What is with the passionate aversion for shipping to Canada?

NeverMore1701 said:
I'd rather not, just because it's the difference between printing a label from the comfort of my couch and then walking it out to the mailbox in my boxers, and driving out of my way to the post office and standing in line for 20 minutes. Not to mention that many weekdays I can't get to the post office while they're open, which makes things that much more inconvenient.
Click to expand...

Standing in line in your boxers at the post office after you have been to the mailbox could turn out messy.
I wouldn't do it either. :D
Cheers
 
Big Mike, if you are trading a knife, it is a gift. That is not lying.

If you are selling a knife from one person, to another person, that is a gift, as there should be no domestic taxes applied when I receive your knife as I did not buy it from a dealer in the states. You are not reporting the income off that knife sale on your federal income tax are you? I didn't think so.
 
unlimitednights said:
Big Mike, if you are trading a knife, it is a gift. That is not lying.

If you are selling a knife from one person, to another person, that is a gift, as there should be no domestic taxes applied when I receive your knife as I did not buy it from a dealer in the states. You are not reporting the income off that knife sale on your federal income tax are you? I didn't think so.
Click to expand...

This so wrong, I suggest you not wave it in front of any nation's Customs officers.

And tax? On a knife I bought for $100 and sold for $75? No, just no.
 
That's why I end up "UP all nite!"
You can take the boy out of the city but you can't take the city out of the boy.
 
Anyone else offended by this. Not liking to ship to Canada I am able to understand that. Not liking an entirety of a country that is mind baffeling to me.

K.O.D. said:
I just don't like Canada.

I've had issues mailing even a letter to my friend in Ottawa, took 2 months for her to get it. I can understand people in the U.S. not wanting to ship there. If I ever started selling my knives I would probably go CONUS as well.
Click to expand...
 
unlimitednights said:
Big Mike, if you are trading a knife, it is a gift.

That is not lying.

If you are selling a knife from one person, to another person, that is a gift...
Click to expand...



Funny, but both of those examples sound like business transactions to me.


I've never paid for a gift in my life, by definition a gift is:

"Something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation" (Merriam-Webster).


Folks who want me to ship items as gifts, or ask for gift payments through paypal, raise a big red flag to me.


I don't care if I'm shipping to Canada, Europe, Down Under, or even Asia for that matter (not that I've shipped to Asia); shipping internationally is always more risky then shipping domestically, American postal laws are taken seriously, and postal fraud is a federal offense; I will not ship overseas unless an Item is fully paid for, and that tracking and signature confirmation is part of the deal; I will not trade internationally at all, the exception is that the trader sends me the knife for inspection before I ship my knife.


Buyers and sellers should both beware.




Big Mike
 
By your rationale, if you were to sell something to someone over craigslist, you would charge them tax and report and pay that tax? Designating an item as a gift waves taxes for the recipient. That is all. Sending an item as "merchandise" when you are not a dealer seems incorrect to me.
 
Big Mike said:
Threads like this telling me how safe and easy it is to ship to Canada are BS as far as I'm concerned.

Big Mike
Click to expand...

No one's ever had a problem when they shipped to me here in Canada.
Shipping to the States though, boy howdy is that fun if you don't use Canada Post.
UPS and Purolator refused to "ship weapons"...even though True North Knives ships only by UPS. :rolleyes:
People shipping to ME from the USA have been able to use Fed Ex, UPS, and Purolator, and the USPS, whereas I can only use Canada Post.

We should be the ones complaining. ;)
 
stabman said:
No one's ever had a problem when they shipped to me here in Canada.
Shipping to the States though, boy howdy is that fun if you don't use Canada Post.
UPS and Purolator refused to "ship weapons"...even though True North Knives ships only by UPS. :rolleyes:
People shipping to ME from the USA have been able to use Fed Ex, UPS, and Purolator, and the USPS, whereas I can only use Canada Post.

We should be the ones complaining. ;)
Click to expand...


I didn't realize we were limited to using CP for outbound packages... That really sucks!

In my experience, it's been the same amount of effort to ship within Canada as it has been to ship to USA, France, Australia, Greece, The Netherlands or Spain, as all mean that I have to go to the post office to send out blades. YMMV as well as your opinion on that though...


Side note, all outbound packages I've sent to USA for trades were received by the other party before I got mine so I agree that we should be the ones complaining Stabman! ;):D
 
K.O.D. said:
I just don't like Canada.

I've had issues mailing even a letter to my friend in Ottawa, took 2 months for her to get it. I can understand people in the U.S. not wanting to ship there. If I ever started selling my knives I would probably go CONUS as well.
Click to expand...

This is my favorite post ever, "I just don't like Canada" lol Based on sending a random letter..... Ever think about sending your friend an email??
 
-NB- said:
This is my favorite post ever, "I just don't like Canada" lol Based on sending a random letter..... Ever think about sending your friend an email??
Click to expand...

