What can you guys tell me about shipping parts to Canada?
 

What are the things I need to know other that it is expensive? Somebody wants to buy some parts from me and it looks pricey through UPS.

I know there is another "gotcha" hiding around here somewhere- Customs or something?

the cheap way is USPS flat rate boxes and no insurance. declare the items but say they are gifts.

UPS/FedEx will ream you but ... if that's what the buyer is willing to pay for...

The parts have to go to customs and that costs money. You have to declare the value and they pay a tax. I would put "used car part" on the package just so they wont have to pay the tax it would be when it was new. Id ship to Canada again but that's it, besides the 50 states.

Shocks and springs are big and heavy for flat rate boxes and so is a manual steering rack so I'm looking at UPS or saying "no" to the guy. I'm leaning toward the latter. IDK anything about dealing with customs either.

When I order from USA I use a service called USAddress in Niagara Falls, NY. (http://www.usaddressinc.com/). It gives me a, surprise, US Address. It costs me US$5 a package and I get to decide if I'm going to try to hide it from "The Man" at the border (which I never do ;) ). I'd hazard a guess that there are other such services near all the Canada/US borders and it relieves you US shippers of the whole foreign country problem.

Maybe have your guy find out if there's a service near his closest border crossing and ship it there.

Remember that it is the importer (i.e. the Canadian guy) who bears sole responsibility for importing. The shipper (i.e. you) is only responsible to place a "to the best of your knowledge" value. If you agree to mark it as a gift, that's between you and the importer to agree.

i do it all the time usps priority, no issues.

Every time I use UPS shipping to Canada the person on the receiving end cry's and cry's about customs being too much no matter what I list for the price of the part. USPS is the way to go although there are some size limitations I think.

simple, ship the part when the post office / ups location asks you to fill out custom forms and declare, mark it as "Warranty replacement"

thus shouldn't be dutied.

Also boss frog shipped me frame rail braces via fed ex, and there was no duty on it. probably because it was made in the US and thus fell under Nafta rules.

Living in Canada, I've collected a lot of parts internationally. USPS > FedEx > UPS. Sometimes the size/weight restrictions of USPS get in the way, but UPS absolutely butt-rapes us with brokerage/customs fees and they're never included in the shipping quote/price. Think of them as a surprise COA to the buyer. Ship time is usually a weekish for all carriers unless you throw some extra coin to get it a couple days sooner.

The PO is always the way to go for shipping up here. We sometimes get charged fees by our PO but it's hit and miss. Our PO charges something like $7 for brokerage compared to UPS etc which are much, much higher. I live where there is no chance to nip across the border and have moved my business to retailers that will use the USPS.

i find that if the product is too big for usps DHL has been the best.

i have used all of the shipping companies and fed ex isnt that great and never use UPS.


USPS is great.

if you are shipping to canada just tell the seller up front you will not be responsible for the duty costs, and give them the price to ship it with a few different companies so that they have a choice.

its not hard to get an online quote...

I use USPS Priority for all my international shipments.

If the buyer pays via Paypal, just print your label right from the Paypal screen. It will print 2 pages that both need to be cut in half, out of the 4 half pages, 3 of them need to be signed and dated by you, the 4th you keep for your records. These need to be slipped into a Customs form pouch (form 2976-E), which you can order right from USPS.com for free (I'm not sure if the PO will have them readily available, but they might).

Once you slap the pouch on the box with the 3 customs papers inside, that's it. It is up to the buyer to pay their custom fees. Out of all the packages I've shipped out of the country, I've never had a single problem.

Keep in mind though, shipping will get pretty pricey for heavier items. Shocks and springs are probably do-able, but a manual steering rack is probably going to cost too much. But again, that's whether or not its too much for the buyer, not you.

Canada is the cheapest country that I've shipped to, compared to Japan, China, Australia, Slovakia, or Romania just to name a few. I shipped a case of oil to a guy in Japan and the price of the oil was $180, and shipping came to $95! For oil! But the buyer paid, so I just printed the forms and shipped it just like any other package.

I also don't recommend claiming the package as a "gift". If its to a family member, friend, forum buddy, etc, then maybe. But I wouldn't put myself on a limb for just some random buyer and lie on the forms. If they want the item bad enough, they'll pay their duty fees.

i shipped springs alone to the states from canada with canada post (usps) and the shipping price seems to be pretty standard for all items until it gets huge.

you might be better off shipping in a few boxes if the package gets really large.

i.e. 2 shocks and springs in a box of their own (2 boxes) and the steering rack in another box.