What is with the passionate aversion for shipping to Canada?

evilgreg said:
This is good enough reason for me. Also, shipping to Canuckistan is a PITA. Tighten the pivot, then cross your fingers and sacrifice a chicken on hoping it gets where it's going with any speed. I have family that live ten hours away in C-stan, shipping them a small package costs an arm and a leg, and takes two weeks to eleventeen years to get there. I can order a product from Taiwan and select the slowest (free) shipping option and get it to my door in half the time from the other side of the planet.

C-stan ain't worth the time. I do like the poutine, though. It sounds dirty and tastes like heart disease . . . yum. ;)
Click to expand...

This one is my favorite :D
Cheers
 
/shrug

CONUS ONLY has been a blessing for me

Ive saved a lot of money , I dont own a bunch of knives I value too much to use .

I used to hate it , taking it as a big FU because I dont live in the US . Been around long enough to have learned tho its best to not be dealing with people who state up front they dont want to deal with me , so even tho it means I dont get to buy a knife I wanted at the time , I probably save myself a truckload of trouble in the long run .

The web is a big place that makes our world a small one . CONUS ONLY has made me have to learn that just to be able to buy what I like :)

It sucked at first but its been a blessing in long run .

I do deal in knives , but not on bladeforums , I do ship all over the globe , mainly as hobby nowdays but it was as my main income for a number of years . I know what it takes , with Australian customs anyway , and the risk involved . Each to their own tho .
 
What a lot of folks get burned by is that when shipping to Canada, ONLY use the US Postal Service. I made the mistake once of using UPS and it really cost me.

I sent 2 knives, and they were held up for a while at Canadian Customs, and then they couldn't get in touch with the person I was sending them to. So my choice was to let Customs have them, or pay an exorbitant amount, around $200, to get them back. For some reason, the US Mail won't ping us like that, but I learned my lesson the hard way.

Most of us here in the US use UPS over US Mail, maybe it has something to do with that.
 
I have only had one problem shipping within the US, and that was my fault (not enough tape, heavy item). The ONLY time I shipped to a relative in Canada, I shipped something light in a sealed box, surrounded by packing peanuts, inside another, larger box.
The large box made it, but somehow the inner box was "lost". :grumpy:
That's why I refuse any international shipping.
 
I only ship United Parcel won't ship with the Post Office U.P.S. Cost a lot more to ship international so unless my brothers from the north would like to pick up the extra freight not gonna happen.
 
I have shipped to Canada with no problems,I receive then ship for a couple of Canukadian buddies for conus only purchases when they can work it out with the sellers.
USPS is the way to go for sure & I haven't had a bad experience yet,though they have all been fixed blades,except for one auto I traded for my first cross border transaction & didn't know better.We got lucky & it made it through customs somehow.

After reading all the stories about deals gone bad with international sales I do now specify I will only deal with international buyers if I know them.
 
Kevin Wilkins said:
I ship to Canada all the time with no problems whatsoever.
Click to expand...

Kevin,
Do you ship insured with a declared value for customs?
Does Canada tax imports from Germany?

I ask because the taxes/duties from the USA to Canada can be pretty stout. They were just over 35% on the knives I shipped from the USA to Canada, but I bought some scales from Germany and they shipped to my door here in USA without so much as a signature required.
 
I just got a knife from an American user, and I'm sure if you asked him it was simple. There were no problems and everything went smoothly. Just seems like people run into to trouble with the shipping companies and not so much the receiver
 
I have an large collection of knives, purchased from all over the world, many from the US...never had a problem receiving a knife, or shipping one out. USPS connects with Canada Post seamlessly!
For those that prefer to ship Continental US Only, it would be nice if that was put into the sale-thread title rather than at the end of a post so as to not inconvenience potential buyers from other countries.
 
I have bought and received over 400 different knives from the States and I have only had 2 confiscated by customs. Now I usually buy traditionals and fixed blades so that isn't an issue. I have probably paid customs on less than 25 out of my lot and that is only 5 dollars for handling plus the 5% for GST. I have never asked anyone to lie on customs forms: if it is worth $250 put that on the customs forms.i have never worried about tracking as I have always received what I have ordered. Usually on the auction site I only pay 10 or 12 dollars for shipping.
 
I have only had trouble with UPS; when they found out it was a sword they would not ship it to Canada. Could have been worse though since they simply refused to ship it. I found this surprising since the sword actually originated in Canada and I was shipping it back to the manufacturer. It was defective and I wanted a replacement.

USPS went off without a hitch.
 
I just shipped a Knife in a trade deal to Alberta,Can. and it cost me $19.95 to send it and it cost him $16.95 to ship to me.!
I got his knife today and emailed him and asked if he had my knife yet and he has yet to answer ~~ so I guess it will take a week or so for him to get his knife and he thought maybe I was being funny.* Then again I thought I would never do business with anybody in Can. again but you just never know.! { did not know I was until he sent me an email with his address.! } BAM.** To late as I already had said I would trade -- so be it.! Just hope to God he gets his knife as I just do not need another infraction ~~ make my year.***************************************************
 
I have had many people ship me knives and never had an issue. Yet some people still refuse to ship to Canada so I've missed out on private sales and some dealer sales on knives I really want (777-blk) so to those sellers who do ship to Canada, thank you
 
FLymon said:
Kevin,
Do you ship insured with a declared value for customs?
Does Canada tax imports from Germany?

I ask because the taxes/duties from the USA to Canada can be pretty stout. They were just over 35% on the knives I shipped from the USA to Canada, but I bought some scales from Germany and they shipped to my door here in USA without so much as a signature required.
Click to expand...

