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Best way to ship small value items--US to Canada??

I just did a search on this topic on A'gon, & did get quite a bit of info. Also, I have mailed a couple of CD's (USPO) to Canada with apparently no problem.

My current dilema: I sold a small $25 item to someone in Toronto (from US). I tried to ship it UPS, & spent about 1 1/2 hours on their website trying to decipher all the customs forms, which I think would need a really good lawyer to figure out. Finally, there was a place to click something (???) where I wouldn't have to send all the forms with the item, just sign something on the pack of the UPS label. Of course, the UPS guy later refused to take the box, saying I had to have "all 3 forms attached or it would just be totally stuck in Customs".

So, I voided the UPS shipment, now I'm thinking of sending USPS.
If I'm using their website correctly, it would cost only $2.35 to send a small 8 oz. box to Canada via "Airmail Letter Post ". Or, I might (not sure) be able to fit it into a Global Priority Mail - Flat-rate Envelope (large) for $7. Of course neither would have insurance or tracking. And I charged less than $10 for shipping so Global Express Mail at $15.50 is out.

Any advice? I'm thinking use the Airmail Post & take my chances. BTW, as I recall, the USPS only requires a brief 1 page Customs Form, not 3 pages like UPS. Thanks in advance for any advice!
steveaudio

Showing 2 responses by tobias

tobias
1,534 posts
 
On shipments to Canada, UPS seems to tack on extra charges which others don't, notably brokerage fees. They have managed to break things for me in the past where others have not. Their claims process (if what they put me through can be dignified by that name) was an utter nightmare.

FedEx and the Post Office have both come through for me every time, but there are two points which make me choose the mails. First, if I am not home, they leave the package at a nearby office and I can go and get it any time during their (long) opening hours. Second (and I hope Canada Post is not reading this), about every second package seems to get through without any extra charges.

Normally I would have to pay about 15% taxes and a $5 handling fee on everything I received, no matter where it came from, as well as duty on goods not made in the U.S. FedEx is very conscientious and always collects these.
tobias
1,534 posts
 
Mike_z, perhaps you should make this a thread of its own to get more responses. For my part, having shipped to Japan only once, I can say that Canada Post Xpress to the Far East worked very well, and in the time promised. The only surprise was that they could not track a package past the port of landing. If the package went to Narita, for example, tracking stopped after that.

One of my Far East correspondents says that USPS is if anything, faster than Canada Post.
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