posted on January 13, 2001 12:48:46 PM
I posted last week about accepting payment from a Canadian bidder. Well, the bidder won, and has agreed to BidPay.
Now, I have to ship this item, a watch. I'm sure the package will be under a pound. What is the best way to ship, and insure, and how do I quote this price? I had $6 shipping, insurance, and delivery comp set in the terms of the auction, but told him when he asked permission to bid that the shipping quote was subject to change if he won. He is ok with that, and I imagine I should be able to ship it to him for the same price.
The buyer already made a comment about having a bad experience with insurance, but this watch sold for $50, so sending it uninsured doesn't seem the smartest thing to do.
My one and only sale to Canada when I first started selling went bad due to both myself and the buyer being uninformed with shipping, so I need some concrete information.
Thanks in advance. And yes, I already said I would not mark the package "gift" on the customs forms. The buyer asked why, and was ok with my answer.
posted on January 13, 2001 04:48:29 PM
The most important thing in sending to Canada -- since you've already resolved the "gift" issue -- is to make sure you use USPS, and NOT UPS or FedEx. The latter two charge some exhorbitant broker's fee that outrages every Canadian.
As for packaging, I'd think a lot of bubble wrap would do it.
I've never bothered with insurance, and I've never had a Canadian buyer ask me for it. I think the problems sometimes arise with insured items because they're supposed to keep better track of them -- this often translates to SLOW. But my advice is let it be your buyer's choice.
The cheapest way to ship is via what use to be called small package air (or surface but its too slow). This is now
Global Airmail Letter Post. Web site claims it takes 4 - 7 Days, costs $3.75 (I used one pound) Max. length 24", Max. length, height, depth combined 36" . This can't be insured but can be registed for $7.50 more.
Globe airmail parcel post, which can be insured is $13.25 plus $1.10 for $50 insurance. This is a little more expensive.
I ask to have items under $100 shipped to me uninsured and send my sellers emails saying that I will accept that risk.
An extra $7.50 is just too much to insure a $50 item, IMHO. Whether or not you want to do that should depend on your comfort level, your buyer's willingness to accept the risk and his feedback.
I have probably bought 150 items from US sellers. 149 made it safely. The other was part of a large dutch auction and my sense from the seller's comments was that he set mine aside until he figured out shipping to Canada and didn't ever mail it. The replacement arrived safely.
posted on January 13, 2001 05:05:37 PM
Thanks Bill, you confirmed what I thought I understood from the USPS web site. I was tad confused by the term Global Airmail Letter Post, because I knew from reading here they used to call it Small Packet (I think).
I'll contact the bidder again, and make sure they understand the risk of uninsured, but paying an additional $7.50 doesn't make sense either. I'd rather pack it extra well, and pay a bit more for the weight.
As far as the customs forms go, the sale amount is $53...would making it a straight $50 make a difference as far as the Canadian taxes go?
As a seller from Canada, I send about 90% of my items to the US, about 5% within Canada, and 5% internationally.
Many of my items are vintage ads, photos, brochures, etc, that go letter rate and don't even need a customs sticker.
Other items I sell usually do need a customs sticker, and if it's a particularily valuable or large item, I need to fill out a form, which take about one minute.
I always use Canada Post regualar air mail. Usually items arrive to US and Canadian destinations within 5 days, internationally in 7-14 days. I've used insurance once, at the buyer's request. This led to me having to fill out a customs form, and him having to pay duty, but he wanted insurance.
I've had abut a 98% success ratio, so I never bother even suggesting insurance, especially since most items sell for under $20. One lost item, which is within the last month actually, is a $5 money order the bidder claims to have mailed. He provided a blurry web cam image as proof (at my request), and he seems honest, so I'm sending his item. The chances of me seeing the money are slim, but I'm hoping he won't leave me a negative. (I left him one, becuase he email bounced, and he had a feedback of zero, so I thought it was a lost cause, but he finally contacted me).
Also, I never check off gift on a customs sticker. I had a bad experience with that. When I started as a buyer I bought two books for $1 from a new eBay seller. He marked "gift, $0" thinking he was doing me a favor. Well, Canada Customs decided to check it, delaying it by a week, then decided the books were worth $40. When they were new, they sold for $10 each, and now really were worth $1, maybe $5 maximum. I guess they just wanted to teach me a lesson.
I found if I mark $5 or $10, it looks honest, and they don't bother charging duty to the customer on a small amount. Often I mark the opening bid price incase the final bid was very high, it saves them a few dollars, and I'm sure they appreciate it. I never tell them, and it's possible some don't even notice.
So basically, I wouldn't shy away from selling internationally. I don't bother with insurance, because as someone else mention, it usually slows things down, and with Canada Post, you need to use parcel rate instead of small packet, which does save money. And, as you stated, never mark it as a gift. Not only that, I go to the same post office all the time, (government run, not a private franchise), so they would get suspicious if I were sending several "gifts" to all kinds of people every day of the week.