I never falsify invoices, all orders go out with the actual invoice and the actual amount on the Customs declaration. All orders are insured.

All countries have duties imposed on goods imported from other countries. Some countries have national sales tax, usually called Value Added Tax (VAT). The USA has no national sales tax, only state sales tax. German VAT is 19%. Yes 19%.

Duties are usually under 10% in most countries.

I don't know what Canada's regulations are but a quick look indicates 5%+ up to 10% VAT.

The USA doesn't seem to care what gets shipped into the country by common carrier unless the value of the shipment is really really large – like a sea container. I have never had a USA buyer indicate that they had to pay a cent in duty even on orders that were quite a few thousand $. Buyers in the USA don't know how good they have it in this regard. You can't get an empty deposit bottle through German Customs if the even suspect the value to be over the minimum, tax-free limit. You have to go down to Customs and bring documentation to prove the value.

It is a complicated network of laws on the international level. I am a regular guest at German Customs and it can be frustrating.

Trying to buy and import goods that are prohibited or illegal is stupid. Making false declarations like a knife a "camping tool" is stupid. Most of the Customs agents are not stupid and they have seen every trick in the book. A knife is a "knife" or "cutlery" not some insulting silly trick name that is more likely to just piss them off by wasting their time and energy. Being specific will help the Customs agent find the proper item category and applicable duty faster and get your goods through Customs faster.
 
Kevin Wilkins said:
I never falsify invoices, all orders go out with the actual invoice and the actual amount on the Customs declaration. All orders are insured.

All countries have duties imposed on goods imported from other countries. Some countries have national sales tax, usually called Value Added Tax (VAT). The USA has no national sales tax, only state sales tax. German VAT is 19%. Yes 19%.

Duties are usually under 10% in most countries.

I don't know what Canada's regulations are but a quick look indicates 5%+ up to 10% VAT.

The USA doesn't seem to care what gets shipped into the country by common carrier unless the value of the shipment is really really large – like a sea container. I have never had a USA buyer indicate that they had to pay a cent in duty even on orders that were quite a few thousand $. Buyers in the USA don't know how good they have it in this regard. You can't get an empty deposit bottle through German Customs if the even suspect the value to be over the minimum, tax-free limit. You have to go down to Customs and bring documentation to prove the value.

It is a complicated network of laws on the international level. I am a regular guest at German Customs and it can be frustrating.

Trying to buy and import goods that are prohibited or illegal is stupid. Making false declarations like a knife a "camping tool" is stupid. Most of the Customs agents are not stupid and they have seen every trick in the book. A knife is a "knife" or "cutlery" not some insulting silly trick name that is more likely to just piss them off by wasting their time and energy. Being specific will help the Customs agent find the proper item category and applicable duty faster and get your goods through Customs faster.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to imply any wrongdoing, quite the opposite in fact.
I just probably used the wrong shipper when I shipped FedEx to my Canadian buyer. I made every reasonable effort to not only comply with the law, but also to protect myself from what ultimately happened. My buyer refused to pay the duties, and the shipper (contracted by FedEx in Canada) let him keep the package and then FedEx came after me for the duties.

Very enlightening info on the relaxed nature of USA customs. Sounds to me like maybe most USA buyers/sellers are just unaware, or ignorant if you will to what is more the norm when shipping "international". We are probably in a much more unique situation than most other countries in that we have over 300 million people to trade with in one country where there are virtually zero limitations, and no customs whatsoever. Canadians have about a tenth of the population to trade with, and this unbelievably massive market right in their back yard.

I'm sure it is very frustrating when the majority of that market wont even consider trading with them.
 
I didn't think you were suggesting anything wrong, I just wanted to make it clear that I never play games in that area. Falsifying documents is against the law in Germany. I stay away from that kind of trouble.

Sounds like you really got the short end of the stick from FedEx. They should never have handed over the goods without collecting the duty and taxes. A lawyer would ahve been able to help you, but would have cost more than the duty I reckon.

The private carriers here basically act as agents for customs, which makes it easier in the long run as they do all the paperwork and you dont have to go to Customs in person and wait forever.

Shipments valued at over €1000 entering or leaving the EU are required to have substantial paperwork. When entering Germany the paperwork cannot be done by Customs the importer has to do the paperwork online themselves before even going to Customs or hire a freight forwarding company to do it. Those forms are impossible to fill out if you are outside the loop. Last time I managed with only three tries! The Customs guy was actually very helpful.
 
Shipping to Canada is fairly easy compare to other Countries. But there is risk involve unless the buyers pay for USPS - EMS (express mail service). EMS base cost is roughly $47 + insurance up to $500 = you can get away with under $50.

Next in line is USPS Priority (not Flat Rate priority). Flat rate priority do not have a tracking number. Only regular priority does have a tracking number but this track# is the Customs form number.

Cheapest way is first class with no tracking, you just need to fill out a small custom form (for the priority & ems you fill out the large custom form). Only way you can ship first class with tracking is to tag it Register mail which add $12.95. Problem with register mail is that they only cover up to $45 insure value. You can declare item as much as you like, but you cannot buy insurance for anything over $45. Register mail comes with $45 coverage.
 
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...

first of all I sell switchblades (when I was selling a very long time ago) they are not allowed in your country. a lot of knifes that are being sold or traded here on this site are not allowed in your country. I have read post of people up there wanting the price down so they don't have to pay import fee. I think the others see these problems and just don't want the trouble so they will not ship there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top