Shipping from Canada ---> USA, is so expenisve

[wup]

Basically here is my situation. The bulk of the items that I sell are extremely small ~10-20 grams, and the average sale on my site is so far around ~$20 (mind you iv'e only been going for a couple weeks and only have 10 sales) and is headed to the US from Canada. Here lies the problem, shipping costs through Canada Post(as it is the cheapest option I can find) start at $4.65 which takes 2-4 weeks to US location, and $5.95 for 1-2 week shipping option. This represents a hughe problem as shipping is ~30% of the total. My prices are below that of 95% of my competitors, but not by enough to offset the additional shipping. It is very hard for me to compete with a US company that can charge $4 for shipping and have it delivered in 2 days. So basically I was wondering if anyone out there had any suggestions on how I can ship to the US from Canada relatively inexpensive and with decent delivery times.

 

Thanks

 

Wup

[Guest]

start at $4.65 which takes 2-4 weeks to US location, and $5.95 for 1-2 week shipping option

 

What products are you shipping and by what methods are you referring to?

[wup]

What products are you shipping and by what methods are you referring to?

 

Modchips, and small packet air and ground. To top it off I just looked in my mail box and I had a package I sent to California(state code CA) that I sent a week ago, this is the second time to a package I sent to California has been returned to me.

[Guest]

i'm very interested to see if anyone has any suggestions. canada post's rates are horribly expensive and sloooww

 

for larger packages, UPS is even cheaper for some!! ridiculous.

 

if you send within canada, you can get the venture one card and get 5% discount (8% if you print online) to send via expedited or express. letter or small packet within canada - no discount that i know of unless you're sending an enormous amount of mail.

 

i believe to get more than 8% on venture one you have to committ to sending a minimum of 700 express or expedited packages within canada /yr

 

just sending packages within canada i possibly/maybe cut it close (but usa & uk is my niche) i can probably do... but 700+ expedited or express??? no freaking way. not with the current rates anyways

[kitchenniche]

i'm very interested to see if anyone has any suggestions. canada post's rates are horribly expensive and sloooww

 

for larger packages, UPS is even cheaper for some!! ridiculous.

 

if you send within canada, you can get the venture one card and get 5% discount (8% if you print online) to send via expedited or express. letter or small packet within canada - no discount that i know of unless you're sending an enormous amount of mail.

 

i believe to get more than 8% on venture one you have to committ to sending a minimum of 700 express or expedited packages within canada /yr

 

just sending packages within canada i possibly/maybe cut it close (but usa & uk is my niche) i can probably do... but 700+ expedited or express??? no freaking way. not with the current rates anyways

 

I'm also in Canada and most of the orders are shipped to the US. I called Canada Post and said I needed better prices for shipments in Canada as these are more expensive than shipments to the US. As I ship about 1000 packages within Canada I became Rate Level 2 customers and the savings for shipments within Canada are not bad.

 

As for the shipments to the US, you're lucky you ship such light items. If a package is above 1kg you have to ship it expedited which is very expensive (starts from about $13).

 

By the way Small Parcel Surface shipments only take about 10 business days and Small Parcel Air shipments take about 4-6 business days so it's not bad for the price.

[Guest]

kitchenniche, is it safe to assume you're familiar with canada post's expedited?

 

have you ever had this experience:

 

mail a relatively large package via expedited... 4 weeks later the irate customer asks why their package is still marked as "Received by postal outlet"

 

then when you contact canada post they insist this is not a tracking number, but merely a delivery confirmation and state the status sometimes does not get updated until the parcel is delivered.. then proceed to explain how you must wait 60 (business!) days to file a complaint.

 

then by the 60th day you file a complaint and canada post states the tracking number / expedited parcel is under no delivery time guarantee and ignore your request for an insurance claim, even though the customer has never received it. (why the heck did i pay for insurance then??)

 

this has happened to nearly every package i sent over christmas!! at first i thought it had been the outlet i shipped them at, so i stopped going there and went to the dreaded mall (lineups galore!) to mail the packages.. they seemed to hit their destination faster (providing it wasn't expedited...)

