eBay

silkresource · ‎06-11-2008

Canada Post's shipping rate is tooo expensive to ship international...I once saw a Power Seller mentioned that he used a service to bring his parcels to Ship from US.

DOES ANYBODY in MONTREAL region knows about it?

I very much want to explore this route...

THannks!

b2-gaming · ‎06-14-2008

I can't help with Montreal but I do know that you can save a tonne of cash sending items from the US. With my old business I used to ship about 30 packages a week through Niagara Falls, NY. I would say that I saved at least 50% on shipping and everything arrived much faster (with tracking numbers) the really horrible part was that I would ship my Canadian packages from the states to Canada to save money. I could send a package from NY to BC cheaper then I could send that same package from St.Catharines Ont, to Toronto. The only issues were the traffic at the boarder, and if you do it a lot you need to get a sellers permit sticker or pay a $5.00 fee at the boarder each trip (on top of reg fees). Even with the trip and fee's it was always worth my while. Maybe Canada Post should mail our packages through the states to save some money? Lol.

Brent

silkresource · ‎06-14-2008

Hey, thanks Brent! Only wish I could do the same as you... In fact I think it's a business opportunities for truck company...

ANY SUCH SERVICE in MONTREAL PLEASE?

ameroindustries · ‎06-14-2008

Dont even start crossing to send packages yourself . Usa Considers it a buissness and you can have your package`s seized .

Its a waste of time unless your bringin 1-2 packages . All you need is the wrong boarder crossing guard and whamo he is yelling at you telling you to send your packages on your own `damn side` .

LOL been there done that no thanks .

silkresource · ‎06-14-2008

It's very very difficult to do Ebay from Canada, compared with in US...

Thanks for your input, centralmetalcorp .

jakeeangel · ‎06-15-2008

I've been doing it for a few years now. If you try to bring commercial packages through the personal lanes, yes you'll be in trouble. They consider it smuggling. If you go through the commercial lanes, declare it as such and have the proper paperwork it's not a problem.

Yes the odd time you'll get a border guard who tells you you dotted the wrong 'I' but for the most part it's a piece of cake.

Yes it would be a business opportunity but it would involve becoming a broker and be bonded and insured etc etc

ameroindustries · ‎06-15-2008

I had a boarder guard on the Cnd Side that charged me tax on a half Eaten candy bar . He must have knew i was a Jew (You know us Jews with our Claws and our Crazy Bank Schemes)

b2-gaming · ‎06-15-2008

When i brought my packages over they rarely, 1 in 50 times asked me for info on what I was shipping. Like I said there is a sticker you can buy for your car that allows you to use the residential crossings for business purposes. Its like $110 US per year (roughly). Although I haven't done so since 2006 so perhaps its different now. The worst I got in over 100 crossings is my drivers license lost (it came out of the container they use for air pressuring the id's to their offices) and I got stuck there for 5 hours waiting for them to flush the tubes. What really sucked was that my license clogged up the line so all the people after me who had to wait (about 15) were there because of me =P If you know your stuff and the rules when you cross your fine. You would need to have a substantial amount of packages to make it worth your while though. I shipped about $400.00 (in shipping charges) a week. Was well worth the trip for me. Not to mention the much cheaper gas at the time 😃

Brent

jakeeangel · ‎06-15-2008

No Brent you cannot use the personal lanes to bring commercial goods though. That change was made in Jan 2007 if I remember correctly. Before that it was preferred but not mandatory if you had a small shipment in a personal vehicle but not afterwards. It was made mandatory that you use the commercial lanes for commercial goods. It's supposed to be that the ones handling the commercial shipments are familiar with the various rules, paperwork & procedures.

The sticker, which I have, is now $205, and only identifies you as commercial & means you don't have to pay a per use fee. It does not mean you can use the personal lanes for commercial goods because you cannot.

wkiffin · ‎06-15-2008

Good evening. I cross at Lewiston, NY weekly and have never had any problems with the U.S. side. I use the commercial lanes and have all my commercial paperwork ready when I cross.

I have to cross whether or not I am doing Ebay since I import and export books for my fulltime employment. What I usually do is take a large shipment of Ebay stuff over and house it at my address location in NY state. The address location has a fulfillment service. In order to use the fulfillment service I need to provide the packaging material and $1.50 per order every time they mail out a package on my behalf.

This is a tremendously effective tool that eliminates the border hassles since Customs is out of the equation. I can charge a reasonable shipping rate and have the benefit of extremely fast shipping.

The other bonus is that since my inventory is already south of the border, whenever I cross I can take advantage of USPS international shipping rates for overseas orders. In some cases it is half of the Canada Posts rate for identical weight and destination, thus enabling to compete with U.S. competitors.

I do have an advantage that I sell non-breakable, light weight items of identical composition. This makes it very easy for the fulfillment centre to handle and identify.

For any of you that are relatively close to the border and sell multiples of the same sort of merchandise, you might want to consider looking into a similar scenario.

silkresource · ‎06-15-2008

Thanks for your useful infor, wkiffin!
Could you let me know how to get in touch with the a fulfillment service?

If you prefer, you can email me.

wkiffin · ‎06-15-2008

Hi Silkresource.

Finding a fulfillment centre should be fairly easy. At most U.S. border towns, there are small companies that rent P.O. boxes that range from a standard letter size to a full blown office. I share a 10 x 12 room with another fellow who exports software. Combined the two of us ship out about 400 parcels per month. In addition to a reasonable sized space to store your product you need to find out if the address company handles fulfillment.

Your best success will be with non-name brand centres like the UPS stores. Next time you are across the border, check the phone book and make some calls. I don't think you should have any problems finding someone that can help you.

silkresource · ‎06-15-2008

THanks a loot...Just Montreal is not that close to the border & I don't have time to cross the border right now. What you told me is already so useful...

We should let more Canadian Ebayers know...Shipping rate from Canada is almost hopeless & for international is 100% hopeless. Same parcel, SURFACE from Canada costs $$ more than AIR from US!

wkiffin · ‎06-15-2008

Canada Post is such a ripoff. I can send two identical parcels to Los Angeles and Vancouver. The LA parcel costs about $4.50 and the Vancouver parcel costs $11.00. No one from Canada Post can give me a rational explanation as to why this is so.

I have at times shipped from Niagara Falls, Ny back into Canada just to save on costs. Crazy I know but it works.

zeetoner · ‎05-30-2013

Depending on how much you ship and the value - there are far better methods than Canada Post to ship to USA

There are services now in Montreal that work well with shipping to USA at reasonable prices that are lower than Canada Post.

surplusdealdude · ‎06-23-2013

I agree with wkiffen.

Once you learn how to do it, crossing is easy and you can lower your costs and speed up your delivery tremendously.

If you're in the Toronto or Vancouver area, there are even services that will take the parcels across the border for a reasonable fee. In Toronto, it's Chit-chats express, in Vancouver, it's Books-to-the-border.

If you do it yourself, you likely want to use a "Section 321" clearance - that's good for nything up to $200.00

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan

art-in-the-making · ‎07-01-2013

No doubt this would be a much needed service.

Montreal to the border isn't far but the dynamics of driving there ourselves won't work. Let's keep this topic active and maybe something will come out of it.