I laughed at that one, too. I'm retired USPS. We used to see letters shunted off to the side because the address wasn't quite right. Naturally adds to the time of arrival. Naturally there is no feedback to the sender to explain, unless the addressee tells them. :D
 
Originally Posted by unlimitednights
How much does it cost to ship a single knife to someone within the country? Say as far across CONUS as possible?
Click to expand...

parbajtor said:
It has to cross Canada to get to Alaska. Isn't that part of CONtinental US? Or have I got that completely wrong?
Click to expand...

You aren't wrong. What's wrong is the first question. First of all, USPS rates for ordinary mail are based on class of mail or weight, not on distance. New York to New Jersey costs the same as New York to Los Angeles or Alaska or Hawaii or Guam.

The term CONUS is wrong. It confuses people into thinking that the "contiguous 48" are the real USA and all the outlying areas are somehow a problem. It was originally a military acronym, meaning essentially "heartland". Outside of that, it's mostly a way of sounding cool, like you know some arcane official term.
 
I use to ship internationally, unfortunately Paypal now puts the onous entirely on the seller and the post office does not support proof of delivery to the buyer's door. So it is just not worth the effort and risk. Every shipment means sweating bullets for weeks while the buyer send emails every few days to get an update on his shipment.

n2s
 
n2s, we have stickies in this forum about secure shipping, which will fulfill PayPal's requirements, also. See Registered Insured Mail at http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/993398-Registered-Insured-Mail

Sometimes you really need to send something valuable. That's how. Even sale of a knife, if someone outside the US really wants it, they have to pay for this upgraded shipping.
 
unlimitednights said:
Big Mike, if you are trading a knife, it is a gift. That is not lying.

If you are selling a knife from one person, to another person, that is a gift, as there should be no domestic taxes applied when I receive your knife as I did not buy it from a dealer in the states. You are not reporting the income off that knife sale on your federal income tax are you? I didn't think so.
Click to expand...

This is BS rationalization. I definitely wouldn't be willing to ship to you in Canada after reading it.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
You aren't wrong. What's wrong is the first question. First of all, USPS rates for ordinary mail are based on class of mail or weight, not on distance. New York to New Jersey costs the same as New York to Los Angeles or Alaska or Hawaii or Guam.

The term CONUS is wrong. It confuses people into thinking that the "contiguous 48" are the real USA and all the outlying areas are somehow a problem. It was originally a military acronym, meaning essentially "heartland". Outside of that, it's mostly a way of sounding cool, like you know some arcane official term.
Click to expand...

CONUS is still used by the military, and is misinterpreted as CONtinental US instead of the intended CONtiguous US. Alaska and Hawaii are OCONUS (Outside CONUS) and for some purposes (pay, transportation, and leave among others) considered "overseas" locations although actually part of the 50 US States.

Having been stationed in HI and now again in AK this has driven me nuts to the point of being a pet peeve. I've actually gotten packages, although rarely, in two days when shipped via flat rate priority with four days being the norm and three occasionally, but more often than two.

The other annoyance being in the military is the refusal of some to ship to APOs. But, I've already gone semi-off-topic enough with my rant :)
 
unlimitednights said:
So many solidified members on the trading forum are so opposed to mailing to Canada. It has gotten in the middle of a number of trades and at least 3 or 4 that were huge let downs for me. The thing that is most frustrating about this is that most of the time, members reasons for not wanting to do it is because they have "never done it before". While obviously that is a good reason for apprehension I can't understand why that would make you flat out not want to do it. The second most popular reason is "I have heard its really difficult", which is completely untrue as well as usually just hearsay from one bad experience. Finally, we have the folks that say "I had a bad experience mailing to Canada before"... I am sure PLENTY of people have bad experiences with mailing within CONUS every day. The fact of the matter is, if you fill out the forms correctly, with the correct address, you should have no issue.

I want to know, however, what is the genuine reason why you (presuming you don't ship to Canada), choose not to?

Perhaps we can clear some misconceptions to open up the market to both ends.
Click to expand...

I will tell you exactly why I will not do it, and it has to do with a past experience.

I sold a couple of Spyderco Mule blades to a guy in Canada and shipped them FedEx. Before I did this I called FedEx and asked them what happens if the buyer refuses to pay the duties/taxes? They told me they would not deliver and return the package, so I shipped.

As expected, the buyer refused to pay the duties/fees/taxes, totaling about $79 on a $200 value, and since it was a residential and not a commercial address (a loophole FedEx failed to mention when I specifically asked about this scenario BEFORE I shipped) they let him have the package and came after me for the fees and taxes. Luckily I do more than a little shipping with FedEx through my job and ended up having to threaten them with losing my account to get them to eat the fees, so they ate them.

So now if someone wants me to ship international they have to pay with a USPS money order (or cash if they are brave enough), arrange their own shipping and send a call tag for the package. I have only had one taker from Canada so far, and it turned into a problem after they were picked up, but not my problem :)

If shipping international is "no big deal" how come no one outside the USA wants to arrange their own shipping when offered the option?
I generate call tags all the time and have merchandise picked up here in the states. Never a problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top