Shipping to Canada drawbacks?

Kelly441 · #1 01-17-2014

I noticed there was an option to ship to Canada. What are the drawbacks to shipping there. I will be selling items between $99 and $400 and would need to get the item back if there were returns. Is it worth it? What kind of issues am I looking at?

jeffweico · #2 01-17-2014

Well, the shipping costs a bit more, but that is to be expected. The killer for me is the Canadian fixation on taxes. Where US Customs looks for things like drugs and counterfeits, Canada is looking to add taxes to everything shipped into the country. That can create customer service issues. Also, their systems almost ensures delays.

Those have been the drawbacks I have experienced, but it is still worthwhile for me to sell in Canada.

rsot · #3 01-17-2014

Shipping cost - true, higher.

Custom duties...you would need to workaround since many customers HATE duties.

Delays - yes - would need to ship with tracking to protect against INR threats as well

alim · #4 01-17-2014

canadian custom duty is i guess the bigger uncertainity than shipping.
Ive had 30kg dhl parcels imported with no custom duties and a 5kg parcel of the same goods in lower quantity being subject to duty and then theres taxes on the goods according to the value assessed sometimes

back_again · #5 01-17-2014

Avoid UPS . Their brokerage fees may cause you some neg feedbacks! Used to ship from the US to Canada (dropship) through USPS and no customs fees were involved for goods that has a $100 value or so.

rsot · #6 01-17-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by back_again

Avoid UPS . Their brokerage fees may cause you some neg feedbacks! Used to ship from the US to Canada (dropship) through USPS and no customs fees were involved for goods that has a $100 value or so.

Your declaration must have been tight

back_again · #7 01-17-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsot

Your declaration must have been tight

The dropshipper used to declare the real value of the packages and their contents. May be I was just lucky (?) or transit things were easier when I was shipping from the US (3-4 years ago).

However, I choosed to use UPS 2-3 times to speed up delivery, and everytime, ny buyers were hit with their crazy brokerage fees.

rsot · #8 01-17-2014

Dropshipper might have used gift option /recommended

Kelly441 · #9 01-17-2014

If I claim it as a gift on my end will there be any charge? How do I go about paying this upfront so the customer doesn't. Also, how would I pay for the return charges to so it's not inconvenient to the customer?

back_again · #10 01-17-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsot

Dropshipper might have used gift option /recommended

Yes, he used to declare my packages as a gift. This had probably helped a lot

back_again · #11 01-17-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kelly441

If I claim it as a gift on my end will there be any charge? How do I go about paying this upfront so the customer doesn't. Also, how would I pay for the return charges to so it's not inconvenient to the customer?

generally, buyers accepts to pay the return fees first, then send me (email me) a copy of the post receipt, and I refund what they paid through Paypal, or EMT (Email money transfert, whch is only availabe for canadians)

jeffweico · #12 01-17-2014

The problem with declaring everything as a GIFT is that you could end up with problems. It is unlikely that you would go to jail over something like this, but they COULD try to come after you to pay the fees and taxes if they were able to prove you were selling in volume.

I don't know how often this happens, and it is probably pretty rare, but you should be aware of the risk.

Gamefreak · #13 01-17-2014

Customs fees you have to deal with, long shipping times, if item weighs for than 13 ounces then shipping fee increases a lot so be careful of that.

GreenBean · #14 01-17-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kelly441

I noticed there was an option to ship to Canada. What are the drawbacks to shipping there. I will be selling items between $99 and $400 and would need to get the item back if there were returns. Is it worth it? What kind of issues am I looking at?

Just for ONCE, would you stop asking to do a work around for the likes of taxes and duties?

They have to be paid. Stop making dramas by asking to be enabled to avoid paying..... take that as part of doing internation trade.

Shippers end up in big trouble by thinking they are smarter than US Customs.

Do not be one such shipper.

Phd · #15 01-18-2014

What about setting up a Canadian AZ account. You can use the same address and US bank (if you like).
Then you could export your items to AZ FF in Canada.
This would give you the option to sell them through AZ, or just use AZ FF to "dropship" the item.

A bit more work, but could save you money in the long run.

Kelly441 · #16 01-18-2014

I thought about that. Do you think signing up for Canada Amazon will put an eye on my US account? I made some mistakes on this account that could get me linked and I don't want it to be looked at.

GreenBean · #17 01-18-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kelly441

I thought about that. Do you think signing up for Canada Amazon will put an eye on my US account? I made some mistakes on this account that could get me linked and I don't want it to be looked at.

How many stealth account have you made, Hun?

Can you not carefully make one that could resolve the issues.

Phd · #18 01-19-2014

You could make an acct just for Canada with US details, or make 1 with one of your US acct details.

2nd option danger is: if that acct gets shut down, it doesn't take long for the linking to happen.

As for the broker for exporting (paperwork only) I use Affiliated custom brokers for both importing and exporting.

Depending on your location, you can find someone to take your parcels across the border for you, or do it yourself.

rsot · #19 01-23-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kelly441

I thought about that. Do you think signing up for Canada Amazon will put an eye on my US account? I made some mistakes on this account that could get me linked and I don't want it to be looked at.

Canada Amazon doesnt have great traffic for sales - in general

GreenBean · #20 01-23-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kelly441

I thought about that. Do you think signing up for Canada Amazon will put an eye on my US account? I made some mistakes on this account that could get me linked and I don't want it to be looked at.

dont forget this:

On the European sites, if one goes down, any other account with the same info goes down later....

Why risk this with a North American combo ( if other options could be used)?