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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
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.
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stp0111
10 posts
 
i've received things simply dropped in the mail, such as tubes and cartridges and they arrive faster and with less additional costs than the other options. it also seems that the brothers of usps communicate well with the brothers of canada post. if the items is small and less that $250-300, usps is the way to go for me.
trader128
13 posts
 
Tvad has hit it on head...express mail is the way to go...I ship 10 to 15 items a week to Canada via express mail and have never had a problem...I tried lower cost shipping and it either took too long...or got lost...and they charged the buyer a hefty duty fee...express mail to Canada is cheaper than if you were sending it to the lower 48 states...so my vote is USPS to Canada...just remember to get the phone number of the buyer and put it on the form...you will find most Canadian buyers ask for USPS...good luck
mike_zundzgud's avatar
mike_zundzgud
2 posts
 
I just sold some gear that I need to ship to Japan and Taiwan. I was going to use Fed-ex, but now you have me thinking. My business sends things overseas about every other month. We've always used Fed-ex and have never had a problem, at least one that we could understand. Chinese yelled into a phone is totally incomprehensible, so who knows? But it is expensive and we always get an additional charge about a month after we ship for duties. So it is almost impossible to tell how much the shipping will cost. Does anyone know how the USPS is at shipping to the far east? And how long it takes?
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