eBay

chitchatsexpress · ‎06-13-2015

According to the notice posted in the customs office I crossed at yesterday, starting November, sellers from BC taking their mail to the USPS will be required to ACE manifest their parcels. For many of you this will be an issue.

What Ace does is. It searches the names and addresses of your customers looking for people that may be on their watch list. If it finds a name, it flags it for a compliance check. If it finds an exact name and address, it’s a major issue. In the only case that happened to me, an exact match, it was a cell phone case valued at $30.

After we found it and it was inspected, CBP called Washington for guidance, after a while Washington called the head office Buffalo and sent an officer to the bridge we were at. Finally after 5 hours we were given the package back and sent on our way. Luckily we cross so early in the day we still made it to the post office for our drop.

Keeping in mind we cross with a tractor trailer loaded with mail, we were getting 180 – 200 parcels a day flagged. Because of the large number they would select maybe 20 or so for inspection. My guess is if there was only 20 they would make us find them all. So depending on the time of day you cross, how long it takes you to find the parcels, customs to inspect them, you may run into closed post offices.

Entering the names and addresses into the ACE portal often resulted in rejected addresses due to spaces, commas in the wrong place and so on. Therefore setting up the import correctly from the start is important.

I am guessing that when this is implemented, some sellers may have procrastinated and find themselves unable to cross, because it was harder to set up than they thought and they left it to the last minute.

My advice, be ready early.

pinetreecottage · ‎06-13-2015

When I lived in BC, I used to take my mail to the Lynden PO. One time I had to pay a "user" fee of $5.00 at the border, when I asked the guard why, he said, to use America lol. I had to fill in a very detailed manifest, describing each item. Value, place of manufacture, destination etc., I also had to unwrap all my parcels. That I understand. I got the same treatment and paperwork as the guys in the big semis. I think, I just got a border guy who took issue with me, just because he could. Some of those guys are real nasty. Maybe that's what happened to you. Then one day, the clerks at the PO said, I could not ship mail from there, with a Canadian return address. If the parcels should be returned, they would not be shipped back to Canada. Then I rented a PO box, and used that as my return address. I used to live in Aldergrove, so I would go a couple of times a week, send my parcels and hit the Edalene dairy on the way home. My buyers loved that their purchase did not have to cross the border.

I know I'm going to get a lecture here about customs declarations and so forth. As my items were low value, that was not a concern.

Good luck, cheers.

momcqueen · ‎06-13-2015

Don't you have to be a licensed customs broker to transport goods for export?

chitchatsexpress · ‎06-13-2015

No all you need is to be breathing and fill in the proper customs forms at present.

Lots of people take their mail from Canada to the USPS to save money. Canada post is often prohibitively expensive,slow and lacks tracking on the cheaper options.

momcqueen · ‎06-13-2015

Interesting. Thank you. I had always assumed there was a license required, as if for formal Import and Export.

recped · ‎06-13-2015

@mjwl2006 wrote:
Interesting. Thank you. I had always assumed there was a license required, as if for formal Import and Export.

You need an importer number from Canada customs for importing, they give you (anyone) one over the phone in 30 seconds. It's the same as your GST number with RM instead of RT.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/rb-ee-eng.html

In the US you use your EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS or your SSN.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
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