fees on.

[ElCheapo]

We always use USPS. The only part I HATE about international anywhere is over 4 lbs you have to fill out the stupid long form that has like 7 copies and takes a chisel to transfer through all of them. I had to ship 6 big internationals today. I can tell you I will never let them lump up again. When I was done I had a hand cramp that was so bad that I could not scratch myself. I figure from here on I will fill them out #$%*ty and not care what transfers where or how well. Maybe if we all Fu*k up enough of them they will change how it is done. They do not change anything until there is a rash of problems.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Try the description as "damaged warranty returns - value $1" (since you have to declare something).

[Tim.]

US to Canada - either USPS or FedEx - FedEx is actually quite good.  I had an iMac shipped from Texas to Toronto.  2 foot cubed box, about 40 pounds and it cost $35.  No brokerage fees etc.

NEVER use UPS to ship from US to Canada.  High brokerage fees.  $30+ at least.

Canada to US - Canada Post.  Or, perhaps FedEx.  Presumably similar service going south.  UPS sucks.