 

then i even mailed some expedited parcels nearly 2 hrs away from my location (niagara falls) and experienced the SAME problem!! (just with expedited).. letter & surface parcels got there no problem.

 

to reassure myself, i asked the postal clerks in several different postal outlets how quick expedited shipments usually take. each of them said an average of 5-10 business days..

[Guest]

We ship food products to the USA so we have our share of problems. What I have noticed is that if we add all the paperwork in the CP envelope (CP, invoice, FDA) it gets there in about 3 weeks. If we add the Tax Codes to the invoice and put the FDA paperwork in a seperate envelope on the front of the package and mark it as such it takes about 6 days to FL. From that I think it is not so much CP as it is US Customs that is holding the packages. If you give them a clear indictation as to the contents, tax codes, product of origin, etc. it goes right through, just don't give them any reason to hold your package and they won't.

 

For wup I think you want to make it clear on your packages that the mod chips you are selling are legal and are allowed to be imported into the USA also clearly indicate that they are for a playstation or whatever and can't be used for any other purposes. If you just write computer chip on the package and they scan it and see that is what it is I don't think it would ever get to its destination these days. Try varying what you print on the package and then track delivery times, it should give you an indication of what they want to see and what is acceptable for them.

[Guest]

the packages that seem to get held up the most are plain old sweatshirts or boxes with 3 or 4 shirts.... can't smuggle much illegal things in if you're only sending fabric :lol:

[Guest]

the packages that seem to get held up the most are plain old sweatshirts or boxes with 3 or 4 shirts.... can't smuggle much illegal things in if you're only sending fabric

 

The USA has very strict guidelines for the importation of textiles and clothing. Mostly regarding the quotas based on the country of origin (being phased out) which in itself is a task to figure out, check to see if you need a certificate of origin with each shipment. You also need to add a textile declaration (that also changed last year to new rules) to each shipment that includes if it is knit/woven, fabric content, gender, dimensions, etc. and include the NAFTA tarrif codes. That comes from a friend of mine who used to export to the USA but hasn't in a couple of years and there new rules now.

 

Wonder if the :lol: is still there.

[kitchenniche]

kitchenniche, is it safe to assume you're familiar with canada post's expedited?

 

have you ever had this experience:

 

mail a relatively large package via expedited... 4 weeks later the irate customer asks why their package is still marked as "Received by postal outlet"

 

then when you contact canada post they insist this is not a tracking number, but merely a delivery confirmation and state the status sometimes does not get updated until the parcel is delivered.. then proceed to explain how you must wait 60 (business!) days to file a complaint.

 

then by the 60th day you file a complaint and canada post states the tracking number / expedited parcel is under no delivery time guarantee and ignore your request for an insurance claim, even though the customer has never received it. (why the heck did i pay for insurance then??)

 

this has happened to nearly every package i sent over christmas!! at first i thought it had been the outlet i shipped them at, so i stopped going there and went to the dreaded mall (lineups galore!) to mail the packages.. they seemed to hit their destination faster (providing it wasn't expedited...)

 

then i even mailed some expedited parcels nearly 2 hrs away from my location (niagara falls) and experienced the SAME problem!! (just with expedited).. letter & surface parcels got there no problem.

 

to reassure myself, i asked the postal clerks in several different postal outlets how quick expedited shipments usually take. each of them said an average of 5-10 business days..

 

 

Yes I ship about 30 packages a week to the US. I've never had such a problem with Canada Post. Packages I've sent via Expedited Parcel to the US usually arrive in 4 - 11 business days (depending on how far away the destination is).

 

In case a package got lost you have to wait 60 days to make sure it really got lost and then you receive the money. At the beginning CP paid me the total cost of the items but the last time something got broken they wanted to know the "actual" price of the products. I have refused to tell them and sent them a letter in which i indicated that it is none of their business and that they cause us a great deal of inconvenience, etc.

 

You said that you sell modchips, why don't you send them via Small Parcel Air? It's usually faster than Expedited Parcel (3-6 days)

 

By the way, to track an Expedited Parcel that ships to the US, wait until it arrived the US and go to usps.com to track it.

