Canadian Seller Shipping from USA

[2budds]

How many sellers who live close to the border mail their packages from the USA. I have recently started to do this for the heavier packages because it saves the US customer so much money. I was thinking of shipping everything from the USA and go down once a week. Do any other ebay sellers do this and are there any restrictions. Do you print your postage on line or pay at the US post office or Mailboxes. Are there any problems at the vorder when you tell them you are going to mail packages?

[jakeeangel]

If you search the board through advanced search you'll find several threads on the topic. There are many requirements to do so.

You have to cross in the commercial lanes, you have to pay the fee to do so, you CANNOT use the passenger lanes with commercial goods, you have to have the right documentation, you have to have the tariff codes and more...

Some people have trouble and some people sail through. Don't know why. Perhaps it depends on what you're bringing over and it's value. There are restrictions with clothing, textiles and such. Depending on the mood of the border guard they may make you pay duty on the items as well.

I print my postage through Endicia beforehand. I also get boxes from the post office.

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[cottonwoodindustries]

Hi, I used to do that because I only live 10 Kms from Lynden in Washington State. But I have had more items get lost, arrive late. And especially on International orders, it costs about the same and takes just as long to get there. The lineups at the border are becoming unbearable, consider your time, GAS (especially), when I weighed the pros and cons there really wasn't that much of a savings in the long run. The US PO just had a huge rate increase, have you been down lately, it will surprise you. The only thing Canada needs here is a media mail type rate, but who knows is may come, the light package did.;-)

[dreamcoll]

I've been mailing from the US for at least 4 years but am thinking I'll start mailing from Canada. I'm tired of the paperwork & the time involved.

The USPS went to DIM weight in May which has really increased the cost for Priority Mail. I rarely ship Priority anymore.

The advantage to mailing from the US is the speed in which an item gets delivered & the fact that you can buy Delivery Confirmation.

[3jcc14]

My items tend to be rather small and I ship almost all my US Customers via USPS Priority Mail with Signature Confirmation. About $7 vs around $20 (Canada Post Expresspost to USA) and I can get a signature confirmation. I live in Northwestern Ontario and I cross at a very small US Border Entry Point into Minnesota (2 traffic lanes...the truck drivers with or without loads have to go into the office to do their declarations). All items that I send are also duty free through NAFTA. I usually have to stop inside the office to show my paperwork (sometimes the lane officer looks at my papers and lets me go) but I'm usually through Customs in about 3-5 minutes. If traffic is heavy, I can just walk across the bridge and the post office is another 5 minute walk. I print all my postage through the USPS website (through a debit card I have with a US Bank).

I took a quick peek at your listings, the USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes might be good for you. Hope this helps.

[futuretech_liquidations]

Makes sense if you are shipping alot of low value items into the USA since USPS rates and delivery timeframes are way better than CanadaPOST rate.

However, for higher priced value items over US$200 of declared value you will have to have a broker to clear the item and that becomes quite expensive since you would have to pay the broker processing fees. Both UPS and FEDEX charge ridiculous rates to basic paperwork.

I believe some other powersellers pay a third party shipper that carries their parcels over the border and handles all the paperwork for them -- check out some of the past posts for more information.

TIM @ FTL

[mmc-super]

You must complete a 7523 form and there is a maximum import of $2,000 per day, with a buyer maximum of $200 before duties kick in. There is a visa restriction on clothing, you can only import $5 per day.

As of July 1st, the import fee increased to $10.75 U.S. from the May 1st rate of $5.75 from the Jan. 1st of $5.

You must provide them with a copy of the backup invoices for each transaction.

You must look up the HTSUS (Customs Codes) for each item and put them on the 7523 along with the country of manufacture. There are some visa restrictions on items. There is a phone number you can call to identify the restrictions at the border you are crossing.

It also costs $3.00 U.S. or $3.50 Cdn. in tolls to re-enter into Canada.

The most important thing is to make sure you do not import anything worth >$200 U.S. into the country, so computer systems etc. would have duties. As the previous poster indicated it involves a formal entry, as does clothing over $5 in total import.

Want more info, send me a message through e-bay and I will send you my e-mail address so we can liaise. I will send you a copy of a completed 7523 Form and additional instructions.

I let USPS print the postage. That way I am sure it is the correct amount. They also can in a flash tell me the cost of the different methods. It's worth the 5% that I would save on printing it on-line. I have also heard horror stories, where the on-line label did not go through to USPS and the buyer was tagged with full shipping + collection cost at the other end. Don't know if it's true.

[nxtdriver]

I can't believe that sellers go through this much hassle and inconvenience in their life by sending packages from the US instead of Canada just to save the buyers a few $$. Actually it boggles my mind!! Why why why?? I live 1 hr from the NY border and have never even given it a consideration to ship from the US side. My philosophy is that if someone is interested in an item, a few bucks difference in ship costs won't deter them from buying from me. If it does, oh well, than I guess they really weren't interested were they???

[3jcc14]

nxtdriver, You've got a point but sometimes when you are competing against USA based buyers, you need to explore any avenue possible to stay competitive.

[2budds]

3jcc14: Thank you for your earlier help. It was very helpful. I called the US customs office where I cross and got more info. Now I am ready to go tomorrow and try it all out. Thanks again.

[futuretech_liquidations]

nxtdriver -- for some sellers is makes complete sense to ship from within the USA especially when like the other poster pointed out your competition is in the USA and you have to compete for the business - buyers look at price and also shipping timeframes. Given the new feedback system - Canadian sellers using CanadaPOST are at a very big disadvantage given the CanadaPOST cannot get and item into USA (at a reasonable cost) in minimum 6 business days - which compared to USPS is twice as long.

Oh ya and not to mention the costs - which in itself is one reason to ship from the USA - and also, USPS gives you free supplies too.

All those savings do at up (but only if you are doing any real volume to justify the T&L involved.)


TIM @ FTL

[cottonwoodindustries]

USPS isn't that reliable I went across the border to mail a number of items so US customers would receive them in time for Christmas, to my surprise one item to 32 days to get from WA - to FL. I resent the package from Canada, the package from Canada arrived earlier than the one mailed from the US. As a matter of fact my 2nd parcel took 4 days and arrived the day before the original. And she checked the date and she couldn't believe it took that long. But it did. And that has happened to me more than Once. So my buck stops here.

[jakeeangel]

How'd you send it? Parcel Post? Media Mail? That does take long. Priority Mail and it would have arrived in 3 days.

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[recped]

USPS isn't that reliable

In my experience they blow CP by miles. I'm shipping from Buffalo and getting 2 - 3 day delivery anywhere in the lower 48 99.99% of the time for First Class & Priority.

I can't believe that sellers go through this much hassle and inconvenience in their life by sending packages from the US instead of Canada just to save the buyers a few $$

Not all the "few $$" end up in my buyers pocket!
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

[cottonwoodindustries]

I never send anything by media, I don't have much to qualify for that. I send it priority, and the service really sucked. I find it just isn't worth the hassle anymore to cross the border, to mail anything. Canada Post has actually been great to me, if something doesnt reach its destination they jump into action to find out why and if they cant come up if any answers they refund my money. Can't beat that.