If it gets picked up by customs(a few just slip through) your bidder pays sales tax - the same sales tax he would pay if he bought the item in his local store - plus a CDN$ 5.00 handling fee. The amount of the sales tax depends on the province. It is 15% in about half of Canada, down to a low of 7% where our friend Reddeer lives.
posted on January 13, 2001 06:00:32 PM
Hi there, there was another thread in the last few days about Canada and someone pointed out that fragile items cannot be insured for damage only loss. I'm not sure which direction or both. Maybe someone else remembers the thread.
posted on January 13, 2001 06:05:10 PM
Sooooo, there are no options for insurance? Do I tell this buyer the package is sent at their risk? What protects me from them claiming they never received it? I don't have any reason to think they'll do this, their feedback is 29 and all good. They obviously collect items in this field.
posted on January 13, 2001 06:19:03 PM
Meya
I forgot, U_PIC will insure Canada, considers it domestic. Their insurance even covers shipping cost which is nice. $.60 per $50.00
Jay
posted on January 13, 2001 06:23:51 PM
Registered mail used to include some insurance. I think it still does. If you change the value of the item to $1000 the registered fee goes up to $9.00. Can't find the web page since they changed it.
posted on January 13, 2001 06:31:01 PM
Xardon: ExecutiveGirl thought Alberta is a U.S. state and felt misled by her buyer when she discovered it was a Canadian province.
posted on January 13, 2001 06:31:42 PM
Quote from the USPS International Rates and Fees
http://pe.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub51/pub51.pdf
Registered mail
All destination countries, except Canada, have an indemnity limit of $40.45 and a
registry fee of $7.25. Canada has an indemnity limit of $1,000.00 and the
following registry fees: $7.50 for items valued at not more than $100.00; $8.25
for items valued at more than $100.00 but not more than $500.00; and $9.00 for
items valued at more than $500.00 but not more than $1,000.00.
posted on January 13, 2001 06:34:15 PMXardon: Stockticker and Reddeer are just being troublemakers. I *NEVER* thought Alberta was a U.S. State! I had a customer who said they lived in Alberta and I didn't know what country that was in.
posted on January 13, 2001 06:37:19 PM
Slightly off topic, but to my fellow Canadian sellers, eh, do you know what declared value is that gets to go through without making the buyer (in the US or elsewhere if known), pay duty, tax, etc?
I've never had any people complain about duty (unless I told them to expect it). Me persoanlly I've received items valued at $20 US and not had to to pay duty, but I have had to pay duty for an item valued at $30 US.
BTW, I can't believe someone didn't know Alberta (AB) was in Canada. I can see if it were some little small hick town...oh never mind! Incidentally, living in Montréal, my address is written the French way, exmaple
1234, rue St-Whoever, app. 1
Montréal (Québec) H1H 1H1
CANADA
I've had people from certain countries (not mentioning any names) ask me if I was sure that's the way to write my address.
I should hope I know how to write my address! In Québec, Québecers modify the format a bit, the use abbreviations, punctuation and use of capitals is different, we also sometimes use QC or PQ (province de Québec). Vive le Québec!, eh!
posted on January 13, 2001 06:48:16 PM
Aw, c'mon Missy, you didn't expect to post a thread with the word "Canada" and expect it move along nice easy without a hitch, now did you?
Motive8 ...... Most items under $200 US will sail through to the US without any Duty being tagged on. It's kinda complicated though, the US Customs have a book that's 2 ft thick.
posted on January 13, 2001 06:58:50 PM
reddear, thanks. I wasn't sure if there was a limit as to what value was duty free and if anything above was subject to duty.
I don't want any items delayed to customs checks, so I never write "gift", and I'm always truthful about the contents.
I also don't want my customers to have to pay duty, even though it's not my fault, they may choose to not leave feedback, or post negative/neutral to express their dissatisfaction. That's why I usually write the opening bid price if the final high bid was really high, unless (in the very rare case) there's insurance on the item.
The value for duty into the US is fairly high. And in some cases NAFTA has wiped it out completely.
However, as you would expect, each country is different and in some, England comes quickly to mind, the threashold is very low.
Meya
Regarding insuring fagile item, remember that they CAN be insured against loss. Very careful packing is the best protection against damage. Perhaps reddeer will comment on this for us, he has before and seems to have a good handle on the details. As I remember it, there is some complexity to whether or not something is 'fragile'.
To find the cost to register a package to Canada, you go the the USPS International Rate calculator, put in the weight and contry and the next screen gives you a choice of shipping options. If you click on the name of the type of shipping (i.e. Global Parcel Air) you get a screen that gives you the various 'add-ons' available such as registration, insurance, delivery confirmation. Only the add-on available with that type of service are listed. The final screen will give you the total of the basic price and the add-ons you selected.
posted on January 14, 2001 04:43:16 AM
And to walk in where angels fear to tread, is there someone from the UK that could explain what all the various things in their postal addresses mean?
The buyer asked why, and was ok with my answer.
....