[kitchenniche]

The USA has very strict guidelines for the importation of textiles and clothing. Mostly regarding the quotas based on the country of origin (being phased out) which in itself is a task to figure out, check to see if you need a certificate of origin with each shipment. You also need to add a textile declaration (that also changed last year to new rules) to each shipment that includes if it is knit/woven, fabric content, gender, dimensions, etc. and include the NAFTA tarrif codes. That comes from a friend of mine who used to export to the USA but hasn't in a couple of years and there new rules now.

 

Wonder if the :lol: is still there.

 

Guess I'm glad I ship only kitchen related items to the US :D

[Guest]

The USA has very strict guidelines for the importation of textiles and clothing. Mostly regarding the quotas based on the country of origin (being phased out) which in itself is a task to figure out, check to see if you need a certificate of origin with each shipment. You also need to add a textile declaration (that also changed last year to new rules) to each shipment that includes if it is knit/woven, fabric content, gender, dimensions, etc. and include the NAFTA tarrif codes. That comes from a friend of mine who used to export to the USA but hasn't in a couple of years and there new rules now.

 

Wonder if the :lol: is still there.

yes, everything required is always included on every package.. the :lol: is still there :D

when i'm in the states i have absolutely no problem mailing the same types of parcels (to any location in the world) and they seem to reach their destination in only a fraction of the time.. (at a fraction of canada post's costs too!)

[Guest]

yes, everything required is always included on every package

 

Have you tried to rearrange things on the package such as we did with the FDA paperwork. Maybe put the customs docs in a seperate envelope and label them appropriately with the important info facing them. That way it will be easier for them to see that you are doing things legit without having to open the envelope with all the paperwork and find what they need. Change things around and see if it makes a difference.

 

Glad the :lol: is still there.

[Guest]

hmm, i never thought of that. good suggestion. i'll try it ;)

[Chance]

When the mailman delivered my coffee from Peter, he asked me if I was smuggling drugs.

 

Evidently its a common thing to hide pounds of crack inside bags of coffee from Canada to throw the drug dogs off... Food for thought Peter? I see a whole new market for you :)

[kitchenniche]

When the mailman delivered my coffee from Peter, he asked me if I was smuggling drugs.

 

Evidently its a common thing to hide pounds of crack inside bags of coffee from Canada to throw the drug dogs off... Food for thought Peter? I see a whole new market for you :)

 

Aaah now that's how Peter is making money.... :P :D

[Guest]

When the mailman delivered my coffee from Peter, he asked me if I was smuggling drugs.

 

Evidently its a common thing to hide pounds of crack inside bags of coffee from Canada to throw the drug dogs off... Food for thought Peter? I see a whole new market for you :)

 

 

Only legal drugs for me. :-" How was the coffee????

[wup]

WooHoo the fun with Canada Post continues, a package sent small packet air (non modchip related) has been 14 business days without delivery to the US.

[Chance]

Only legal drugs for me. :-" How was the coffee????

 

Great as always... now stop fishing for compliments :P

 

Just kidding- I'll be placing another order shortly, I'm almost out. I figure I better order in advance too, I hear you Canadians can't manage to ship things to the US in a timely manner!

[Guest]

I hear you Canadians can't manage to ship things to the US in a timely manner!

 

I think we have it down to 6 days now, made some changes to our paperwork and it seems to be working. Just have to give customs ALL the information they need on the front of the package and it sails through.

 

Great as always... now stop fishing for compliments

 

I'm not fishing for compliments ... so ... how great was it????? :-" lol

[kitchenniche]

WooHoo the fun with Canada Post continues, a package sent small packet air (non modchip related) has been 14 business days without delivery to the US.

 

This is weird... I've sent something to Switzerland via small package air and it was delivered 6 business days later.

[Chance]

I'm not fishing for compliments ... so ... how great was it????? :-" lol

 

Better than gas station coffee I suppose.

 

/runs

[wup]

This is weird... I've sent something to Switzerland via small package air and it was delivered 6 business days later.

 

I have had stuff to Sweden in 4 business days, shipped small packet air :|