Any Canadians Using USPS to ship WITHIN Canada?

[yazidz]

Hello,

Any one using USPS/stamps.com to ship within Canada? I am alittle bit confused and here is what I am planning to do:

1- Set my item location to an address in the states ( using chitchats express address)

2- ship the items from Canada to the states and then they get sent back to Canada

I have not done any US shipping yet so shipping from Canada to the states seems simple, print the label and hand it to chitchats with all the required forms. another question is can we use the global shipping program to send to Canada within Canada as long as I am using a US address? basically use ebay rate and print the label then ship it to the global shipping center using chitchats and they will ship it back to Canada? I am not sure if that is even an option.

Not sure how would the customs work? I assume Ebay will charge the customer any import fees at checkout and pay them on our behalf? as I mentioned I never had to deal with international shipping but Canadapost is very expensive even when using the business account or ebay to print the labels.

[pierrelebel]

"ship the items from Canada to the states and then they get sent back to Canada"

So your Canadian customers could have to pay tax GST or HST (and duty if applicable) and $9.95 handling charge to Canada Post!

Does that make any sense to you?

[esclyons]

why would you care how expensive shipping is, the buyer pays shipping.  and shipping to the USA and back to Canada is just plain not smart. why would you even bother, and yes buyers do care about the extra fees associated with the Global shipping program.

[hlmacdon]

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@zidz wrote:

I have not done any US shipping yet so shipping from Canada to the states seems simple, print the label and hand it to chitchats with all the required forms. another question is can we use the global shipping program to send to Canada within Canada as long as I am using a US address? basically use ebay rate and print the label then ship it to the global shipping center using chitchats and they will ship it back to Canada? I am not sure if that is even an option.

Not sure how would the customs work? I assume Ebay will charge the customer any import fees at checkout and pay them on our behalf? as I mentioned I never had to deal with international shipping but Canadapost is very expensive even when using the business account or ebay to print the labels.

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As Pierre notes this is generally a terrible idea. Any forwarder is going to require you to accurately declare the value of the items which will result in potential (depending on the value and CBSA randomness) handling fees as well as the expected taxes. Whatever competitive advantage you are trying to gain in logistics costs may be wiped out by this. If you want to do this properly, find a 3PL fulfillment partner in the US and read up on the regulatory and labelling requirements as it pertains to commercial importation of your intended product into the US.

[thestuffofchris]

I will let the other sellers here, who have a heck of a lot more experience than I, explain the possible issues with your plan.

The one thing I do want to point out is: you are not allowed to misrepresent the item location.

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/item-location.html

You (and your items) are in Canada. Your item location must reflect that.

But seriously... Canada to US to Canada? Makes no sense.

[hlmacdon]

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@thestuffofchris wrote:

I will let the other sellers here, who have a heck of a lot more experience than I, explain the possible issues with your plan.

The one thing I do want to point out is: you are not allowed to misrepresent the item location.

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/item-location.html

You (and your items) are in Canada. Your item location must reflect that.

But seriously... Canada to US to Canada? Makes no sense.

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If the item is shipped from the stated location ebay is fine with you using said location (confirmed with Raphael previously). That being said you would want to arrange a return address in the same location as the item location and you would want to ensure your ETA's line up to reflect any extra transit time.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@yazidz wrote:

Hello,

Any one using USPS/stamps.com to ship within Canada? I am alittle bit confused and here is what I am planning to do:

1- Set my item location to an address in the states ( using chitchats express address)

2- ship the items from Canada to the states and then they get sent back to Canada

I have not done any US shipping yet so shipping from Canada to the states seems simple, print the label and hand it to chitchats with all the required forms. another question is can we use the global shipping program to send to Canada within Canada as long as I am using a US address? basically use ebay rate and print the label then ship it to the global shipping center using chitchats and they will ship it back to Canada? I am not sure if that is even an option.

---

Keep it simple.

For your Canadian sales:

If you are planning (and able) to use ChitChats Express, then you can use their inside Canada shipping rates. You buy the Canadian shipping directly from ChitChat. You drop it off at their outlet and they send it the rest of the way inside Canada. No visiting the USA involved. No customs, duties, taxes and crossborder fees involved.

USA sales:

Using ChitChats Express is straight forward as long as the items are under $800 in value.

The rest of the world:

If you plan to use GSP for outside USA/Canada, then go through the step of excluding Canada from the GSP. And setup a ship rate based on ChitChats Canadian flat rate.

...

All this is possible only if you list on eBay.com

-..-

[femmefan1946]

why would you care how expensive shipping is, the buyer pays shipping.

Buyers hate paying any shipping.

That's why Free Shipping is so popular.

Not that it is actually 'free', the cost of shipping is included in the asking price for the product, but because the buyer doesn't like the idea of paying for something he doesn't feel he gets any value from.

Keeping the cost of shipping seem as low as possible makes good marketing sense.

But before you decide shipping Canada/US/Canada is a good idea, check out the actual cost of shipping.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440

And remember that there are costs* in getting the shipments to the USA as well as back to Canada.

*18 cents a minute is minimum wage here in BC. Plus gas and other automobile overhead.

[outsidetheb25]

I can't think why you would want to ship USPS within Canada. Ship it via Canada post with Chitchats. It is still much cheaper than Canada post cost and doesnt have to cross the border twice! Canadian packages are processed through Pickering and never leave the country.

[kh-leslie]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies.  Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thanks for understanding!