New Seller Seeking Advice

[mtsind604]

I am looking for advice in selling industrial components that I have purchased.

I'm located in the Vancouver area approximately 20 minutes from the US border.

I would predict that 75% of these items would sell in the US and the remainder in Canada. I'm not really interested in selling Internationally. I am planning to use a store since I often travel out of town and could use the vacation setting. I would have a set price with a make an offer function.Once these 40 or so items are sold I am not sure if I would continue selling.

The price of these individual items would range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars and would weigh between 2 and 30 kgs. Country of origin is Japan.

Some of the large dense items would need to ship in a wooden crate.

Looking for suggestions as far as listing on .ca or .com, or both, transporting items to the US myself, and how to best ship items that are over the weight limit from canada post or USPS

[reallynicestamps]

If you list on dotCA , whatever currency you use, your customer will see your price in the currency of his site.

That is, even if you are listing in loonies, an American buyer looking at his home site, will see your prices in US dollars.

If you list on dotCA, you can use Calculated Shipping for Canada Post (and ,I think , UPS and FedEx) .

If you list on dotCOM you must use Flat Rate Shipping if you ship from Canada.

If you list on dotCOM, and register on dotCOM with a US address, you can use Calculated Shipping for USPS and some couriers.

If you list on dotCOM and register with a US address, you will have to use a Flat Rate for your Canadian customers.

It is also possible to register different accounts on each site.

For you, this means you could have your entire stock listed on both sites as separate items (even though only one exists) and use Calculated Shipping as appropriate.

Bookkeeping is essential with this tricky proposition.

[hlmacdon]

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@mtsind604 wrote:

I am looking for advice in selling industrial components that I have purchased.

I'm located in the Vancouver area approximately 20 minutes from the US border.

I would predict that 75% of these items would sell in the US and the remainder in Canada. I'm not really interested in selling Internationally. I am planning to use a store since I often travel out of town and could use the vacation setting. I would have a set price with a make an offer function.Once these 40 or so items are sold I am not sure if I would continue selling.

The price of these individual items would range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars and would weigh between 2 and 30 kgs. Country of origin is Japan.

Some of the large dense items would need to ship in a wooden crate.

Looking for suggestions as far as listing on .ca or .com, or both, transporting items to the US myself, and how to best ship items that are over the weight limit from canada post or USPS

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You may wish to refer to this thread here to get a general idea of the general process required for shipping via the US. Given the category of items you are talking about I'd suggest getting in touch with the US customs folks on the admissibility of the items (some categories require prior approval) and applicable duties. There is a fixed dollar limit for what you can take over in one crossing via informal entry before a separate bonded process via a third party is required. Given the high value of some of your items you may bump into that limit and be required to go through a bonded process via a broker to transport those items across the border. In any event you'll want to do some research and I highly recommend you don't just show up at the border as the US folks can get very annoyed with those unfamiliar with the process.

Your best bet might be to contact some of the domestic freight forwarding companies for your more expensive/heavy items. Most will also offer brokerage services and will be able to give you a quote for US delivery to give you an idea of shipping cost ranges, as well as the processes and costs for getting them across the border as well as any potential issues you might be facing by importing your category of items.

[mtsind604]

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Your best bet might be to contact some of the domestic freight forwarding companies for your more expensive/heavy items. Most will also offer brokerage services and will be able to give you a quote for US delivery to give you an idea of shipping cost ranges, as well as the processes and costs for getting them across the border as well as any potential issues you might be facing by importing your category of items.

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Thanks for the responses.Will look into the .ca vs .com options.

As far as using a freight forwarding company, how do I list that a freight forwarder will be used to transport the item in the selling add?

[xeposter]

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@mtsind604 wrote:

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Your best bet might be to contact some of the domestic freight forwarding companies for your more expensive/heavy items. Most will also offer brokerage services and will be able to give you a quote for US delivery to give you an idea of shipping cost ranges, as well as the processes and costs for getting them across the border as well as any potential issues you might be facing by importing your category of items.

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Thanks for the responses.Will look into the .ca vs .com options.

As far as using a freight forwarding company, how do I list that a freight forwarder will be used to transport the item in the selling add?

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When you list an item, there is a section titled "Add shipping details." Right below that is a dropdown menu where you can change how you will ship your item. You can do Flat (same cost to all buyers), calculated, freight, or local pickup. This is what it is like on the advanced lister...it is probably similar on the basic one.