Live near the American Boarder give up on CP ship the items yourself through USPS saving 30% to 50%

[your-chic-shopper]

Well the saving is huge , let me start of buy stating the following

1) items arrive in 5 days~
2) items come with insurance and tracking w/ Priority Mail
3) You get free boxes all sizes and tubes ...order off www.USPS.gov site

Friday will be my first day crossing the boarder with my truck

1lb $3.85 with tracking

You can print the postage with www.Endicia.com
There is also local pick up in the Lower Main Land in B.C if you perfer someone to clear your packages because your busy www.bookstotheboarder.com

I live 1 hour away from Point Roberts . I am kicking myself for not doing this before

[phoebescollectables]

Savings are even bigger for using Media Mail. I live in Ottawa and will be making the 1 hour trip in April with about 30 boxes of books and records. I am looking into setting up a regular service between Ottawa and Ogdensburg.

[your-chic-shopper]

Did you try Endicia.com ???

What an amazing program you right click to copy . When you go over to the Endicia.com program the address is already added ....no need to paste

[phoebescollectables]

not yet but it looks like it me worth trying.

[www-labels4less-com]

Some questions I have:

1) Say your total value for 50 parcels is $1000.00. Does U.S. customs charge duties as it is over $200.00 U.S?

2) Are you saying that a U.S. domestic shipment by Priority mail would be $3.85 for a parcel that is 850 grams? Is this $3.85 US or CDN?


3) If you ship within the U.S. is there a problem with the return address being in Canada? The Post office generally returns Non deliverable goods at no charge (unlike some couriers). Do they not care that they would have to return it to Canada? And how COULD they return it to Canada without the proper customs documentation?


4) Will USPS ship the free priority mail boxes to Canada?


5) What do you need for clearing all the items through yourself? Just a copy of each invoice?


Todd, if you think there would be no problem clearing my goods, It would be worth $1.00 per parcel to me for you to ship these for me (all would be packaged/labeled/with postage). I generally have 70-80 shipments per week almost all small and under 1 kilo.

[phoebescollectables]

jumping in...

Every piece that goes to the US has to be manifested with the address of the deliveree and the value. So duty if any should be based on each individual address. You can see a copy of the maifest on the website YCS listed.

USPS Priority mail for $3.85 is for 1 pound (454 grams).

I was told by another ebayer that it is ok to have a Canadian return address but I think it should be confirmed with USPS.

[mirakbiz_inc]

Is there anybody doing forwarding from Toronto to the US?

If so, please let me know... I may be interested

[phoebescollectables]

labels 4 less,

I just called the USPS office near me. They said it was not a problem to have a Canadian return address. They weren't sure about customs regulations.

To rent a post office box is $19 for 6 months. That way you could have a US return address.

[mirakbiz_inc]

The only problem with renting a USPS PO box, is that they won't be able to forward your mail. Mailboxes etc, offers that service if you have a box with them.

I wonder also if you order supplies from the USPS will they ship them to Canada? Has anyone tried?

How simple is to open an account with the USPS being Canadians?

[your-chic-shopper]

I Got 1 year for 26 bucks
Todd
I am back to packing .....

[your-chic-shopper]

Todd, if you think there would be no problem clearing my goods, It would be worth $1.00 per parcel to me for you to ship these for me (all would be packaged/labeled/with postage). I generally have 70-80 shipments per week almost all small and under 1 kilo.


...That's a deal !!!!!

Call me 1-604-524-3278

[www-labels4less-com]

You may not need Endicia anymore.


http://pages.ebay.com/USPS/print_postage.html

It may not work though if you are registered in Canada, I didn't investigate.

[your-chic-shopper]

Does not work if you have a Canadian Paypal account

[phoebescollectables]

If you are looking to sign up for Endicia you can get a 60 day free trial instead of a 30 day free trial courtesy of coolebaytools.

http://www.endicia.com/coolebaytools/

[iburk]

To answer a few questions - I have been doing this for three years.

Yes, USPS will deliver supplies to Canada.

You do not need the address on the manifest, just an item description, amount and name ... you do need an invoice. The customs guys can take your stack of invoices - the last time it happened to us was almost 2 years ago.

I don't know about the Canadian return address, I use an US address. We ship three times a week ... it's just easier all around. Besides for the US MO's and checks - you can gather them at your box and deposit into your bank ... you don't have to specify anything special for your US customers (like no green postal MO's).

The 3.85 is for a lb in $US - when I do an auction I have a fixed shipping calculated to FL. If you go to www.usps.com it will tell you what the shipping cost is. For most of my products I use a Flat Rate Envelope (3.85) anywhere in the 50. I can usually stuff about 3-3.5 lb in one - It can't be to bulky or the postal employees will try everything to destroy them.

Encidia - reasons to use. If you ship over $1000 US a month, use your PayPal card ... it's really "free" (I use the premium service - hide the postage add some handling). All classes of mail are supported - I even ship to Canada in Small Global Priority envelopes (up to 4lbs for $4US). It's faster and cheaper than CP. If needed you can "self insure" with U-PIC ... it's cheap insurance and you can still leave your packages at the back door of the PO. If you have a webstore, you can still use Endicia ... it has nothing to do with eBay.

For the customs amount - that's $200 per person (it's their personal excemption). You can have any amount total for the manifests.

Hint - Photocopy several copies of the manifest. Then fill in all the stuff that is standard. And make several copies of this. If you are shipping lots of the same thing ... maybe Price labeller or something ... fill in the description all the way down the list ... that way you just have to fill in the price (no shipping) and the persons name - if you don't fill up the sheet just cross out what your not shipping. You can submit as many manifests as you want.

Todd, I think it's still worthwhile getting the decal (it's based on your vehicle, so you'll have to use the same one all the time). I don't know if they told you this ... but you can use the far right lane ... really slow down as you pass the booth and go and park under the canopy. I also have a stash of supplies (no matter what the web site says it can take a couple or three weeks to get them) - I might have enough to get you and
labels going until they arrive. Give me a buzz at (604) 644-9000 if you need some ... I'm in North Delta.

[phoebescollectables]

iburk,

Thanks for all the useful information. You have saved me a call to customs today. I do have a few questions though.

What happens if an individual amount is over $200 US?

With the global priority evnelopes coming to Canada do you have to fill in a $ value for customs declaration?

Do you have to show Country of Origin on your manifest or invoices?

Thanks

Michael

[your-chic-shopper]

This is my question ....Are ALL items under the value of $200.00 Duty Free to America

I am planing on using the Ebay invoices....Print it out . It shows the customs Address and total and shipping . Do you think that will be ok


I do understand I have to transfer it over that sheet and give a brief description and the name and weight

TOdd

[your-chic-shopper]

Also when you go into American Customs building to pay your $5.00 fee. You do not give them your invoices ????...only if they ask ??? You just give them the sheet with the list of names and weights of the items sold

Todd

[phoebescollectables]

Todd,

I called the border station near me and asked the question. The answer I got was that all items under $200 are duty free. Some items under $2,000 are also duty free. I asked which ones and he told me the book was a couple of inches thick. I did find out that books and records are duty free.

Mind you if you have 2 items at $150 each going to the same address then you would not qualify for the under $200 limit.

Michael

[shooger]

... in which case you could "delay" shipping one of that person's items until the next day you went down there to ship.